Visiting

Visiting

After 45 years in the practice and teaching of medicine and surgery, I retired at the end of 2014. When I graduated from Wheaton College, which was many years ago, I went to medical school and pursued a career path in the specific area of oncology/surgery in teaching and patient care. For virtually all those years I had a hospital-based office and medical practice.

The last 20 years, I worked in Richmond, Virginia. There, it was my habit to assist the visitation team from my church in Virginia with hospital visits to church members who often were in-patients where I worked. This arrangement was informal, but helpful to the church staff, and after retiring from my office and medical practice, I continued the visitation support.

My wife, Lori, and I intentionally moved to Wheaton in November 2017 to be near our son, daughter-in-law and three grandchildren who live in the area. Following our move to Wheaton, I met Dr. Al Duvel here at church, and through him, met Pastor Eric Channing. There has long been an active visitation ministry here at College Church and I soon joined the group. Prior to COVID-19, Pastor Channing taught group seminars to equip people involved in this “side-by-side” type of ministry. Then COVID came and put a halt to it. Now the visitation ministry is coming together again, with Pastor Bruce Main as the new coordinator.

The question is, “Why do we do this?”

First, there is a biblical mandate for us to “… bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” (Gal. 6:2) Similarly, as a body of believers we are told to “… rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.” (Rom. 12:15) Our faith and salvation are personal as we come to Jesus as repentant and forgiven individuals, but God’s plan for us, as his children, is to be a part of his church on this earth as a body of believers. The needs of the body vary and are met by many different people in all sorts of ways. God places each of us in specific situations he has ordained for ministry. Think about the people God has placed around you as well as the ways you can bring support to others who are part of God’s church.

We need each other. College Church is blessed with many of God’s saints who served this body well, and often for decades. One of my teachers during my training days taught us that every patient we see has a story to tell. It is our job to find the story and listen to it. In the context of church visitation, we also listen to the story that each member has. If I think I am performing some type of ministry visiting a homebound member, I realize that I typically leave the visit encouraged, after seeing and hearing of multiplied examples of God’s faithfulness over a lifetime.

My focus in visiting homebound members now is for support and encouragement, particularly to direct thoughts toward our hope in God. The opposite of hope is despair, which is another word for meaninglessness. It is in this natural environment of discouragement that God brings us together to focus on our purpose and to celebrate our eternal hope.

As a brief digression, the concept of hope is alive and well in the secular world, emphasized in health care and support groups. This type of hope takes the form of “wishing,” as in “I hope it doesn’t rain today.” This hope is usually directed toward something such as living longer or living better with the perception that we can achieve it. People have a so-called optimism bias, overestimating positive outcomes and underestimating negative ones. Even during illness, we expect that better technology or something unexpectedly miraculous will come to us to change the outcome.

Our secular hope allows us to believe in the unlikely, even when all rational evidence points otherwise. Families worry that frank discussions of health issues will destroy the hope of their loved ones. There is an epidemic of irrational ideas bombarding us almost daily. Don’t be surprised if you hear some of these ideas, even from people at College Church. We are all impacted by our environment.

Contrast all this with biblical hope, that has as its objects our eternal God and all promises he has given us in his Word. “The eternal God is our dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” (Deut. 33:27), and Psalm 46 reminds us that “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore. we will not fear. Be still and know that I am God.” (vv.1, 2, 10) And then there is the promise that the Lord will never leave us or forsake us. (Heb. 13:5)

As we visit God’s children who are often sequestered from the mainstream of active life, our role is to bring the encouragement of God’s Word—his promises to our fellow believers. Sometimes we can also encourage by simply being there, without any agenda. Listening is a gift that needs to be cultivated, rather than worrying about what we must say to our friends. Learn to be a better listener.

Most importantly, we ask how we can pray for our friends, and then do it. When we pray, we are not giving advice in our prayers. We listen first and go before the Lord in prayer. There is humility in prayer, as we seek the Lord.

For many years, Pastor Ben Panner has been visiting a particular senior family at College Church whom I am also seeing now. Sometimes Ben would bring his children along on a visit to the home. If you ever want to see an entire room light up, bring children to homebound seniors. The youngest generation is truly one of God’s gifts to encourage us.

Not all who suffer will find healing in this life. And most certainly, none of us will become younger while we live in this world. In spite of all the difficulties we face, we can bring God’s encouragement and hope to those who are homebound. Pray that God will make opportunities visible to each of us as we seek to be obedient to his guidance

Charles Welander

Caring ministries of College Church are alive and well and out of the limelight.

Helping Hands

The Helping Hands ministry of the Board of Deaconesses is designed to meet various practical, non-financial needs of people in our church. Volunteers from the congregation graciously offer to perform a wide variety of tasks for those in need—such as providing a meal after surgery or providing transportation to a doctor’s appointment. In some cases, the deacons’ mercy ministry helps with more physical jobs.

Care & Share

Our Care & Share Fund helps members and regular attenders to bridge a one-time financial need caused by an emergency or extraordinary circumstances. Deaconesses oversee the Care & Share Fund and will ensure a confidential discussion.

Visitation Ministry

Serve as part of our congregational team who visits and cares for our homebound brothers and sisters.

We’re always looking for more people to join our care team and are particularly in need of people willing to drive congregants to medical appointments. Email Christy at care@collegechurch.org to learn how you can help!