"My elders and I did our best to visit every household in the congregation once a year"
Qualifications for an elder:
1 Tim 3:2-8
2 An overseer, therefore, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, self-controlled, sensible, respectable, hospitable, an able teacher,
3 not addicted to wine, not a bully but gentle, not quarrelsome, not greedy-
4 one who manages his own household competently, having his children under control with all dignity.
5 (If anyone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of God’s church?)
6 He must not be a new convert, or he might become conceited and fall into the condemnation of the Devil.
7 Furthermore, he must have a good reputation among outsiders, so that he does not fall into disgrace and the Devil’s trap.
I see at least two explicit requirement for being actively involved in people’s lives outside of a pulpit/prayer ministry. Therefore, to be biblically qualified to be the preacher, he must already practice these things. I can’t prescribe how often it takes place, but for it to not happen outside of a church gathering is pitiful pastoral work. Such a man is not qualified by the NT standards.
Praying and preaching are not to be sacrificed in favor of things that do not fall under the qualifications.
1 Kings 8:60 - so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God and that there is no other.
Precisely, it cannot be prescribed in any dogmatic fashion how such things are to be carried out. Thus many criticisms often unwarranted when human formulas are elevated to dogma.
Chip
No one has said there will not be attendance by a shepherd to the sheep but the prescribed method is prayer and the ministry of the Word. You want to go beyond this a make what might or might not be helpful practices as prescribed thus warranting criticism if not performed. Sorry but here is where dogma ends and your opinion begins.
Discussion