Visitation Ministry

Hospital Visitation

When members or friends of the Community Church of Vero Beach are hospitalized, we make every effort to offer a personal visit to the hospitalized individual. Typically, the Minister of Pastoral Care will be the first and most frequent visitor. But other clergy members, and occasionally trained lay visitors, may also visit on behalf of the Church. 

Nursing Home / Shut-In Visitation 

Those members of the Church who are living in long-term care facilities, or are shut-ins in their own homes, are visited on a regular, rotating basis, dependent upon their needs and requests. 

Lay Visitation Ministry

Visitation ministry is an extension of the care of the congregation for all its members, whether the visitor is a member of the clergy or a lay member of the congregation. While some visitation is more appropriately made by members of the clergy, often a lay visitor is a welcome and highly effective visitor.

In order to train interested lay members for the ministry of visitation, the Pastoral Care Minister regularly recruits and teaches lay members of the congregation those skills most necessary for skilled and caring visitation. The Pastoral Care Minister then works with the Pastoral Care Coordinator to determine how best to utilize lay visitors for hospital and nursing home/shut-in visits. The Pastoral Care Coordinator will notify the lay visitors when visits are “due,” and will seek feedback from the visitors in order to chart visits on the Hospital Visitation Record and the Nursing Home/Shut-In Visitation Record.

The Pastoral Care Minister serves as consultant to the lay visitors, and regularly works to update their skills and support their ministry.