I have now experienced about four years of retirement from being pastor of a church. Near the time that I was planning to retire, an older friend said to me, “You can retire from being a pastor but you can’t retire from being called by God to ministry.” Being retired from being responsible for the daily life of a church has been a pleasant change for me, but I continue to muse on my friend’s advice. I do find that I have been very busy in a variety of forms of doing ministry these past four years and the future looks full of challenges as well. Over the next several days, I want to reflect on our call in retirement. I would be very interested in hearing from others as to their experience.
A major issue that affects our response to retirement is our health. I have been blessed with good health, but I know that is not always true. I have a good friend who retired from his pastorate because of his struggle with Parkinson’s disease. That has certainly restricted what he can do, but even he has found ways to exercise ministry in various ways.
I have known others who have left the practice of ministry all together, either at retirement or in many cases much earlier. While I do believe that one’s call changes at different points in one’s life, I wonder what it means for one’s spiritual life if we simply walk away. In good Reformed theology, we say that everyone has a call from God, and it certainly does not mean that leaving ministry is denying God’s call. Sometimes, however, I think individuals have been so hurt by ministry, that they try to deny that part of their life.
Mostly I want to reflect on retirement from active ministry but it applies to some of these other areas as well.
