Furthermore, I am troubled by the breakdown you had of the pastors work week that didn’t include personal biblical studies, prayer, or continued studies. When is the pastor supposed to do that? On their own time? Would it be fine if a pastor didn’t do those thing? You can’t expect a pastor to work 8 hrs at the church and then fail to count extra studies. And also, what about the 12+ hr work day on Sunday preaching, teaching, greeting, visiting, etc?

Aubrey Malphurs wrote a piece last year on the 13 Deadly Sins of a Dying Church. And the worst problem he says, from his perspective as a church consultant, is the church that expects the senior pastor to visit ever member and keep them happy. It’s a narcissistic disease.

I too have enjoyed his articles, and like you, I wondered if it was serious. I kept waiting for a “Hah, just kidding!” But no. Totally unironic.

Blessings!

Because oversight is just part of a biblical church, right? So that the pastors can shepherd the souls the flock for which they will give an account. Then they know how to pray, counsel, and preach to their assembly of believers. In that oversight, which happens about once a year for our church, the pastor offers very little of his own personal life, other than to help the member.

But visitation in the sense of getting to know one another, praying for each other, sharing lives…well EVERY member should be doing that with every other member. In that sort of visiting, both parties share their lives, and the pastor is not exempt! Though my husband isn’t a pastor, we know all the members of our church (about 150, plus their children) and most of them, we know pretty well. We have them in our home for the Lord’s Day, we have never had a holiday without at least one family from church joining us, we have people frequently in our guest room, we rarely leave church less than an hour after the end of the service or prayer meeting…because we are supposed to minister to one another! Certainly no one thinks the pastor is the only church member who is supposed to get to know people! If that’s the case, it’s no wonder there is little fellowship in many churches, and no wonder Dr. Rainer felt a need to write about it. I wonder if that’s the type of visitation he had in mind, a social “checking in” in place of relationships within the church, and that “one anothering” being assigned to a pastor and no one else.

If proper oversight is happening, then social fellowship visits should be *every* member’s responsibility and privilege. If deliberate oversight isn’t happening, then I don’t know how the church even functions, because the pastors have to know the people in order to preach, pray, and serve them. Pastors oversee, but EVERYONE fellowships and ministers.

I agree with you about the Baxter model. We need to adapt it to today but there are timeless principles in it. I think your visitation rate is appropriate and wise in a congregation of that size.

Regarding prayer, I’ve tried a few approaches:

1. A special time on Saturday evening (after sermon prep was complete) when I would pray for 20-25 families/households at a time. In my last congregation that meant I prayer for the whole congregation every 5 weeks.

2. I pray for five families/households a day as part of my normal prayer time.

3. I try to pray for households as I drive past them in my community.

I’ve come to prefer #2 over #1 and do try to do #3 in addition although it means praying for some more than others as some people live nearer me than others.