course

Ministries of Presence: Visiting
and Caring for Congregation Members

Showing up for people in their most vulnerable moments is one of the church's most profound gifts. This course equips you for homebound visits, hospital visitation, and eucharistic ministry, with the practical tools and spiritual grounding to listen well, pray faithfully, and honor every person's dignity.

Class Sessions

Tuesdays from 7-9 pm ET / 6-8 pm CT
*See our Academic Calendar for term dates.

I was sick and you visited me. —Matthew 25:36
course instructor

Bridget L. Piggue, Th.D.

Bridget L. Piggue, ThD., is a leader and educator in Pastoral Theology, Care, and Counseling whose ministry centers on accompanying spiritual leaders as they grow in self-awareness and mental health. Drawing on psychology, theology, spirituality, and the sciences, she has devoted her vocation to educating and empowering those committed to transformative healing. Dr. Piggue is an ACPE Certified Educator and an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. With more than 25 years of tenure at Emory, she serves as the System Director of Operations for Emory Spiritual Health and the Director of Spiritual Health at Emory University Hospital Midtown. She also teaches as adjunct professor at Emory's Candler School of Theology, where she earned her Doctor of Theology. Dr. Piggue holds a Master of Divinity from the Interdenominational Theological Center and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Texas at Austin. Her book, Our Bodies Are Alive: Self Literacy as an Embodied Healing and Liberative Practice, was published in Spring 2025 and helps inform sermons, lectures, seminars, and retreats on the very necessary work of healing that a spiritual leader must engage in.