Some people have told me, “We tried that visitation stuff, but we just couldn’t get enough people involved to make it work.” Others shared, “We tried, but so many people were not at home on the nights we tried visitation.” Others have said, “People just don’t like to be bothered when they get home.” Then I finally got an honest answer, “Visitation intimidates me, I just do not like to do it. I am afraid they are going to ask me something I cannot answer. So I just leave that up to the pastor and deacons.”
So how should we approach visitation?
- Yes we should go.
- We must make visitation a priority for Sunday School.
- We should pray intensely before we go.
- We should seek to make appointments before we go.
- We should give everyone an opportunity to be involved in some fashion. Some can make visits; some write cards; some make phone calls; some pray; some provide food; some care for children.
- We should give everyone an opportunity to celebrate the results.
- We should be organized to visit prospects, member ministry needs, friends not involved in Bible study, and those who have been inactive for whatever reason.
- We should always be ready to share our testimony including a Gospel presentation when we visit.
I can truthfully say that God will indeed bless your efforts. But you must also remember you may not see immediate results. You will see impact, both in your life and in the lives of those you contact. Those in secular marketing tell us it takes an average of thirteen contacts to make and close a sale. We in the church have to understand it make take longer to reach some folks with the Gospel. We must not be discouraged. BECAUSE there are still some who are just waiting for you to come.
I still recall families who had prepared coffee cake or some other treat for us because we announced on Sunday morning we were going have visitation on Tuesday night. When we got there, they greeted us saying, “We knew you were coming and we are glad to see you.”
AND I can count on one hand the number of times in 40 years of visitation; we have been turned away when we got to a home. It still works if we choose to go.
My research, discussed in Make Your Group grow, is that groups that participate in visitation are about 70% more likely to grow. So, yes it does work. It is not as big a correlation as having a party a month, however.
Josh Hunt
http://www.joshhunt.com
Keily, great ideas. The Great Commission says GO…and God blesses churches that go.
I am still undecided on making appointments. It seems like we eliminate a lot of potential visits when we seek to make appointments. I do agree that the visits are usually better though. But even if no one is home, you still can leave a note that is just as good as if not better than a card being sent through the mail.
Bottom line, GO!
I understand Mark. I think that in this day and age we need to call ahead, even though for most of my ministry we would show up at homes. I have a friend who is looking for a church home. She greatly appreciates churches that call ahead for an appointment. The greater concern is that she rarely receives a visit, phone call, or card at all!
Kiely, your comments reminded me of a day during one of our FAITH outreach nights. It was one those nights that was stormy and most of our teams did not come to the church. We discussed the wisdom of going out that night. One team members said, “This is what we are training to do, let’s go see what God will do with us tonight.” We formed two teams that desired to go despite the weather. Standing on a small back porch with a yellow bug light shining and bugs flying all around, a man came to the door. The gospel was shared and he found Jesus Christ as his Savior that night. The man made this comment, “Only God could sent you here to me on a night like this.”
Thanks Kiely, for reminding us hat visitation still works. The command to GO as not changed.