Ins And Outs Of Visitation

A thriving Church, if it has one minister, is thought to have an upper limit of 150 people attending on a Sunday. Under my ministr(ies), Sunday attendances have from time to time broken through that upper limit -- sometimes over some period of time. Now, this post is about visitation in such a Church. I aimed for one visit a day. Now one would think that this would go far -- everyone should get a visit twice a year. But consider that most visits are not "regular" visits -- which is to say, a minister is not going through the membership list one by one, but he or she pays many visits as the need arises. Then, I have found that just one major crisis may easily require twenty visits -- say, a death in the family. To help me keep my "forward motion" going, I have asked office secretaries to make one appointment for me each week with someone I did not see during the previous, say, six months -- certainly during the last year. In addition, I have had several visitation weeks each year, when I have not preached, but have focused more on visitation. And always, I have done Christmas visits. There are, of course, many responsibilities apart from visitation. OBSERVATION: It has been my custom to consult the Church Meeting about my visitation, always, so that the Meeting knows what to expect, and can bring any desired emphasis to my attention. In a Congregational Church, of course, visitation is considered mandatory for all, not just the minister. Curiously, "regular" visitation is not considered mandatory for a minister in the Congregational Church.