Nothing Happens Outside of Relationships

I've been reading a book that Ben gave me called The Externally Focused Church. Chapter 5 is titled Nothing Happens Outside of Relationships. Here are a few blurbs at the beginning of the chapter...

"The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between the two, the leader must become a servant."
-Max De Pree

Failing to Relate
Dun and Bradstreet conducted a study to determine why executives fail. The organization studied twelve hundred executives who had been fired from their jobs. Interestingly, it wasn't their market expertise, financial understanding, or product knowledge that was the primary cause for failure. In 85 percent of the cases, their relational skills were the cause. The same might be true of churches. If we were to study the primary reason churches fail, we might discover that they've failed in the one area they should be good at---building, sustaining, and cultivating relationships.

The Church grows Through Relationships