Visiting in an Age of Mission: A Handbook for Person–to–Person Ministry

In his classic work Twelve Keys to an Effective Church, Kennon Callahan highlights the critical role visiting plays in a congregationÕs ministry a role that has grown even more important in an age when so many do not participate in the life of the church. Here he presents a full–length practical guide to visiting, both within the congregation and in the community at large. "A visit is a sign of hope and promise. As you visit, you share the good news. People take hope. They discover life has promise. They know someone cares––deeply––for them."

He organizes the book into five steps that will help you grow in your visiting:

Discovering those whom God is inviting you to visit Choosing your ways of visiting Deciding the best timing Growing your gifts for visiting Building your mission Going beyond classifications of "churched" and "unchurched" persons, Callahan urges us to visit with all persons in of our community.
The book describes fourteen key forms of visiting, from the time–honored methods of home and work visits to the modern, high–tech approaches of direct mail and audio and video cassettes. It also discusses "the best timing" –– why some times of the year, and of life, are better than others for visiting.

Finally Callahan provides invaluable lessons on how we can develop our own gifts and graces for visiting. Through pragmatic exercises and sample dialog, he teaches us not only how to help persons with their specific hurts and hopes, but also how to build friendships and share the joy and caring of God′s mission.

"Let our visiting be like a sacrament. Let our visiting be a sign of grace, of compassion, of community, of hope. Let us run with unflinching purpose the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus." Kennon Callahan, Visiting in an Age of Mission

Acknowledgements ix

Introduction xi

Step One: The Persons

1 A Joyful Invitation 3

2 Choosing Whom to Visit 9

3 An Amazing Mission 15

Step Two: Ways of Visiting

4 Visiting Possibilities 25

5 Personal Visiting 31

6 Visiting in Gatherings 42

7 Special Ways of Visiting 47

Step Three: The Best Timing

8 A Simple Approach 59

9 Life Stages and Celebrative Events 68

Step Four: Your Gifts for Visiting

10 Gifts and Graces 79

11 Training and Praying 86

12 Suggestions for Visiting 92

13 Excellent Sprinters, Solid Marathon Runners 102

Step Five: Building Your Mission

14 Your Visiting Outreach 109

15 The Congregation s Witness 118

16 The Pastor Visits 128

17 Sacrament and Cloud 135

KENNON L. CALLAHAN, ??researcher, professor, and pastor?is one of today′s most sought–after church consultants. He has worked with thousands of congregations around the world and has helped tens of thousands of church leaders and pastors through his dynamic workshops and seminars. Author of many books, he is best known for his groundbreaking study Twelve Keys to an Effective Church, which has formed the basis for the Mission Growth Movement, a widely acclaimed program for church renewal. Callahan has earned the B.A., M.Div., S.T.M., and Ph.D. degrees. His doctorate is in Systematic Theology. He has served both rural and urban congregations in Ohio, Texas, and Georgia and taught for many years at Emory University. Ken and his wife of over forty years, Julie, have two children, Ken and Mike, and three grandchildren, Blake, Mason, and Brice. They enjoy the outdoors, hiking, horseback riding, and camping.