Pastoral Visitation: For the Care of Souls (Lexham Ministry Guides)
Pastoral Visitation for the Care of Souls
Christ comes to, and through, his people.
Many consider pastoral visitation antiquated and impractical. People seem busier than ever, and technology appears to trivialize personal contact. As a result, personal visits are often reserved only for the gravest of situations.
Tyler C. Arnold argues that pastoral visitation is essential to the pastoral role. In Scripture, God visits his people to show his personal interest and concern. This is seen most clearly in the incarnation. Christ’s ministry is one of presence. But Jesus is not only an example of visitation ministry; he is the embodiment of it. And in visitation, pastors and laypeople continue Jesus’s ministry by bringing Christ to the individual in their very place of need.
Established in strong theological foundations and sensitive to contemporary concerns, Pastoral Visitation exhorts pastors to return to this classic method of individual soul-care.
Praise for Pastoral Visitation
This excellent pastoral handbook by Tyler Arnold is therefore most timely in its winsome, practical approach to this fraught issue. It is also most helpful in grounding pastoral visitations on the ministry of Jesus and the apostles and promoting their purpose to bring Jesus to people personally, each in their own situation, by listening to them to discern what is on their hearts, praying for them in keeping with what they have heard, and blessing them there wherever they may be on their journey through life. Oh, how I wish I had something like this when I began to work as a pastor!
—John W. Kleinig, Emeritus lecturer, Australian Lutheran College, Adelaide; author Wonderfully Made: A Protestant Theology of the Body
Lexham Ministry Guides
The Lexham Ministry Guides, edited by Harold L. Senkbeil, offer practical, proven wisdom for the church. But wisdom takes time. The authors in this series developed their wisdom through years of ministry experience and conversations with colleagues. These books invite you to enter into these conversations to better serve the Savior’s sheep and lambs with confidence. You will find hands-on tools, lessons from years of ministry experience, and an array of resources to apply to your own ministry context.
Learn more about the other titles in this series.
- God’s Visitation: Jesus at the Center
- The Pastor’s Visitation: God’s Work as Identity
- God’s Story in Our Story: Using Liturgy and Listening
- Preparing for Pastoral Visitation: Things to Consider
- Doing Pastoral Visitation: Making It Work
- Pastoral Visitation: Five Situations
- Title: Pastoral Visitation: For the Care of Souls
- Author: Tyler C. Arnold
- Series: Lexham Ministry Guides
- Series Editor: Harold L. Senkbeil
- Publisher: Lexham Press
- Publication Date: 2022
- Pages: 232
- Format: Logos Digital, Hardcover
- Trim Size: 4.25x7
- ISBN: 9781683596233
About Tyler C. Arnold
Tyler C. Arnold is senior pastor of Christ Lutheran Church in Platte Woods, Missouri, and a fellow on the Collegium of Pastors for DOXOLOGY: The Lutheran Center for Spiritual Care and Counsel.
About Harold L. Senkbeil
Harold L. Senkbeil is executive director emeritus of DOXOLOGY: The Lutheran Center for Spiritual Care. His pastoral experience of nearly five decades includes parish ministry, the seminary classroom, and parachurch leadership. He is author of numerous books, including award-winning The Care of Souls, Christ and Calamity, and Dying to Live.
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Jacob Swenson
4/2/2024
Schultz, Jonah
1/30/2024
David Leslie Bond
2/14/2023
