by David R Cox
(c) 2003
The concept of pastoral visitation has taken a different meaning in most churches and pastors minds today than what the Bible portrays. To understand this concept we need to return to the ancient days of Israel when shepherds took care of their sheep.
THE SHEEP GATE. Shepherds would take their sheep out into the fields and meadows in search of still, clean water and grassy fields. At times these journeys would last months. As the sheep would follow behind their shepherd, they would at times stray away from the shepherd for a short distance. At times they would get burrs stuck in their coats, or they would get small cuts and bruises from bushes or rocks. As such shepherds would need to tend to these problems before they fester and become even more serious. But since usually the sheep mill around the shepherd, it would become an endless task of checking one sheep and then letting him free, and trying to sort out between those that he had checked and still needed to check. (These shepherds usually knew each sheep by name or individually.) So they invented what is called a sheep gate. This is simply a stretch of wall out in a field with a narrow doorway in the middle. The shepherd would lead his sheep up to it on one side, and then sit down blocking the doorway. Then he would one by one revise each sheep and when finished he would push it behind him through the doorway. The sheep usually are not smart enough to go around the short stretch of wall to get to the other side again. In this way, the shepherd would give individualized, personal attention one by one to every sheep under his care. This is the concept of pastoral visitation in the Scriptures, or simply "visitation".