I was at a workshop recently where we were asked to discuss and give examples of what passionate spirituality looks like.

I was squirming in my seat as story after story was told about someone 'inside' the church. "John came to church and at first was aloof, but then after a few months he wanted to help out in Sunday school." "Rich and Sally showed up at church as we were leaving the building one Sunday. They said they were looking for a church home. They began coming, started teaching Alpha and turned the church around."

I could hardly keep myself from asking, “Doesn't anyone have a story of what passionate spirituality looks like 'outside' the church?” Are we so narrow sighted that our understanding of passionate spirituality is linked only to Christians carrying out church duties?

What about the story of the woman who has faced numerous adversities? Her husband messed around on her with another woman, eventually leaving her a single mom to a couple of elementary aged children. Life dealt her a hand that sees her getting knocked down and then getting up time after time only to get knocked down again. Who would blame her for fading into hopelessness and despair? But she hasn't become critical and cynical; in fact, she lives out what is attractive about Jesus in her life as she continues to put the needs of others before her own and does so with authentic gratitude, grace and joy.

I've learned not to measure passionate spirituality by what I see, hear and experience at a typical worship gathering or during a weekly church program. In fact─sad as it may seem─I lean more towards what I see and hear at those gatherings as exaggerated and often masking a hidden reality. God is not contained in a building or program. He's so much bigger. Where life happens─out there─God is doing something in the often mundane happenings of daily life.

Jesus in the everyday life of a believer─that's a beautiful and attractive thing.

Tell me, what does passionate spirituality look like?

Captain Stephen Wiseman and his wife, Leslie, have spent 12 years in full-time ministry with The Salvation Army. Stephen serves as Chaplain at East Village Mission in Calgary, and is planting a House Church network in his neighbourhood. He has three children.