Carl Trueman posted a great article last week on the importance of pastors knowing the names of everyone in their congregation. In many ways it seems amazing that such an article needed to be written. But it did. And the problem of pastors not knowing the names of their sheep is not just confined to large congregations. Even pastors with small congregations can struggle to put names to faces. Sometimes it’s a lack of interest and concern. Most times it’s the lack of any practical strategy to learn and remember names.
Philip Guo at Lifehacker comes to our rescue with eight tips on how to remember people’s names. Even if you only read and do the first tip, you will multiply your name-remembering (and pastoring) ability tenfold.
Need further motivation? Here’s Guo again:Accurately remembering names is one of the simplest yet most important components of interacting with people, no matter in what capacity. A person’s own name is the single most important word to him/her; it is intimately tied to his/her identity as an individual. How you deal with people’s names can have a profound effect on their impressions of you: Think about the times you’ve felt special when someone you admired addressed you by your name in a sincere tone; or think about the times when you’ve felt belittled when someone negligently called you by the wrong name, or worse, maliciously made fun of your name in front of you.
Read the rest here.