I was reading an article about Alexander the Great whose troops after many victorious battles looked like they were about to be defeated. His soldiers had taken so much plunder from their previous campaigns that they had become weighted down and were losing their effectiveness in combat.

Alexander commanded that all the spoils of war from their previous battles was be thrown into a heap and burned. The men complained bitterly at first but soon saw the wisdom of the order. Someone wrote, “It was as if wings had been given to them—they walked lightly again.” They fought without restriction and victory was secured.

As leaders in the Church of Jesus of Christ, we too must personally rid ourselves of anything that encumbers us in the conflict with our spiritual enemy.  What is it for you? Busyness? Comfort? Apathy? An addiction that shames, entangles and diminishes you?

As with many churches what blogs us down are the traditions that no longer attract the next generation of worshipers. Robed clergy and responsive reading liturgies, committee meetings and bell choirs, antiquated music and lack of multimedia messaging. These traditional elements in and of themselves are not bad, but they are hindrances on the new battleground of reaching those under age sixty-five. As individual followers of Christ, soldiers in God’s army we must certainly be clad with His whole armor (Ephesians 6:11-17) but to win today’s battles, like David, we must also throw off Saul’s armor that doesn’t fit and is not effective against the giants we currently face. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us” Hebrews 12:1

To develop a plan to let go of the traditions that entangle your church be sure to order the latest book by Bill Easum and Bill Tenney-Brittian, “Dinosaurs to Rabbits: Turning Mainline Decline to a Multiplication Movement”