According to Church Historian Scott Manetsch, under Calvin’s leadership, family visitation was developed to a much greater degree than ever before in the history of the Christian Church.  While Calvin most certainly placed a great deal of emphasis on the centrality of preaching of the Word of God by means of lectio continua, he was also a strong advocate, early in his theological and pastoral career, for the faithfulness on the part of all the pastors and ruling elders in visiting members of the local congregation.

Last time, we spoke briefly about home visitations in the early Church and among the Church Fathers, and ended in the 13th century, when the Lateran Council of 1215 decreed that private confession to a priest supplanted the long-standing practice of family visitation.

Let’s fast forward to the Diet of Spires (or, Speyer), which was convened in February of 1544 by Emperor Charles V, in an attempt to quell the raging theological disputes of that era. Martin Bucer planned to write a treatise setting forth the validity of the Reformation to the Emperor, but decided against it; in essence, he said to John Calvin, “John, why don’t you do it? I’m really busy right now.” Well, that might not be exactly historically accurate, but you get the point.

J.K.S. Reid explains, “Calvin with astonishing energy and speed himself took the matter in hand, and by the end of the year 1543…he had prepared a document which Beze in his Life of Calvin (Vita Calvini) judges to be among the most vigorous and weighty writings of the age.”[1] That is historically accurate. That document has come down to us under the title “The Necessity of Reforming the Church.”

Without a doubt, that work is a tour de force and ought to be read and reread by all serious Protestant pastors and their respective Sessions, Consistories, and Boards. It would also be beneficial for the heads of households to digest what Calvin wrote. It is a stunning apologetic for Presbyterian and Reformed faith. Contained in that treatise is an impassioned plea for the centrality of scriptural doctrine and its practical application, a proper view of the sacraments of the Church, which was central to Calvin’s theology, the best (most biblical) method of governing the Church, and family visitation, among other things.

According to Church Historian Scott Manetsch, under Calvin’s leadership, family visitation was developed to a much greater degree than ever before in the history of the Christian Church.[2] While Calvin most certainly placed a great deal of emphasis on the centrality of preaching of the Word of God by means of lectio continua, he was also a strong advocate, early in his theological and pastoral career, for the faithfulness on the part of all the pastors and ruling elders in visiting members of the local congregation.

He was acutely aware of how beneficial and essential family visitation was for the development of the spiritual life and edification of a local Christian body of believers. Over time, home visitation became the common currency wherever Reformed churches were established.[3] A daunting example of Calvin practicing what he preached is that his Geneva congregation was visited four times per year. During those visits, pointed questions were asked about each member’s spiritual life and the family’s spiritual health. Lord willing, I will include some suggested questions that I have used during my active ministries.

Is it necessary to continue the pastoral practice of family visitation in the twenty-first century? I would answer that question in the affirmative for a number of pastoral reasons. With the advent of the mega-church movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s, both pastors and congregants began to experience anonymity. The unspoken idea was that bigger was actually better; the larger the congregation, the more the unvarnished biblical truth was being preached and taught. I often heard from those who attended very large congregations, “Well, they must be doing something right.” But was that actually the case? Were those churches inevitably telling those present what God wanted them to hear? Were those churches actually feeding God’s people by preaching biblical sermons and teaching them the great things of God, or were they tickling the ears of the so-called “seekers”? I call them so-called seekers because Romans 3:11 is still in our English translations of the Bible: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.”

Modern Christian survey after modern Christian survey points to the result that numerous contemporary professing Christians are abysmally ignorant of even the most elementary, rudimentary, and fundamental truths of the traditional Christian faith. It ought to be a serious embarrassment to every pastor and church leadership board that their congregants are so ill-informed.

With all that has been going on in the contemporary Christian Church, one might think there would be a concerted effort to right the ecclesiastical ship, and, without doubt, there are still many congregations that are being fed and nourished by the faithful preaching of the Word of God. They are being taught well, but it is also true that in many of those same congregations, the congregants are not being visited in their homes. What would it take for pastors and Sessions, Consistories, or Boards to once again make a concerted effort to incorporate family visitations in their pastoral duties? Are there spiritual benefits that accrue to those who make regular, consistent, and systematic family visitations part of what their local church endorses and practices?

In answer to the first question above, I suppose that some pastors are so entrenched in rejecting home visitation as part of their pastoral armamentarium that only a seismic, catastrophic event could shake them out of their dogmatic rejection of the ancient practice. If the concern is merely how many noses can be counted on any given Sunday, then the answer is clear and obvious. But if the concern is truly the spiritual well-being of those entrusted into one’s care by God, then the answer ought to be different. Ought to be.

I realize that some congregations are so large that making this adjustment would require a great deal of revamping, concentrated effort and thought, and extensive logistical fine-tuning before it could become a reality. Nonetheless, while all the pondering is taking place, there will be widows, widowers, shut-ins, those in nursing homes, and those in hospice who go without the requisite pastoral care.

My father was in a nursing home for a number of years before he passed into the next life. I learned during that time how many like my father never get a visit from their pastor or priest. My dad was a five-minute walk from where the priests in his town lived. No one ever took the time in 7 years to walk those five minutes to his nursing home and visit him. Statistically, most elderly people in nursing homes never get a visit from anyone, let alone anyone in ecclesiastical leadership.

I will cover the “mechanics” of a family/home visitation in a subsequent installment. Suffice it to say at this juncture that it is not rocket science, but it is more important than rocket science, since eternal destinies hang in the balance.

Sadly, few pastoral theology books today dedicate a chapter to family visitation, and it is rare for even conservative seminaries to cover this subject in any substantive detail. A former mentor and friend from Holland, Dr. Cees Trimp, took home visitation by the pastor seriously, and he not only taught his students well but also wrote extensively on the subject. In subsequent installments, I will walk the reader through some of his instructions in his book Caring for the Congregation (Dutch: Zorgen voor de Gemeente). The work went through 3 printings. I believe the serious reader, whether pastor, ruling elder, or deacon, will benefit immensely from Trimp’s thoughts and directions on the importance of every family in a local congregation being visited and ministered to on a spiritual basis. In addition, everyone will benefit from his insights on daily family worship leading up to the celebration of the Christian Sabbath.

Ron Gleason is a retired Minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church; he lives in Bluffton, SC.

[1] John Calvin, Calvin: Theological Treatises, (J.K.S. Reid [ed. & trans.]), (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1954), 183.

[2] See Scott M. Manetsch, Calvin’s Company of Pastors, Pastoral Care and the Emerging Reformed Church, 1516-1609, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013).

[3] See the formidable writing of Martin Bucer, Concerning the True Care of Souls, (Peter Beale, [trans.]), (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 2009).