House visitation is a means in the hands of His servants, of which Christ makes use, for the wellbeing of His Church. House visitation is for the wellbeing of the whole congregation but is especially meant for the personal wellbeing of each member. In fact the wellbeing of the whole congregation is subject to the wellbeing of each member. God's Word shows clearly that the Lord demands that certain care is taken of the believers, and that this must be done by His servants, office bearers.

The Old Testament shows that, first, that the father has a holy calling to fulfill. He has to uphold and teach the Holy Law of God in the midst of his family, and imprint the knowledge of the Holy Scripture in his children, so that they shall not leave the ways of the Lord. But there was also the priest, to whom the Lord had entrusted a special task; not only had he to bring atonement for the sins of all the people, and for each individual Israelite, he had not only to watch for each Israelite's personal purity and to take care that the unclean were cleansed, but it was also his duty to teach the people in the law of the Lord so that everyone would know what he had to do in order to be pleasing unto God. The faithful watchers in Israel, the prophets of the Lord, pointed out time and again that one of the main reasons for the deep decline of the nation lay in the shortcomings of the priests, who neglected their calling in regard to the spiritual care of the people, which had been entrusted to them.

The prophets themselves also had to labour amongst the people in this manner. Think of the Prophet Ezekiel; "Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou has delivered thy soul. etc." Ezekiel 3, from verse 17.

In the New Testament, the care for the shepherd's flock is discussed still more thoroughly. First, concerning the labours of the Lord Himself, who comes forth as the Perfect Shepherd, He it is who gives His life for His sheep and calls them by name. In many of the parables the Lord speaks of the value of each individual soul. Think of the parables of the prodigal son, the lost sheep, the lost coin. There shall be gladness in heaven over one sinner that repenteth. Christ brought the Gospel not only to the multitudes, but also to the indi­viduals. He taught Nicodemus in the night, spoke to the Samaritan woman, and talked with the sinful woman in the house of Simon. He fed not only the 5,000, but glorified His wondrous might at the raising of Jairus' daughter, the young man at Nain, the son of the nobleman, the servant of the centu­rion, the one who was born blind, the sick man at Bethesda, the woman of Canaan and many others. And when Christ sent his disciples out, he not only instructed them to preach the gospel, but He also told them the same as what He said to Simon Bar Jona, "Feed my lambs" "Feed my sheep". That is why, from the beginning, the disciples understood that this also was their duty, and with faithfulness have they taken care of this their calling. Just read what is written about Phillip and the Ethiopian, Peter and Cornelius, of Paul and Lydia and Paul says of his own labours in Ephesus, Acts 20:20 "And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you and have taught you publicly, and from house to house."

Thus we see that in order to follow in the footsteps of the apostles, it is the duty of the office bearers, not only in general but also in the particulars, to care for the congregation with her members. That appears from the names that are given unto them, as also in the defining of the duties related to their office.

As already mentioned, at Paul's leave-taking from Ephesus he exhorted the elders saying: Acts 20:28 "Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the Church of God which he both purchased with His own blood." And in Heb. 13:17 it is said of the rulers of the Church, "Obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves; for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account." In Thess. 5 Paul writes: "Now we exhort you brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feeble minded, support the weak, be patient toward all men." The glorious calling of the office-bearer cannot be more beautifully described. But as these texts make clear, this calling cannot be fulfilled by only administrating the means of grace in the public gatherings of the congregations. The apostles did not want only the public, but also the personal care of the believers.

So it is no wonder that in the earliest period of the Christian Church, we find evidence of house visitation. Be it not the form that it took in later centuries, still, there are things mentioned in the writings of the first centuries, which point to a fairly regular visiting of the members of the con­gregation. So, for example you find in the letters of Clemens, one of the Church Fathers, a warning to those who were misusing these regular visitations as a way in which to get all kinds of news items to tell abroad. Cyprian speaks of shepherds who neglect and leave the sheep to deteriorate. The fallen must be sought out, the sick must be healed.

The great Church Father Augustine laments in his writings time and again that he had too little time to concern himself enough with the individual. In his sermon 183, held at the anniversary of his being ordained as bishop, he confessed with sorrow in his heart, that because of too many labours, he had not been able to give himself enough as "shepherd" to the congregation. Often he speaks of the heavy duty laid upon him, referring especially to the fact that once he shall have to give account of each member of his congregation. The writers of his biography say that his house visitations were mainly confined to the widows and orphans and those that were in miserable conditions. For the visiting of the sick he was always ready.

The Reformation also maintained the great importance of house visitation, and emphasized it strongly. Calvin the great organizer also of this issue of special care of souls, has shown clearly in his confessions, written either by himself or under his direction, that the pastoral duties include more than only the public preaching of God's Word.

In the Confession Helvelica Posterior of Calvin (1566) this matter is discussed most extensively. In article 18 of this work, regarding the duties of the office bearers he says:

Teach and admonish the careless and exhort those that stand still further to walk in the ways of the Lord, or those who only go forward sluggishly in that way. Also comfort and strengthen the sorrowful and instruct them as to how to fight against the different temptations of Satan. Reprove the sinners, call the wanderers back unto the ways of the Lord, lift up those that have fallen, convince those that oppose, keep the wolves out of the sheep-fold of the Lord, with care and serious concern reprimand the offending and the offenders, not glossing lightly over misbehaviour nor keeping silent about it, teach the ignorant, comfort the sick and those that are subject to various afflictions; keep them on the way of life, encourage everything which will be beneficial to the peace, the rest and wellbeing of the Church.