Effective churches have a passion for ministry expressed in a dozen ways. Most of the following list came from James Means’ book Effective Pastors for a New Century. The rest and the commentary were added by Walt Brock.

Romans 9:1–3

Evangelism—soul winning and preaching for salvation.

Edification—discipling and teaching is constantly going on.

Empathy—listening to people and meeting needs.

Embrace ministry—staying away from expending resources on non-ministry avenues.

Equipping—mentoring and training members for ministry.

Everyone counts—people are a priority; their problems and the problems they create are the ministry. Everyone needs to be listened to and have a legitimate avenue for input.

▪ Considering relationships important and vital to success
▪ People in groups
▪ People as individuals, one on one

Evaluate and correct in a constant effort to improve.

Everything means something—paying great attention to details normal and regular.

Encouragement—positive, optimistic, and proactive rather than negative, pessimistic, and reactive.

Expert leadership—competent, experienced leadership is the indispensable ingredient; this leadership is not positional or authoritarian.

Earnestly contending for the truth—a strong allegiance to the Word of God and to the stated mission or purpose of the church. There is a resistance to the commercialism and marketing tactics of the world.

Enthusiasm—pervades everything they do.