Why do we do what we do?

The Global Christian Church is both diverse and yet unified by Christ's Spirit. The majority of Christianity is no longer seated in the northern hemisphere in Western nations, but now is South in countries like Africa, South America and China. We have much we can learn from our international brothers and sisters. I think that if we are humble and open to critiquing ourselves and practices, we will benefit. So much of our current practices in the western church are enculturated representations of the gospel. And without realizing it, many of our traditions are pagan in origin, outdated and arguably may no longer apply to our culture today...

paid clergy - Constantine created a salaried priesthood
majestic buildings - Constantine transformed the Roman Government buildings into worship centers.
infant baptism - primarily a result of civil religion?
Altars with candles/Rails/procession into Sanctuary /choirs /central seat for priest - the ancient Roman emperor processed into gatherings with choirs singing, and sat at the central seat of honor - this became the process for priests in the state adopted church - the altar table with candles came straight out of the pagan temples - the rails separated the clergy (now a separate class) from the laity (a new word to describe 2nd class Christians.
Pulpit preaching, Robes and the Offering - The traveling Sophists wore special clothes and preached eloquent "sermons" to the delight of many people, and at the end of their speech, passed the hat for donations - many of these intellectual philosophic speakers became the early bishops/fathers of the church when they converted to Christianity.

The list can go on and on - and yet we continue many of these practices as if they were the fundamentals of the gospel. We need to realize that just like the early African church, who are currently dealing with cultural issues like ancestor worship and polygamy, at one time these Western forms were much needed applications for communicating the gospel to the early converted pagan/gentile church. At what point do we re-evaluate our practices and forms in light of the surrounding local culture to ensure that we are accurately communicating and living the good news with those within our reach? Will the young churches of Africa and the south eventually reach this point of amnesia regarding forms and practices?