The
value and necessity of visitation
Pastoral
visitation is a time-honored tradition in the life of the church. The concept
has biblical roots and in some form is an expected part of community life in
most church fellowships. The practice provides opportunity to express care,
discover needs, encourage spiritual growth, and strengthen the bonds of
fellowship in the community. That is not to say that it looks the same in every
culture or church tradition. In fact, the nature of pastoral care has taken on
a distinct character in the wider charismatic movement. This is marked by
several features: 1) the role of the home group or small groups in providing
pastoral care, 2) the recognition of the plurality of elders as functional
pastors in the church, and 3) emphasis on ‘body ministry’ and the use of the
gifts of the priesthood of believers.
While
the practice of pastoral visitation by staff pastors remains a staple of many
smaller churches, it is handled in various ways by larger congregations. These
congregations may have adopted any of several models; some leaning toward lay leadership,
others toward a more institutional, staff-driven model.
Many
non-denominational churches have adopted a cross between a lay-led home group
model and an elder-led pastoral care model. In other words, the body of
ordained elders is the pastoral care team of the local church assisted by
non-ordained home group leaders. Many interpret this as a return to a more
biblical model which recognizes the role of elders to be primarily pastoral rather
than an administrative or advisory role as is common in some traditions. It is also rooted in the understanding of charismatic
gifts in I Corinthians 12 and Romans 12.
That is, the entire body is gifted to express care for itself under the
oversight of the eldership.
Peter
expressed the unique role of the elders in terms of pastoral care: So I exhort the elders among you . . . shepherd
the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not
under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not
for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering
over those in your charge, but being
examples to the flock (I
Peter 5:1-3).
In
the same manner Paul exhorted the elders of Ephesus to see their ministry
primarily as pastoral – instructive, familiar, and protective:
Pay careful attention to
yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care
for the church of God, which he obtained with his
own blood. I know
that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not
sparing the flock; and from
among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.
Therefore be alert, remembering that for
three years I did not cease night or day to
admonish every one with tears (Acts 20: 28-31)
The
biblical rationale for visitation
The
idea of visitation is related closely to the Greek word for bishop. A bishop’s primary role is the visitation of
God’s people, whether in corporate or more intimate settings. The root word for bishop and visitation is episkopos. It is important to note that the term bishop
and elder are interchangeable in the New Testament. That is, the New Testament elder exercises
pastoral care by virtue of oversight (episkopos)
of the flock. One aspect of this
oversight is visitation.
This
term and its derivatives in classical Greek carry the meaning, "to look
upon, to consider, to have regard to someone or something." It can mean "to inspect," and in a
religious sense "to look graciously upon, to care for, or to watch over, to
examine, to submit to investigation," also, "to visit," as in
visiting the sick. In the Old Testament
it is used to translate words which indicate "to investigate, to search,
to find out about something, to care for something." When used in reference to Yahweh, "to
visit," may mean in blessing or judgment (Zech. 10:3). It also may mean to appoint. (Jer. 6:15, 10:15, or Is. 10:3). It carries the sense of office in Num. 4:16
(The above definitions are based on the Theological Dictionary of the New
Testament, Vol. II).
In
rabbinic Judaism the term carries the pastoral and charitable concept of
visiting the sick, caring for the poor, helping the newly married poor, comforting
the sorrowing and attending funerals. Jesus uses this term to describe visiting
the sick and in prison.
In
the NT it carries the meaning of "being concerned about someone or
something." (See Acts 15:36; Heb. 12:4; Luke 1:48). Episcopate as office is seen in Acts 1:16
and I Tim. 3. The offices of bishop,
elder and pastor are shown to be interchangeable in Act 20: 20ff. and I Peter
5:1-4. Later developments in church
history contribute to the separation of the offices and roles.
The
Minister’s Service Manual published by Baker Books in 1958 instructs pastors to
be present in the home at times of hardship and tragedy, particularly after a
death in the family. This meets the
biblical concept of visiting those in distress.
It
was Samuel’s habit to make a circuit visiting the cities of his region on a regular
basis. Though Samuel was a prophet and a
judge, his practice was still episcopal in nature – the visitation of an
overseer. Though this kind of
visitation was probably done in the more corporate setting of larger
gatherings, such a practice would afford many opportunities for meaningful
one-on-one interaction. His visits
carried weight. He was asked by the
trembling leaders of Bethlehem, “Do you come in peace?” Pastoral visits intended to correct are rare
in our culture, but are clearly a significant part of the biblical tradition.
