In my time on staff at a growing church, we identified one value that we started to live by as we continued to grow:

The bigger we are, the more personal we have to become.

Every new face is a miracle, that’s always true. Jesus said it well: “there is more rejoicing in heaven over ONE sinner that repents than over 99 who do not need to.”

But with growth comes new and specific challenges. Complexity increases and logistics become a world of their own. Tight relationships get stretched thin because of an influx of new needs and new issues.

Bigness, by its nature, sends a message that none of us want to send. It sows a seed of doubt that someone could really be known, really find a spot, really be a part of the family. Hence that value that drove us - as we grew, we had to do more than just STAY personal. We had to push back against that bigness narrative, root out those seeds of doubt and prove to people they were so much more than just a number.

We came up with tons of different tactics that helped us do just that. But they were all dependent on another value that had always been at our core.

Whatever room is at the center of our church should be the healthiest one of all.

If we’re not healthy at the center, then nothing we build will be either. And what does healthy look like? It’s actually pretty simple.

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” [John 13:35]

Take a full day as a team to walk through the four crucial elements of the relational soil that God wired our brains to grow in, assess different areas of your church to see if they’re accomplishing the right goals, learn about the primary defense mechanisms that every person enters your community armed with, and develop an action plan to continue fighting for health at the center so you have something incredible to give away.