Visitation:
A Ministry of Love
A 1988 Gallup survey of 2,556 unchurched Americans revealed the following:
- Forty-four percent of U.S. adults are unchurched. They don't belong
to a church and have only visited one in the last 6 months for religious
holidays, weddings, or funerals.
- The unchurched are becoming increasingly receptive to what churches
have to offer. They stay away primarily because of inconvenience,
not hostility.
- Sixty-three percent believe the Bible is God's Word.
- Seventy-seven percent pray to God.
- Seventy-two percent believe Jesus is the Son of God.
- Fifty-eight percent could see themselves becoming actively involved
in a church today and are open to an invitation.
Gallup's conclusion: These people are ripe for harvest, but it will
take creative strategies to reach them.
Is a visitation ministry to guests, prospects, and fringe members important
to the growth of a church? Research reveals that both growing and non-growing
churches practice visitation. However, 76 percent of growing churches
maintain a weekly visitation program compared to 51 percent of churches
that have plateaued and 44 percent of declining churches (Hadaway, C.
Kirk. Church Growth Principles: Separating Fact from Fiction.
Nashville: Broadman, 1991, pp. 21-23).
Lyle Schaller said that visitation is "the second most effective single
approach to evangelism today" (Parish Planning. Nashville: Abingdon
Press, 1971, p. 214). Kennon Callahan identifies visitation as one of
the 12 keys to an effective church (Twelve Keys to an Effective Church.
San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1983, pp. 11-23).
While some churches can and do grow without a visitation strategy,
the majority grow because they have an established visitation program.
Further research reveals that regular contact with prospects directly
relates to the growth of a church. Keeping and working updated prospect
files is a characteristic of growing churches. According to Hardaway,
these churches have higher growth rates and higher conversion/baptism
rates (21-23).
Churches that actively seek to identify and make appropriate contact
with viable prospects are more likely to grow by true conversions.
Guests of worship services and Sunday school classes are impressed
when they receive a visit within 48 hours of their attendance. The visit
shows that the church cares.
Visitation is still an effective church growth method. Although cold
call, unannounced visits to strangers may not work, visiting guests
and fringe members is worthwhile.
Visitation must include personal contact with individuals wherever
it is appropriate and productive. This may be in a home, over lunch,
during a work break, riding on a bus, at a fitness center, or over a
back yard fence. We build relationships in order to love them into the
kingdom of God.
By definition personal visitation is an intentional direct encounter
by an individual with another person for the purpose of getting to know
them, understanding and addressing their needs, providing encouragement
and assistance in the name of Jesus, and expressing through word and/or
deed the constant love and care of God.
These guidelines will help you develop an effective visitation ministry
in your church:
1. Make a commitment to care for people. Identify with the mission
of Christ who came to "seek and to save the lost" (Luke 19:10) and to
"minister and not be ministered unto" (Matthew 20:28).
A visitation ministry demonstrates the personal interest that Jesus
modeled. In our fast-paced, high-tech, impersonal society, people still
need a human touch. Visitation expresses sincere interest in people
and affirms their worth.
The Church is responsible for initiating and developing relationships
with the unchurched, the hurting, and the lost.
2. Evaluate your church visitation ministry. A church is healthy
if it contacts a number of people equal to 20 percent of its morning
worship attendance. Ten percent of these contacts are usually with regular
attenders. The other 10 percent are unchurched an new families. Based
on the Church Growth Spiral, an effective visitation strategy makes
weekly contact with 50 percent of the Sunday school enrollment. Of this
number 80 percent should be those who are enrolled but who are absent
or need ministry. Twenty percent should be prospects not yet enrolled.
If the enrollment is 200, make 100 contacts per week. Of the 100 contacts,
80 should be those enrolled and 20 those not enrolled.
3. Organize for visitation. Sunday school provides an excellent
structure for visitation ministry. It is organized by age-level, and
its weekly meetings make it easy to maintain accurate, current records
on each person. Sunday school exists for people. Its goal is to reach,
nurture, and disciple.
Consider dividing your Sunday school enrollment into care groups of
five to eight people. Each care group is responsible to maintain contact
with its group. Give care groups the names of two or three prospects.
Some prospects will only attend worship services. Others will be fringe
attenders, guests, or friends, relatives or neighbors of members.
The Church Growth Spiral suggests each class should have an outreach
coordinator. This person oversees the care groups and coordinates visitation
ministry in the class.
Another visitation strategy is the G.R.O.W. team idea. Divide your
church or classes into four groups: Green, Red, Orange, and White. Each
team visits for a week or a month. The rotation involves as many people
as possible. Anyone who encounters other people, planned or spontaneous,
and has the desire to learn about, understand, and assist those persons
can be used in visitation ministry.
4. Plan weekly visitation. Weekly visitation is not monthly;
but monthly visitation is weak. Intentional, regular visitation ministry
is the key. Members left to visit church guests at their convenience
seldom do. Support and accountability are essential. Growing churches
visit weekly.
Visitation builds relationships and meets needs in Christian love.
Provide multiple, various opportunities for the visitation of prospects,
meeting them where they are.
Well-planned, organized, weekly visitation will bring life and excitement
to a church and keep it from becoming self-serving and stagnant.
5. Leaders must be involved. This includes pastors and lay leaders.
Leadership must equip and mobilize others for ministry while setting
the example by accepting personal visitation assignments. Leaders set
the example, but they should not be responsible to do all the visitation.
6. Establish and maintain a prospect list. Begin with the names
of visitors. Ask regular attenders to write down names and addresses
of three people they know who do not regularly attend Bible study or
worship.
7. Incorporate variety in your visitation ministry. Some people
are excellent at personal visitation. Others are better at writing notes
or letters. Still others relate only to certain types of people. A few
are better at making phone calls. The more people you involve, the more
effective your visitation ministry will be.
Some churches have used the Bakers of Men idea effectively. Skilled
people bake cookies or breads, and those effective at personal evangelism
deliver them.
8. Visitation is a care ministry and takes time. Callahan suggests
that it takes between five and nine visits with a viable prospect before
he responds fully. He also said, "It is important to realize that the
purpose of the visit with unchurched families is not to get them into
the church. The focus in on being the church with them where they are
rather than on seeking to get them to come to church on Sunday morning.
This self-giving approach is the most responsible form of mission visitation."
Consider visitation ministry a process of extending God's love to people.
It is planting, cultivating, and nurturing relationships with people
so they will reach out for the Giver of abundant life, Jesus.
Be flexible in developing the strategy for visitation that works in
your community. Visitation is a priority. Although it is not always
easy, its rewards are eternal.
