God asks the church to be a community of people sharing a common purpose and fellowship, continually growing in faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God. Paul describes the church as “his body, the fullness of him who filleth every thing in every way” (Eph. 1:22).

In the church we are specifically asked to “bear one another’s burdens” (Gal. 6:12) and “encourage one another” (I Thess. 5:11). People come to the church because they believe that in the body of Christ they will be cared for, challenged to grow and supported in their times of difficulty. Yet, in today’s world, they often find the church as impersonal and uncaring as secular institutions.

A church faithful to the Bible is a caring church. It is a church that plans to care for its members and visitors. It is intentional about implementing the New Testament commands to “serve one another” (Gal. 5:13) and to be “devoted to one another” (Rom. 12:10) by organizing planned ministries of visitation.

Because every believer is called to ministry and gifted for a specific form of ministry (Eph. 4:11-12), the work of visiting church members in their homes is not restricted to professional pastors, but shared by all those who have the ability. Each visitation team member is as dedicated and equipped for this purpose as the pastor.