“In a shepherding relationship the pastor seeks after the lost. The Good Shepherd searches out the strayed, the lost, and the fallen. The pastoral act of visiting a parishioner in the hospital communicates that seeking quality of God.
This seeking characteristic provides the imaginative basis for the practice of pastoral initiative. The right of initiative is unique to the pastoral role. Other professions do not claim it as a right. In fact, in the practice of other professions, it might well be considered unethical.
Initiative is a mixed blessing for pastors. Pastors may feel that their uninvited visits are intrusive. There is certainly an ambiguous quality and perhaps a presumptuous quality to initiating a visit not explicitly requested. As pastors we can only anticipate what some of the reactions might be. It is no wonder that clinical pastoral education students and many pastors are reluctant to initiate such visits.
Pastoral initiative suggest the covenant nature of the relationship between the pastor and parishioner. As a member of the church, the body of Christ, the parishioner has entered into a relationship with a community of faith and care. That care is personified in the person of the pastor. Implicit in this covenant is the parishioner's willingness to receive the care of a seeking God through the care of others.”
From the book, The Pastor and The Patient by Kent Richmond and David Middelton, p. 22
G. Mark Sumpter
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