Concordia Seminary’s President Dr. Thomas J. Egger talks with Dr. Tyler Arnold, about his recent book, Pastoral Visitation for the Care of Souls (Lexham Press, 2023), in this Concordia Journal Book Blurbs segment. Arnold, the pastor of Village Lutheran Church in Ladue, Mo., received a Master of Divinity from Concordia Seminary in 1999. He also is a member of the Seminary’s Board of Regents. Egger calls the book a “fantastic, inspiring and practical guide for pastors to think through why it is useful to spend time visiting individually with their members.”
The book also includes practical tips about setting up a program of pastoral visitation and making the most of the time pastors spend with their parishioners. Arnold calls pastoral visitation “the pastor’s identity. We hear all the time, ‘What is a pastor?’ ‘Who is a pastor?’ I don’t see visitation so much as a function but actually … the essence of a pastor,” Arnold says in the video. “Pastoral visitation is an extraordinary way to do the care of souls among your people.” The book is available for purchase through Lexham Press and Amazon.