“So why did you start coming to this church?” the man asked.

“When I moved to Denton, I started looking for a church, and I saw this one was ‘country-friendly,’” I explained. “I figured if I was going to be in North Texas, I should get that country experience. Of course, I asked the pastor some basic questions about what they believed and it checked out. But do you know what really kept me here?”

“What?”

“They learned my name and my daughter’s name on the first day.”

“I’m so glad you said that. That’s going to stick with me. I just came from a church where the pastor still hadn’t learned most of the names, even after years of being there.”

If you’re in ministry—and you want it to be a grace-based ministry—here’s a tip: learn people’s names.

Grace is always shown to a person, not to an abstraction. Grace is intensely concerned with the individual whom God loves and with whom He wants to spend eternity. A powerful, yet simple, way to communicate grace to someone who has been burnt out on legalism, and feels lost in the crowd, and perhaps, even overlooked by God, is to learn their name.

Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends by name (3 John 1:14).