When talking about great churches, figuring out what drives them is very different from what drives a great business. Business’s have shareholders and trade on the stock exchange. Churches don’t examine profits and hand out bonuses to the people who helped make it happen. The same goes for us. You don’t have annual shareholder meeting with yourself to talk about what you did in the past year and what your plans are for the next.

So what can we measure? Jesus said that man cannot serve both God and money. We will inevitably despise the one and love the other. If we are Christian, I would hope that we would choose to love God and despise money instead of the other way around. Thus, measuring how much money we made at the end of the year or even how much we saved, would be serving money instead of God, and ultimately, fruitless.
Therefore, we must choose to serve God. To do so, we have two options. We can serve God by doing something we truly love or we can do something because we feel obligated whether we like it or not. Paul says is 1 Corinthians 12:4-5 that we are all given certain gifts by the Holy Spirit to do different acts of service. These gifts God has given us fall well within our passions. After all, the same God who made us is the same God who gave us our spiritual gifts.

If we want to be truly great in our homes, our jobs, our church, then our lives are spent serving God in the gifts or passions that He has given us. Imagine with me, a church that is made of believers who all serve in their passions. This church would be the full embodiment of Christ. It would save the lost, serve the poor, and take care of the needy.

Great churches do this in their own unique ways. Just as some of us are teachers, worshipers, full of mercy or faith, and healers, churches are worshippers, servants, counselors, disciplers.

I encourage you to find your spiritual gifts and passions that God has given you. Once you begin using them and serving in your church community you help your church to be great.

We could have the greatest church in our cities, not for greatness sake, but for transformed lives by the power of the Holy Spirit. Serving God in our passions can get us there.