How
is visitation carried out?
The
purpose of visitation is to provide a pastoral presence in life’s challenges,
but also in the normal rhythms of everyday life. Such regular personal contact creates a
strong bond which will prove essential when an actual crisis such as death or
illness, or when family, employment or financial stresses occur.
It
seems reasonable that several specific practices should be common in local
churches. The first is systematic
communication with members and attenders of the congregation. The second,
is special attention to those under the peculiar stress or crisis of illness,
job loss, or some other difficulty in life. This also entails being sensitive
to the prompting of the Holy Spirit when there is no actual presenting
problem. Like many illnesses some crises
incubate undetected before presenting in painful or obvious symptoms. Thirdly,
it is important for those responsible for pastoral care, whether staff, elders,
or lay leaders (such as home group leaders or Stephen Ministers) to communicate
regularly about their sense of the health of individual members of the flock.
Simply
being present in homes or at major life-events such as weddings or funerals
will surface matters requiring further ministry attention. In their classic study of business practices,
In Search of Excellence, Thomas
Peters and Robert Waterman identified a practice of effective executives which
they dubbed “management by walking around.”
This habit of ‘just dropping in’ was identified as a best practice of
effective leaders. In a pastoral context,
management of the flock by walking around, depending on the grace of God to
open ‘ministry moments,’ will lead to effective outcomes.
As
a solo pastor in my first small-church pastorate it was my practice to
regularly visit homes and home groups. Pastoral
presence is still a needed ingredient in healthy church life today. There are some challenges in a 21st
century culture, however. Simply put,
many people are resistant to having pastoral visits in their home, either
because they are too busy, perhaps embarrassed, or just unaware of the value of
the transparency fostered by visitation. There is a sense that sometimes a
request to visit by a pastor is viewed as an overreach, an intrusion; viewed in
a similar manner as a site-visit by a social worker. In fact, there is a counter-expectation of
being left alone. This is a strong current in the culture at large and will
require concerted effort to re-shape, or more likely the development of
alternative practices to get similar outcomes.
Larger churches require a team approach to visitation and presence. This
was alluded to in the opening paragraph.
Elders, lay leaders, and staff pastors must combine their efforts to
effectively shepherd Christ’s flock.
That said, there is a place for recognizing the value and availability
of staff pastors to carry out the ministry of presence implied in the word
visitation.
Some
practical recommendations
So
what do we do? Specifically, what do we
do in our context of a culture which is changing? In more rural or small town settings, there
are expectations of classic pastoral visitation as an integral part of church
life. By that I mean staff pastor
visitation as opposed to lay and elder led pastoral care. But there is also resistance to this model in
more than a few cases. I would propose
the following remedies. First, continue to establish effective
pastoral care through the founding of new home groups and small groups and
task-oriented ministry groups, as well as the nurture of existing small groups. Second,
encourage elders to systematically be in touch with those listed on their elder
care list. This includes the elders who
are staff pastors. In addition, staff
pastors because of their position must be willing to bear some additional
responsibility for both systematic and crisis visitation beyond the confines of
their list. Discussion and prayer over
pastoral care needs should be a regular part of elder meetings and ministry.
Thirdly,
it must be recognized that the primary focus on proactive home visitation may
be limiting the means by which pastoral care can and should be carried out in
the culture as it now is. In light of the
personal habits and expectation of many people, I would propose a multi-faceted
means of carrying out pastoral care.
Being in the home will still be an important element in the mix. Added to that should be meetings in public
places such as coffee shops, use of electronic and social media such as e-mail and
Facebook, as well as the simple tools of texting and telephone. Another important means of gaining rapport
and insight into the needs of people is the extension of hospitality in our own
homes. The overseer (bishop) must be . . . hospitable (I Timothy 3:2).
This is also an important and biblical means of establishing strong pastoral
bonds. All of these methods will require
proactive and aggressive efforts to ‘keep in touch’ with the various members of
Christ’s body.
Finally,
in order to strengthen the expectation and actual practice of personal pastoral
visitation, it would be good to simply extend an invitation to the congregation
by means of the regular organs of congregational communication such as the
weekly bulletin or e-mail. This would
take the form of a simple announcement about our availability to visit and an
invitation to the congregation to request a visit from pastoral staff. Paying attention to ourselves and all the
flock over which the Holy Spirit has appointed us is more than a full-time job
for the leaders of the church.
