Serving Your Small Group Through Hospital Visits

In Episode 201 of the Text-Driven Podcast, we discussed a vital role small groups can plan in the local church—serving one another. In this week's episode, we discussed why this service element is necessary and how to implement it throughout the small group ministry. Now, a small group can serve one another in many ways, from meal trains to exchanging babysitting roles for date nights. However, for the purpose of this article, we want to focus in on one specific way to serve your small group—hospital visits.

Though medical or hospital visits are an essential part of pastoral ministry and serving the body of the church, it is commonly overlooked. A seminary class will dedicate an entire class session to the discussion of hospital visits. Although hospital visits have been treated as only a responsibility for the lead pastor, the infirm, injured, and sick need more than their pastor. The individual needs their church family rallying around them and serving them. A small group can easily adopt the task of serving one another through a hospital stay, rehab/physical therapy, follow-up after returning home, and during the bedside of the suffering.

Now, you might reasonably ask, "Practically, how do I do a hospital visit?" For many, the only time you have visited someone in the hospital was if they were a close family member and you probably had mixed feelings about entering into the room. Therefore, in this article, we want to provide you with some quick tips on how to do a helpful hospital visit. To preface, these tips are not for visits of family members, these are for visiting church members for the purpose of spiritual encouragement.

Hospital Tips:

• Do not make a hospital visit if you are sick. You will do more harm than good if you bring an illness with you into the hospital room, not just to the person you are visiting but to other people in the hospital. If it is absolutely necessary to visit, take every precaution not to infect anyone else.

• When you enter the hospital, immediately find the information desk. Talk to the person there about who you are visiting, find out what room they are in, and any other information you need to know. Remember your wallet and I.D. You often are required to check-in using formal identification.

• At the first hand sanitizing station you see, use it. Then, use hand sanitizer before you enter the room. Use hand sanitizer again when you leave the room and possibly even as you're about to leave the hospital. Hospitals are for sick people. No place is more likely to get you sick than a hospital.

• Do whatever the hospital requires. If it says wear a mask, wear a mask. If you have to wear a special gown to go in to see the person you are visiting, wear it. If the medical staff tells you visiting hours are over, be mindful of time and leave accordingly. Be helpful and do not cause problems for the family.

• Do not try to be an armchair doctor. You are not making a hospital visit to give medical advice or share an opinion you read on WebMD. Do not read the chart. Do not try to assert yourself. This is not why you are visiting.

• Go out of your way to not be in the way of doctors and nurses.

Visiting Tips:

• Bring your Bible. You are going to use it, and the person you are visiting needs to hear from it. Yes, you can read Scripture on your phone, but the seeing of a physical Bible provides a source of comfort.

• Stand where the person you are visiting can see you. When someone is in the hospital requiring a visit, everything is tiring. Don't make them bend, move, or strain themselves to see you. Also, do not sit on the bed. Unless there is a reason you will need to be there for an extended time, stand throughout the entire visit.

• Talk about what the person in the hospital wants to talk about. Limit the amount of questions you ask, but seek to understand how they're doing. Even if they ask, limit talking about stressful things going on in your life. If they want to know about how you're doing, highlight good things that have been going on. You're there to support them, not vice versa.

• Ask them about their emotional and spiritual well-being. While it's easy for the conversation to veer into just talking about their physical condition, make sure to check in on them emotionally and spiritually.

• Ask if anyone else has come to see them. The answer will be a helpful gauge on how to help them. If they have not had a lot of visitors, you can help get more people from your small group to visit. If they have too many visitors, you can help schedule the visits better. And yes, there can be too many visitors.

• Talk about the sermon if they missed Sunday morning service. A saint who loves the church hates missing church. Fill them in. Read the passage that was preached. Talk about what you learned in your small group, too.

• Ask them if there is anything outside of the hospital that you can get them. This could be a fantastic opportunity to possibly serve their unsaved or unchurched family members in the room. This could be a number of things: food, snacks to keep in the room for visitors, a devotional book to read with their downtime, a phone charger, etc. Be careful when asking this question. Don't ask this question if you do not have time to get what they want or can't find someone who can follow through with the request.

• If there is family there, say hello to the family but focus on ministering to the person in the hospital. You don't want to be rude, but talking to everyone else except for the person in your small group misses the point of the hospital visit.

• If you sing, sing a hymn or worship song with them.

• Remind them of the hope they have in Jesus. No matter how much pain they are in or how close to death they are, Jesus is their hope.

• The last two things you want to do are read Scripture and pray. Make sure to read loud enough for them to hear. You might also want to slow down the speed at which you read at. Do not choose a passage that is too long. When you pray, pray for their healing. Even if you think the healing is impossible, pray that God will heal. Then, praise God that, even if God doesn't heal, Jesus saved them and that one day there will be no more death or sickness.

• Lastly, don't stay too long. Go in, do what you need to do, then leave. You might think staying longer is better, but it is often not. A person in the hospital is often weak, and a visit requires a lot of energy. You are there to help the person, but that can turn into you being harmful.

Hospital visits do not have to be scary or awkward. These visits can be used as a fantastic opportunity to encourage your fellow small group members who need prayer and support in the most timely way.

Written by Klayton Carson

You can listen to the Text-Driven Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or at www.textdriven.org/podcasts. New episodes are released every Monday, just in time for your morning commute.