Dear Theo,
In addition to agreeing with what Pilgrim wrote, I find strong biblical emphasis on pastoral involvement with the flock, especially in:
1 Thess. 2: 7 But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. 8 So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us. 9 For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. 10 You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers. 11 For you know how, like a father with his children, 12 we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. (ESV)
Not only is it difficult for a non-involved pastor to know the needs of his flock to better serve them, he will also be much less accountable to his flock, which not only makes it more likely for him to fall further into sin than if he were more visible, it also removes him from being a positive example to his flock when bearing up under temptations, trials and persecutions. I will always be grateful for the accessibility of my 2 pastors to our church, because it ornaments their sound preaching and faithful administration of the sacraments. I could get decent preaching online and the sacraments in a mega-church, but I, prone to wander or despair, and it not good my being alone, also need the comforting hand on the shoulder after prayer meeting, the exhortation on the sidewalk in front of the bodega, the raised eyebrow and rebuke when I have been overhead being harsh to my family, the continuing conversation about life events, the borrowing of the jumper cables, the lending of the weed-whacker.
And wonderfully, such involvement tends to be multiplied among the members of the congregation.
Of course having an involved pastor presupposes an upper limit on church membership. For example, making 1 in-depth visit per week to a member household, everyone in a Cheers-sized* church, could be visited about once a year. By contrast, at the same rate, it would take Joel Osteen about
400 years to visit everyone in his church at least once.
Theo, you mentioned there might be a denominational effect on this issue: if it matters, I'm a Congregationalist.
*
"You wanna go where everybody knows your name"
