Staff visitation

The work of ministry belongs to each church member. This includes the pastor but is not exclusive to him. I suppose a very large church will have staff members who can facilitate different functions, but at its root the church is a community, a family. Each family member is to be an active family member.

 

There is no excuse for a pastor who never visits his people. But regardless of the size of the church there will be times when he cannot be the one to make the visit. Church members have a right to expect a visit but the do not get to determine just who will be the one to visit. The pastor cannot always do it and there needs to be others who will make visits when the pastor cannot.

 

Bravo, revmitchell!!! :thumbs:

 

Social visitation of church members is simply not in the Bible, anywhere. The job of the pastor is to preach, teach, and evangelize his area (and even beyond)...not to be a neighborhood socialite. We have far too many pastors visiting the homes of people that they just saw on Sunday, and far too few on the street corner proclaiming the gospel. The work of the pastor is proclamation. Visitation (of the social, church member variety) is the job of the deacons.

Now, there is absolutely a command in scripture for the sick, widows, shut-ins, etc. Should they "call for the elders" (pastors) of the church to come and pray with them, this is part of the pastors job. Visiting non-church members/lost for evangelism, is also a job of the pastors.

That being said, as a Christian (not as the office of pastor), it is perfectly o.k. to visit, as long as it does not cut into your duties as pastor, husband, and father.

 

Methinks you have leapethed to a conclusion ... erroneously.

Galatians 6, NASB
9 Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.
10 So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.​

And how do we do good?

James 1
26 If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless.
27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.​

What is not in the Bible is this ...

Hint: You missed the point. We're talking about those who are sick, hospitalized, homebound, or in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. They weren't in church Sunday.

Street preaching isn't in the Bible. If someone is called to that, wonderful. He/she will do the Lord's work. But no pastor of a church of any size has time to add this to his weekly itinerary.

Partially correct. If he has time, certainly. Which of them does? Very, very few. It is the job of the elders and the body of Christ.

I think, just as with street preaching, you will be hard pressed to find biblical support for that statement.

Nice of you to give them permission. I'm sure they were waiting for that.

 

You lost me when you said over a thousand members. How one man deals with over a thousand people who want to pull him in all different directions is beyond me. Kudos to any man that can though.

I've spent most my Christian life trying to get closer to Christ Personally. Never had a pastor to call on me....and never needed it. If you have a close relationship with Christ it shouldn't matter if the pastor has time to call on you or not. I don't need a Pastor to hold my hand through everything..I only need :jesus:

 

Personal visits are good, when possible. But I suspect many of us would be happy with a brief phone call or an e-mail. It sends a positive message that we are not being neglected.

 

"In their AFFLICTION"


And when, pray tell, are we to visit them?


Jas_5:14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

:tonofbricks:

Act 17:17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.


Act_17:22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.

Acts 6: Stephen was street preaching...

Most of Jesus' Ministry was street preaching...

Pretty much ALL of Paul and Peter's ministry was street preaching...

Evangelism is a primary function of the Pastor/elders. If he does not evangelize, he has no business in the pulpit.

Street preaching is pretty much the entire New Testament. It is practically the only kind of evangelism there is...you would be "hard pressed" to not see that...

 

Separate passages, separate applications. You want to make them be the same thing, and they are not. Certainly they don't have to be. Affliction has nothing to do with the James 1 passage.

Wrong. Most of His ministry was in the synagogues. His impromptu ministry in the streets and the countryside was fomented by the ever-clinging scribes and Pharisees, who followed Him around trying to trip Him up so as to accuse Him to the Council.

Wrong. They, too, preached in the synagogues, and in the churches that sprang up in their wake.

Really? Then why does Paul list them as separate gifts?

Ephesians 4, NASB
11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,
12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; [Emphasis added]​

Seems you spoke without knowing.

Again, as I've said, wrong.

No, you are hard pressed to see something that isn't there. Street preaching is evangelism, yes, but it is only a very small portion of true evangelism. Most evangelism is done one-on-one, as we engage those in our world one person at a time. We are all called to be evangelists.

Clearly the biblical method of evangelism is the faithful proclamation of the truth of Scripture in conjunction with the living testimony of those who have been changed by that truth. When Jesus went about teaching the gospel message of salvation, He taught love and forgiveness, being kind and compassionate. But He went to sinners in order to convict them of their sins. Remember . . . the very first word Jesus said when He began His ministry was “Repent!” “From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near" (Matthew 4:17). We are commissioned to bring that same message to the world, speaking the truth in love from a heart changed by the Savior, almost always, one person at a time.

Done here.

 

Bravo Herald!!! :thumbs:

 

My friend, you are wrong... the word "affliction" is right in the same verse!!

And, it is the same letter.

Jas 1:27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

Try again. :tonofbricks:

At this point, I am wondering if you have even read the book of Acts. I am not going to argue with you. Paul abandoned the synagogues...

Yeah, in those synagogues called "marketplace" and "Areopagus"....oh wait, "Areopagus" was the name of the first mega-church, right?

Gifts and office are entirely different things. A pastor should have the "gifts" of teaching, preaching, administration, and evangelism....but his "office" is pastor.

Seems you have a major problem. I guess since pastors are not supposed to "evangelize" they are not supposed to "teach" either??

You are digging yourself in very, very deep! :tonofbricks:
Again, as I've said, wrong.

Hogwash. Almost all of the evangelism we see in the New Testament, is Jesus and the apostles standing up in a public place, and proclaiming the truth. "one to one" is VERY rare, compared to street preaching in the NT. Nothing wrong with it, but you notice when Paul is talking about people being saved, he expressly uses a word that refers to a HERALD....a loud proclamation...

Rom 10:14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

Notice that Paul takes it for granted, that evangelism will be by "preaching"...

Keep digging!

Good. You are rambling completely unbiblical silliness. Jesus taught being "kind and compassionate", while He stood on the street and called the Pharisees "sons of the devil"?

When Jesus said those words, "Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand"...notice He was PREACHING those words....so no, you are wrong. The NORM of Biblical evangelism is public street proclamation. "Being nice to people" is not evangelism.Plenty of Buddhists are "nice" to people...this tells no one anything about Christ. Good works only serve to confirm the words that we proclaim.