Role of a Pastor.

It's not just up to the pastor to do the visiting.

 

No, that's not really the pastor's job. All members of the body are to be involved in this kind of thing. Along the way, people have come up with some abiblical expectations of their pastor. We need to carefully guard the work of the ministry.

Among the responsibilities given in Scripture, you will not find visiting church members. You will ministry of the word, pray, study, leading, ruling, shepherding, among others. Some of those may dovetail with visitation, but visitation is not a requirement.

 

visitation is not the pastor's duty, except for some exceptions, such as illness. the pastor is engaged enough with studying God's word, and endeavoring to teach truth, and watching that wolves don't get into the pen, and prayer.
if at all, duties like that should be handled by the deacons, or the men's groups, if you have any, who should come together with the pastor and discuss their visitations and the needs of the flock as to prayer or exhortation.
pastoral visitation sometimes develops into familiarity which often is misconstrued as favoritism and can lead to jealousy, or even gossip.

 

As another poster has pointed out, have you invited him over? If he is new to the congregation, you should have done so by now -- for supper or coffee. Christian hospitality.

 

How d you know if the first member he called or visited didn't cuss him out and tell him it wasn't his job?

A lot of this is personality of the man himself. Because I stutter heavily (that's the excuse I give) I am a very withdrawn, introvert type. I don't visit and usually don't engage in idle chat. I get to Church early and usually stay in the office (on BB). I admit, I'm not very sociable mostly because the only thing I can talk fluently about is the Bible. I do however show up in their times of need. I don't stay long but I do stop over and take my wife who usually does most of the talking.

I do have friends who go as far as throw house parties where they invite their members over. I could not see myself doing that. I always accept any invitation from a member to visit their home, event or kids play/gratuation etc... If they invite I do show up if I can.

 

In our urban society, it is not only that the pastor always has to set priorities among competing tasks -- care for those in crisis, enlistment of new members, administering building and budget and program, preparing for teaching and preaching, taking assignments in the denomination, etc. -- all of which militate against "routine" visits to church members who are not presenting any need. It is also that he will not even find most of them at home during the daytime, and would find that some of them would not want him to come during evening or weekend hours -- they are that private.

So let him work by keeping his ears to the ground and discerning who needs to be visited when. I was at my pastorate for twenty years and was never in the homes of some of my most active members, because there was never any need to be there. Hospital visits, office counseling sessions, phone calls about church business ... but not a visit just to visit.

 

It is definitely not a biblical qualification to pet the sheep like you are saying. If "he" is the new one in the community, "he" shouldnt be expected to go to the church members.

As a pastor's wife, I know that there are expectations on a pastor that might be nice, but not necessarily biblical and this is one of them. When someone is sick, hurting, grieving, celebrating, or whatever, he is there. But there are some little ladies that are just plain mad at him because he doesnt come and have coffee with them.

Many times church folks have an idea of what a pastor should be, and it doesnt matter what scripture says, thats the way it should be, lol.

 

Paul held up his manner of pastoring as an example for the Ephesian elder's to follow, saying that he taught publicly and from house to house. Acts 20:20

 

1) Regular Visitation: Only if invited. The pastor should be available to respond to needs in the congregation, and if a person requires a visit, that person should let the pastor know. Showing up on the doorstep might be considered rude in many areas.

2) Phone calls: if a need arises. The pastor should be reachable, but I'd prefer not to have a telemarking minister.

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I don't think it is his "duty" to make social calls. If you want to visit with the pastor, call him and set up a time to meet.

 

They worshiped in homes at that time.

 

Sounds to me like you are wanting us to justify for you a reason to be upset with your pastor.

It is not the responsiblity of the pastor alone to visit folks. If you want him to come over give him a call or invite him over sometime, I would bet he would come.

 

"Publicly" and "house to house" means "corporately" and "privately".

That being said, Cix, I think you're a little impatient or maybe think of yourself a little more highly than you ought. C'mon, it's only been six months. Six months is only unreasonable if you have less than 10 members in your congregation.

 

Before I was pastoring a pastor would not have found me home in the evening very often. I was leading Bible studies during the week which I had started. When I started pastoring I was amazed at how many in the congregation felt as though they were paying me to visit them. In the first church I pastored I knocked on 75 to 200 doors each month. I usually took someone with me when I could. When I started doing that, the ministry changed for the people. It went from a church of ten people that was dying to a church that now owns 20 acres and doing well.

The question you should be asking is: Who can you name who is living for Jesus Christ because of your life? It is not about you or the pastor but about dying to self and letting Christ increase in your life. Too many pastors are encumbered by those who want a baby sitter. In one church I pastored the church grew form 90 to 220 in the first 20 months with mostly new believers. I had very little time for anyone else other than trying to make sure the new believers were being discipled. I had two Bible studies I led besides pastoring. I preached three different sermons and sometimes four each week. Yet it was consistently the babies who had done nothing for years who complained about the growth and not being visited much. After one sermon there were two ladies talking with me and one told me she was glad when I came and the other told me that two pastors back visited her more often. The fact was that I had visited them twice in their home. One was thankful and had a tremendous impact when she was a lot younger. The other had never impacted anyone and liked to complain. In that came church was a man who was very sick and I was told had about a 10% chance to live through surgery. I visited that man everyday for a long time. When he got home and started coming to church he went from a bitter man to a man who started sharing his faith and never once complained again.

The Christian life is not about me but about dying to self and glorifying God in the process. When one is filled with the Holy Spirit he cannot be filled with self.

Sometime read http://www.discipleshiplibrary.com/pdfs/AA094.pdf

http://www.bibleteacher.org/Dm118_8.htm

 

I am having an open house for the week preceding Christmas for friends and neighbors to stop by for fellowship and Christmas snacks.

I know my pastor will stop by 'cause I baked his favorite cookies! :laugh:

My pastor is available in his church office anytime I want to call him or go talk to him. His members also have his cell phone and are encouraged to call him if they need him.

He is also the first one to come by in an emergency. If he is out of town, an Associate Pastor will come over.

I have known him to park outside of member's homes at night and pray for their needs when he has a burden.

He is very accessible, but he does not have the time to visit each and every member on a regular basis. He would never have time to prepare sermons if he did that, nor would he have any time for his own family.

I agree with the other posters. If you want to see your pastor invite him over for supper OR bake his favorite cookies... :love2:

 

Do shepherds feel they need to cater to the sheep...visiting them, playing with them...or watch over them? Do the sheep complain when the shepherd does what he's supposed to do?

 

LOL, webdog! Of course the sheep complain when the shepard is doing what he is supposed to do!

The grass is always greener in a different pasture....Mama sheep is running the show....there are too many lambs or not enough...the lambs are taking to much of the shepard's time......Old Grey needs shearing, why do you know what he did last week?....and on and on and on.......

 

Good point Sue, I never failed to stop by Mother Wilson when she made those meatballs with gravy. God rest her soul and those beautiful hands she cooked with.

As the only full time servant at our Church, I try to faithfully keep office hours so the building will be open and in case any wants to stop in. We have a food bank where I give out stuff to those who ask. I usually makes the mission folks mad because I never make them sign, give out too much and can't seem to keep the entire process strait. One big happy family!

 

I don't really have anything to add that everybody else hasn't already said.

It would be nice for him to come to see you, but it isn't a requirement and, depending on the size of your church and his obligations there, it might not be practical for him to take it upon himself to visit everybody.

Those who've suggested that you invite him for supper have a great idea. Not only would you get to know one another, but it would also be a nice break for him from a job that's very stressful.