Steps for Training a Milestones Visitation Team

Introduction

A Milestones Visitation Team is one of the eight strategies of the Child In Our Hands conceptual model. The baptism milestone may be the first visit a congregation would focus upon. Some congregations may call the visitation teams Baptismal Visitation Team. The entire Child In Our Hands conceptual model is a way of tending the baptismal journey from pre-birth to the grave.

It is most important for the staff and lay leaders of the congregation to have a clear picture of the Child In Our Hands conceptual model for youth and family ministry. It is a partnership of the home and congregation in nurturing faith and passing on the faith. The home is the primary place to teach and nurture faith and the role of the congregation is to strengthen the home and equip the home to pass on the faith. A very helpful booklet to share this vision with the leadership team of the congregation is Four Imperatives: Youth and Family Ministry by Dick Hardel and Mert Strommen. The four imperatives are: Strengthening Family Relationships, Faith-Focused Christian Education, Congregation As Family, and Christian Youth Subculture.

We, at the Youth & Family Institute, often talk about Five Themes for Youth and Family Ministry and Four Keys for Nurturing Faith in the Home.

Five Themes for Youth and Family Ministry

1. Faith is formed by the Holy Spirit through personal, trusted relationships—often, but not always in our own homes.
2. The Church is a living partnership between the ministry of the congregation and the ministry of the home.
3. Where Christ is present in faith, the home is Church, too.
4. Faith is caught more than it is taught.
5. If we want spiritual children and youth, we need spiritual adults/parents.

Four Keys for Nurturing Faith in the Home

1. Caring Conversation
2. Family Devotions
3. Family Rituals and Traditions
4. Family Service

The Child In Our Hands conceptual model is a very helpful way to support families as they tend the baptismal journey from pre-birth to the grave. The congregation connects more family milestones with God; equips parents, relatives, and other care-giving adults to nurture faith; and provides resources for the home.

The giving of a FaithChest® at baptism (or confirmation, high school graduation, wedding, or in the last years of one’s life) is a tool to connect the home and congregation. Since faith is formed by the Holy Spirit through personal, trusted relationships, a most important aspect of Milestones Ministry is to develop a personal, trusted relationship with a person or a family. That is the purpose of developing Milestones Visitation Teams.

Dick Hardel suggests that a Milestones Visitation Team be made up of two people—one over 65 years of age and a second, a 20 something or a 30 something. People over 65 years of age are the most churched generation in the USA. The combination of the two generations on a Milestones Visitation Team makes for a combination of faith, wisdom, vision, energy, and ministry. The Holy Spirit will cause a wonderful growth in the relationship of the members of each visitation team.

It is important for the congregation to support the parents so that they can better live out the promises made in baptism. A congregation cannot leave a family alone to nurture faith. In baptism the entire faith community commits to helping nurture faith throughout the life of the baptized person. The Milestones Visitation Team is just one way that a congregation becomes very intentional and active in supporting families to grow in Christ.

Recruitment and Commitment

If we value the Milestones Visitation Ministry, then we should always recruit people to be trained. Recruit people from at least three different generations who love the Lord, love people, and love to help people grow in Christ. A Milestones Visitation Team will commit to praying regularly for the family, visit the family in the home at four different milestones in the family’s life, and stay in contact with the family. Each time the Milestones Visitation Team visits the family in the home, they bring gift for the family to help them nurture faith in the child or youth’s life. They also bring an invitation to a corporate worship service designed around the milestone and another invitation to an intergenerational training event designed to teach the extended family a variety of ways to nurture faith at that milestone in the child’s life.

Suggested Steps in Training

1. Each visitation team volunteer understand the congregation’s commitment to support and tend the baptismal journey of a baptized child, youth, or adult.
2. Instruct the volunteers on the theology of baptism, the meaning of the liturgy in worship, the traditions of the congregation, and the living out of the promises of baptism.
3. Teach the volunteers how to pray aloud for the baptized person and family. Impress upon them the necessity for regular and frequent prayer.
4. Teach the volunteer how to share their faith through telling their faith stories. We highly recommend using FaithTalk®, FaithTalk® with Children, or Scripture Talk.
5. Equip the volunteers with listening skills, care-giving skills, and relationship building conversation skills.
6. Instruct the volunteers on the meaning and the use of the gift that will be given by the congregation to the family. The Institute recommends Building Blocks of Faith or Parenting With A Purpose. The volunteers should be very familiar with this resource. The giving of the resource can be the entry into talking about tending the baptismal journey.
7. Teach the volunteers how to invite a family to the baptismal counseling with the pastor or lay minister. The following might serve as an outline for a first visit to a family. A phone conversation with the pastor or lay leader has already confirmed this first visit. So the family expects the team.
1. Introduction of team members and learning the names of the members of the family. Share the joy of making such a visit.
2. Learning a little about the background and history of the family.
3. Present the gift and give a brief explanation of how the parents should use the gift. Inform the parents what it means to be a Milestones Visitation Team and how this congregation is a Child in Our Hands congregation called by God to help families tend the baptismal journey of their children.
4. Discuss and arrange for the date and time of the baptismal counseling. The visitation team should volunteer to pick up the family and drive them to the pastor’s office for the counseling. The visitation team should remain with them during the counseling and stand with the extending family during the baptism. The Milestones Visitation Team will talk all the photographs and/or video during the baptism so that all members of the family can fully participate in the baptism milestone. Following the actual baptismal rite is an excellent time for the pastor or lay leader to present the family with a FaithChest. The meaning and purpose of the gift of the FaithChest by the congregation should be shared. The Milestones Visitation Team should know about the congregation’s history with making and presenting FaithChest.
8. Instruct the volunteers on follow up by using email, postal services, and telephone. They should also become aware of other key milestones and choose which milestones they will use for the next home visit.
9. It would be very helpful if the Milestones Visitation Team members experienced a corporate worship service designed around a specific milestone and an intergenerational event of the congregation before making their first visit. This should not be a requirement, but it would be very helpful. The Youth & Family Institute has produced two manuals to assist the congregation: Milestones Worship Celebrations and Milestones Intergenerational Enrichment Events.
10. The congregation should have a prayer support team for each Milestones Visitation Team. The Visitation Team should be introduced to their prayer support team and instructed on how best to stay in communication. The congregations should use either staff personnel or trained lay volunteers who oversee and support the ministry of the Milestone Visitation Teams.

Conclusion

These are only suggestions to get you started with Milestones Visitation Team training. You should always discuss this with the pastor, staff, and/or other key lay leaders of the congregation so that everyone is clear on the purpose and direction of the ministry and the training. They will have valuable additions, adoptions, and suggestions as you develop the training model. A training setting that works very well is that of an over-night retreat. Otherwise you might use 4 two-hour classes. It is very difficult for volunteers to commit more time to training. There are a variety of settings and styles of the training that would work well. It is important that you consider what will work best for the volunteers and staff of your congregation. The greatest learning will happen by experiencing the visits.

May God continue to bless you and the ministry of the congregation as you intentionally tend the baptismal journey of children, youth, and adults.