HAVE THINGS CHANGED?
The first twenty-five to thirty years of my work as a preacher we always had “Visitation Night.” Gen-erally it was on Monday night because that was a good time to follow up on those who visited services on Sunday, or follow up on those who were out for various reasons. Usually we would meet at 6:30 or 7:00 p.m., choose up teams (two members together), pass out cards and go visiting. We would then come back to the building for do-nuts and coffee to discuss our visits. In many congregations that has become Monday Night for the Master.
Visitation over the years has become a lost art. Our general thought is, “People are busy” or “they don’t want someone knocking on their door at night” or “they have small children and they are getting them ready for school the next day.” Whatever the reason, it seems that we are not visiting as we should. How many elders have heard, “I was sick and nobody came to see me?”
The Bible teaches us to visit. Note the following scripture:
Matthew 25:36, “…I was sick and ye visited me…”
James 1:27, “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the father-less and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”
Gal. 6:1-2, “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.”Do these verses not imply visiting?
Are we concerned about our brothers and sisters in Christ? Isn’t that the elder’s job to check on these people? The elders have the responsibility of overseeing the flock (1 Pet. 5:1-4; Acts 20:28), but all should be concerned about one another. Perhaps it can be summed up by this passage, “…But by love serve one another” (Gal. 5:13).
Larry