Taking the Fear Out of Visitation
"Visitation" scares a lot of people. But it doesn't have to, as Beaver Dam Baptist Church in Kentucky discovered.
"When people think of visitation, they imagine an evangelistic, soul-winning visit," says Michael McCool, minister of education and youth. "Many people fear having to present their testimony to strangers."
But there are, he notes, other kinds of visitation: the awareness visit, the counseling visit, the redemptive visit, the fellowship visit, and the ministry visit.
"Our staff analyzed the various visitation needs we had," says McCool. "To the list above, we added prospect visitation, contact with those regularly absent, and hospital and homebound visits."
What the church has done is to specify one day each week as Visitation Day. Then they set up a "Visitation Board," a bulletin board divided up by the different visits that need to be made.
Under each category, thumbtacked cards give the name, address, and other pertinent information about the person or family. On Visitation Day, people come by the church from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., take names off the board, and pick up written material to leave with those they visit.
"We've had good success with our board," says McCool. "We've found people who are good at making hospital visits, people who are gifted at making 'cold' prospect visits, and those who are good at redeeming chronic absentees.
"The Visitation Board removes some of the fear. People are better able to use the abilities God has given them. What often happens is that visits become evangelistic even though they don't start that way."
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