Visit the Sick: Ministering God's Grace in Times of Illness (Ministering the Master's Way)

Succinct, thoughtful, and practical. It encourages us to the task at hand rather than guilts us to it. I especially liked J.C. Ryle's paper included at the end for its clear-headed instruction on the place of sickness in the world: to ask us if we're ready to meet our Maker. Wonderful book.

I ordered this book per recommendation from one of the deacons at my church. I'd volunteered recently to be part of the visitation program for shut-ins, and so this is the book the volunteers were reading. It's a short book, easy to finish in one reading. I didn't much like the beginning of it, as it was full of things to do, Scriptures to memorize, much like a to-do list. The rest of it was far more practical and realistic. I liked the simple suggestions, of keeping visits short and being sensitive to family members and roommates (in a hospital setting). There were several appendices at the end which I found helpful too. My favorite appendix was the 4th one, an abridged paper written by J.C. Ryle on sickness. Overall this book was show more somewhat useful, but the other book I'm reading, Just Show Up, written by the late Kara Tippetts and her friend Jill Lynn Buteyn, is far more helpful in terms of giving helpers/visitors some advice on how to walk along side those who are hurting and how to help them without any agendas. show less