I have to admit that I love the 'haus besuch' (even if we meet in a coffee shop most of the time). I've been an elder for only 2 years, but this is certainly the highlight of the job for me. Having an excuse to call on fellow members of our church and check in with them and share stories from each other's lives and see where God is (or is not) revealing Himself is pretty powerful.
I would certainly recognize the limits to a one-time bi-annual visit, but I believe there is power in the act of the church reaching out to individual members and asking 'how's life?'.
This has struck me as being especially true of the under 30 crowd as they don't generallly like to make longer term commitments (hesitant to sign up for small groups) and are asking if the church really cares about them. Not 'them' as a group, but 'them' as an individual or couple.
Posted in: How Do You Conduct an Effective and Useful Home Visit?
I have to admit that I love the 'haus besuch' (even if we meet in a coffee shop most of the time). I've been an elder for only 2 years, but this is certainly the highlight of the job for me. Having an excuse to call on fellow members of our church and check in with them and share stories from each other's lives and see where God is (or is not) revealing Himself is pretty powerful.
I would certainly recognize the limits to a one-time bi-annual visit, but I believe there is power in the act of the church reaching out to individual members and asking 'how's life?'.
This has struck me as being especially true of the under 30 crowd as they don't generallly like to make longer term commitments (hesitant to sign up for small groups) and are asking if the church really cares about them. Not 'them' as a group, but 'them' as an individual or couple.
Anyway, just a thought.