How to Organize a Church Visitation Ministry

One of the most fundamental ministries that the church performs is visitation.  A church, no matter how big or small, will have people who are sick, in the hospital, shut-in and in need of a visit.  As a result, pastors spend a significant amount of time visiting people from their church and community.   As the church grows the amount of visitation required can bury a pastor unless structures and systems are put in place to spread the load of visitation out.  Developing systems ensure that the pastor does not burn out, but at the same time ensure people receive the care that they need.  There are no doubt a variety of ways that a church could set up a visitation system but here is how one church takes on this need:

shutterstock_410997181

Visitation & On-Call Pastors - Every day there is one pastor that is assigned to do all the hospital visitation for that day. If the church is aware going into the day that someone is in the hospital, and in need of a visit, then this is the pastor that goes.  Additionally, there is another pastor that is on-call each day.  This pastor handles any pastoral care that cannot be planned ahead.  This would include anyone who is rushed to the hospital or anyone who calls or walks in wanting to talk with a pastor.

Hospital Visitation Frequency - A pastor from the church does hospital visitation every day of the week, except Sunday.  This means that someone who is in the hospital for multiple days will get a visit from a pastor every day unless they are in over an entire weekend.

Visitation Frequency for Rehab & Long Hosptial Stays – If someone leaves the hospital for rehab, or is in the hospital over a weeks time but is not in critical condition, then the parishioner will receive visits only three days per week from the pastoral staff.  If they stay in rehab for an extended period of time, then the visits may be reduced to only two visits per week.

Shut-Ins Visitation Frequency – Shut-ins, those who are physically unable to come out to church, are visited by one member of the pastoral staff monthly.  They also receive a weekly DVD of the church service so they can watch the service from their home, and if the shut-in doesn’t have a DVD player the church will purchase one for them.

Pastors Who Visit - Every single pastor of the pastoral team is a part of the visitation ministry.  The associates pastors, even the associate pastor of youth or kids, is assigned one day per week to do visitation ministry.  The senior pastor also participates in pastoral visitation but their visits are in addition to the schedule mentioned above.

Others Who Visit - The pastoral visitation team is just one layer of the visitation ministry of the church.   In addition to the pastors, there are also ministries in place that visit shut-ins, another ministry that writes cards to shut-ins, a nursing home ministry that performs services in nursing homes where some parishioners live, and more.  There are also trained lay leaders in the church that visit people when they are in the hospital, including one lady whose ministry is to walk with people as they are facing life-threatening illnesses or those who have been brought into hospice care.   There are lay/retired pastors, board members, interns and others who all participate in the visitation ministry of the church.  Finally, there is the church family.  People from small groups throughout the church visit one another when they are in need of care.

It All Works Together - All of this visitation works together to provide the love of Christ to each member of the church family throughout their time of need.  Take shut-ins for an example  Although it probably doesn’t happen this perfectly often, it is possible that a shut-in will receive a visit from an associate pastor one week of the month, another visit from the visitation ministry another, perhaps a visit from a friend in the church another and then from the senior pastor another.  In one month, even though they can’t get out to church, the church will get to them every week.  Additionally, they receive a copy of the service each week on DVD, and even receive the church’s weekly newsletter.   They could receive contact from their church three times a week, every week of the month, even though they can’t leave their home.  Whether shut-in like this, or in the hospital, this visitation ministry ensures that no one is forgotten.

It Scales – Some might argue that a church with multiple staff can do visitation like this, as they have multiple pastors for multiple days.  However, this church did visitation like this even when it was much smaller and didn’t have the staff that it does today.  When the church was smaller, there were fewer people who were in the hospital, thus requiring fewer visits and time per week.  As the church grew, no doubt because of the level of care and attention people were receiving, they were able to add staff and volunteers to keep up with the increasing demands of pastoral care.

This is how one church structures their visitation ministry, how have your seen other churches handle this vital minsitry of the church?

Posted on
Categories: Church Life, Staffing

Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.

Leave a Reply to icebet casino_beel Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

9,177 thoughts on “How to Organize a Church Visitation Ministry”

  25. Clarte Nexive se demarque comme une plateforme d’investissement en crypto-monnaies de pointe, qui utilise la puissance de l’intelligence artificielle pour fournir a ses clients des atouts competitifs majeurs.

    Son IA etudie les marches financiers en temps reel, repere les opportunites et execute des strategies complexes avec une finesse et une celerite hors de portee des traders humains, maximisant ainsi les potentiels de profit.

    Reply

  29. hello there and thank you for your info – I’ve definitely picked up anything new from right here.
    I did however expertise some technical points using this site, since I experienced to reload the
    site many times previous to I could get it to load correctly.
    I had been wondering if your web hosting is OK? Not that I am complaining,
    but sluggish loading instances times will sometimes affect your placement in google and can damage your quality score if ads and marketing with Adwords.
    Anyway I am adding this RSS to my e-mail and can look out for much
    more of your respective intriguing content. Make sure you update this again very soon.

    Reply

  38. Wonderful website you have here but I was curious if you knew
    of any user discussion forums that cover the same topics talked about in this article?
    I’d really like to be a part of online community where I
    can get comments from other knowledgeable individuals that share the same interest.

    If you have any recommendations, please let me know. Appreciate it!

    Reply

  41. TurkPaydexHub Avis
    TurkPaydexHub se differencie comme une plateforme de placement crypto revolutionnaire, qui exploite la puissance de l’intelligence artificielle pour fournir a ses clients des avantages concurrentiels decisifs.

    Son IA etudie les marches financiers en temps reel, repere les opportunites et met en ?uvre des strategies complexes avec une exactitude et une rapidite inatteignables pour les traders humains, maximisant ainsi les potentiels de profit.

    Reply

  42. TurkPaydexHub Avis
    TurkPaydexHub se demarque comme une plateforme de placement crypto innovante, qui met a profit la puissance de l’intelligence artificielle pour fournir a ses clients des avantages decisifs sur le marche.

    Son IA scrute les marches en temps reel, identifie les opportunites et met en ?uvre des strategies complexes avec une exactitude et une rapidite inaccessibles aux traders humains, optimisant ainsi les potentiels de rendement.

    Reply

  47. J’ai une affection particuliere pour Action Casino, ca pulse comme une soiree animee. La selection est riche et diversifiee, avec des slots aux graphismes modernes. Le bonus de bienvenue est genereux. Le support est pro et accueillant. Les paiements sont securises et rapides, cependant plus de promos regulieres dynamiseraient le jeu. En bref, Action Casino est un incontournable pour les joueurs. Ajoutons que le design est moderne et energique, facilite une immersion totale. Egalement top les nombreuses options de paris sportifs, propose des avantages uniques.
    Visiter la plateforme|

    Reply

  50. J’adore l’energie de 1xBet Casino, ca invite a l’aventure. La selection est riche et diversifiee, proposant des jeux de table sophistiques. Il offre un coup de pouce allechant. Le suivi est d’une fiabilite exemplaire. Les transactions sont d’une fiabilite absolue, par contre des recompenses additionnelles seraient ideales. Pour finir, 1xBet Casino merite un detour palpitant. D’ailleurs la navigation est simple et intuitive, ajoute une touche de dynamisme. Particulierement cool les tournois frequents pour l’adrenaline, qui booste la participation.
    Continuer Г  lire|

    Reply