A Public Agenda Foundation study, co-authored by Daniel Yankelovich, came up with these top 10 qualities that today's workers want in a job.

1. Work with people who treat you with respect
2. Interesting work
3. Recognition for good work
4. Chance to develop skills
5. Work for people who listen if you have ideas about how to do things better
6. A chance to think for yourself
7. Seeing the end results of your work
8. Working for efficient managers
9. A job that is not too easy
10. Feeling well-informed about what is going on

Ponder that list. Notice what isn't included in the top 10: job security, benefits, vacation time, and high salary. Yet most companies still operate as though they are the big four—the only ways to motivate and keep their employees.

Ours is a new world. We cannot exist as though it isn't changing.

Now, think about your church. Do you think any of the above might apply? Do any of them apply to you? How is your church meeting the changes and challenges of today?

Excerpted from Day by Day with Charles Swindoll, Copyright © 2000 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. (Thomas Nelson Publishers). All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission.