Elders & Huis Bezoek
Author: teejtc / Category: ReligiousPlease enlighten me….
Although I’m not exactly a goal-oriented person, one of my goals this year is to help my elders and deacons embrace the calling of their offices more fully. One of the difficult things about that is the role of elders. Here’s the dilemma: Elders, in the reformed tradition, are responsible for the oversight and spiritual welfare of all members of the congregation. Often, throughout history, that has been accomplished (or presumed accomplished) through annual house visitations. The problem is, I’ve discerned two very distinct groups in our church: 1) People who believe elders (and, of course, the minister) ought to visit every home every year and are offended that we do not currently do that, and 2) people who believe elders (and, of course, the minister) ought not to do home visits unless invited and are offended at the idea that we would invite ourselves over.
Both groups, not surprisingly, are age-defined. The former generally includes the older people in my congregation and the later generally includes the younger. (There are, of course, exceptions.)
I am not convinced that the time-honored Huis Bezoek is actually effective, nor am I convinced that it isn’t. Surely the biggest problem is to convince elders to actually care about the members of the congregation and convince the congregation that the elders actually do care about them.
What do you think? Should elders (and possibly, the minister) do annual visitations? Is it effective? Should we do them only upon invitation? Is it necessary? Is it appropriate? Is it rude? How do you (and/or your elders/minister/etc.) provide for the oversight and care of the members in your congregation?
Please let me know!
Grace and Peace,
`tim
6 Responses to “Elders & Huis Bezoek”
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January 19th, 2006 at 4:52 pm
Good question! I think that the practice of huis bezoek offers a significant means of pastoral ministry on the part of both the minister and the elders. Traditionally, some view it as a time of “checking up” on members - ensuring that they are making sufficient use of the means of grace and providing an opportunity to correct them if they haven’t. But, more importantly, it’s a time when the elder or minister can actually focus on the spiritual life of the family he or she is visiting.
I think, though, that life has changed and the context of our ministry is very different than it was even 10 or 20 years ago. It might be most helpful to establish the reason for the visit before actually visiting. Aside from “checking in” on members, such visits offer a time to share the ways that the Spirit is working in the life of the family being visited. If the practice is explained up front, the younger ones might be more excited about the visit.
I’m not for scrapping the practice since I think it has a lot of benefits. But, I definitely think we need to explain why we do what we do. And perhaps we might want to actually talk about it in English given that de meesten van ons kunnen het Nederlands meer spreken niet.
January 19th, 2006 at 9:59 pm
All in English . . . most definitely.
I think it would be wonderful for the elders to regularly be available for home visits for anybody who would like them. As a pastor, I offer to visit anybody who wants to invite me.
I haven’t yet (in 18 years of ministry and counting) had a board of elders really take me up on this, and I have had precious few parishoners take me up on it, either; most of them were older. Interestingly, those who are most likely to complain that I never visit anybody are those who never invited me . . . so how, exactly, would they know?
Of course, part of the fading of the home visit tradition has to do with the fact that so many Consistories connected pastoral care of their members with shaking them down for pledges. This has fallen into disfavor (I wonder why?:smile:).
Some of it is demographic, too. But we live in a covenant community, and part of the covenant has to be members actually telling their ministers (elders and pastors) what they want and need, rather than playing mind games.
But, in a perfect world, this is primarily the elders responsibility. Since we don’t have a perfect world, we need to do the best we can.
January 20th, 2006 at 3:57 am
Part of the issue of ministry context is that there are vast numbers of “new” folks joining the RCA in the east who are not from Dutch backgrounds and not familiar with the traditions of Reformed life. This means that they have no idea what to expect from their minister and elders.
In some ways this is great; they don’t have preconceved notions that certain things have to be done a certain way. It frees us up to think about mission and ministry creatively instead of having to do things in the same old way. But, it also requires a lot of education.
Last year, when one of my younger congregants came out of the hospital, I stopped by his family’s house with some dinner for them. They were totally shocked that anyone would possibly do that, especially thier pastor.
Granted, once I explained that, yes, pastors do make house calls, they really seemed to welcome the visit. Plus, it allowed me to get to know the family in a deeper way - with the kids showing me their latest drawings and games, etc.
As a result of this discussion, I’m thinking of putting a notice in our bulletin offering a visit. Perhaps it’s not just that we let folks know that we’re available, but that we do it over and over again.
January 20th, 2006 at 3:59 am
One last thought…Tim’s original question concerned Elders. I’ve sort of lept into pastoral mode without thinking of ways to encourage and support Elders in doing house visits. Honestly, I’m at a loss on this one. Any thoughts from others?
January 20th, 2006 at 10:12 am
I, too, have always welcomed invitations to people’s homes - indeed I have made it clear, from the pulpit, that I consider it inappropriate for me to invite myself over without invitations. And yes, those who complain the most about me not doing visitations are those who have never or very seldom invited me over to their homes.
The problem is, as I’m just getting ready to embark on my sixth year of ministry at Dunningville, I’m realizing that I’ve done a miserable job at equipping elders and deacons to fulfill their offices.
Of course, in the past, when practically everyone in the congregation was related and everyone got the basics of the faith in school & society, we could afford to be a little delinquent in our responsibilities, but of course, everyone isn’t related anymore and both school and society refuse (intentionally) to engage the faith in a productive way. We cannot afford to fall short any longer.
You’re right Ann, in most contexts it’s probably better to do it all in English - here, though, the Dutch may add a level of legitimacy (consider it one of the quirks of SW Michigan
)
James…I think there’s something to be said about the Covenant side of things too. Several years ago, I preached a series of sermons on the fact that the scriptures tell people to “call the elders” to them for laying on of hands and prayer…they don’t tell the elders to “search people out to lay hands on a pray for.” Where is the healthy middle ground between pro-active care and covenant responsibility?
And of course, how do I implement it?!
Thanks for everything so far….
Grace and Peace,
`tim
March 1st, 2006 at 7:01 pm
How to both equip and motivate elders is always a challenge. I can’t say that I have an answer as to how to do so. It strikes me that it is difficult to provide spiritual oversight without visiting with people in some manner, and the very people who are most in need of it are probably the people who are least likely to invite a pastor or elder over. Just a thought for those who would be offended if you asked to come to visit, you could always invite them over to your place for dinner or coffee.