Visitation & Caring Outreach Ministry Resources
Sick and shut-in people need encouragement. Prisoners need hope and restoration. Here are resources to help with a visitation and caring outreach ministry to those who can't come to you.
Click on a tab below to view a list of general visitation resources or for people whom you might visit.
While seeking to choose doctrinally sound resources, we make no claim to total endorsement of any listing. Where possible, links go to merchants with whom we have an affiliate relationship, such as being an Amazon Associate from whom we earn from qualifying purchases. These sites may use cookies to track activity to ensure that Ministry Tools Resource Center gets commissions from any sales. Links open in new pages to keep the list available.
General Visitation Resources
Basic Understandings & Helps for Visitation Ministry
Articles:
Books:
- Care and Visitation Ministry Volunteer Handbook by Mikal Keefer
- Serving in Church Visitation by Jerry M. Stubblefield, Paul E. Engle
Prisoners
Visit Those Who are Imprisoned
Articles:
- General Prison Safety Guidelines
- Joining an In-Prison Ministry
- Talking with Prisoners
- What the Bible Says about Prison Ministry
- Volunteer at a Prison
Bibles:
Books:
- God Behind Bars: The Amazing Story of Prison Fellowship by John Perry
- Jail Ministry: Preparing Christians to Effectively Volunteer by Karen Swanson
- Justice That Restores by Charles Colson
- Prison Ministry: Understanding Jail and Prison Culture by Lennie Spitale
Organizations:
Sick & Shut-ins
Visit Those Who are Sick, Shut-in, or Dying
Articles:
- 10 Tips for Visiting Children in the Hospital
- Care for the Caregivers
- Hospital visits let you be Christ to the sick
- How Can We Help?
- Ministry to people facing illness
Books:
- Bedside Manners by Katie Maxwell
- Beyond Casseroles: 505 Ways to Encourage a Chronically Ill Friend by Lisa J. Copen
- Not By Sight: Ministering to Believers Living with Illness and Pain by Wayne Connell
- Spiritual Care: A Guide for Caregivers by Judith Allen Shelly
- The Art of Helping: What to Say and Do When Someone is Hurting by Lauren Littauer Briggs
- Visit The Sick: Ministering God's Grace in Times of Illness by Brian Croft
- Why Can't I Make People Understand? Discovering the Validation Those with Chronic Illness Seek and Why by Lisa J. Copen
Organizations:
These ministry resources can help you more effectively reach out and care for those you visit. Don't, however, let concern for saying or doing the right things keep you from going. Your presence communicates that you care.