Strip away the non-essential

Sometimes, in order for certain things to be effective you need to strip away everything that is non-essential that surrounds the entity at hand. Take a top-notch athlete for example. In order to reach peak performance the athlete is going to cut out everything that is not relevant or does not allow the athlete to reach his/her physical potential.

In my case, I am talking about the traditional church as it stands today in American culture. There are many non-essential (but not necessarily "bad") elements surrounding the traditional church that are now starting to prevent it from being relevant in this ever changing society. Some of them include: a church building, a paid staff, a worship leader, kids programs, and outreach programs. I'm sure you can think of many others but these are a few that come to mind. When you strip away these non-essential elements, you are left with a church that very closely resembles the early church in the book of Acts.

So what are the essential elements that make up an effective church today? Well over the past year and a half I have come up with four essential elements that any church which desires to be relevant to today's culture need to pursue. The manner in how these elements are incorporated into a particular church are not important.

1. Relationships. A church should encourage strong and healthy relationships not just on Sunday mornings but it should enable and promote new friendships among the church body every day of the week. The church is not a building; it is us. We are the church. The church can only be as strong as the relationships that comprise it.
2. Encouragement. The Christian life is far from a guarantee of an easy life. In fact, it is the opposite most of the time. There will be times when we are depressed, burned out, and fatigued. The church should be a place that such a person can find unconditional encouragement in. This can be done through prayer, sympathy, or just having a good time together!
3. Affirmation. Sometimes we have crazy ideas or seemingly random events in our life that don't make sense to us (some more than others!). The church should be a place that offers insight and direction in these moments. For example, I may come to church on a particular day and tell everyone how I randomly ran in to a friend I haven't seen in years. Someone in the church body may speak up and say "well that's no coincidence dummy, remember that you've been praying you would have an opportunity to share the gospel with someone this week!" More generally speaking, affirmation could simply just be accountability between the members of the church body.
4. Service. "A church that serves together stays together". Ok that doesn't rhyme but it's still true. If you want to bring a whole new depth to your relationships with each other, find ways to serve in your community or even the world. The Apostle Paul tells us to "test our faith daily". I can't think of any better way to test our faith than to serve in ways we didn't think were possible.

"Wait a minute Dan!! Where is WORSHIP? How can you leave Worship off this list?!?!". Well, first of all, worshipping God is more than just singing songs to Him on Sunday. Secondly, I stand convinced that these four elements are, in their basic form, pure and true ways of worshipping God.

In your own life, evaluate what is essential for you to become the amazing spectacle of Christ-likeness that God intended for you and quit everything else. What other point is there in living?