Should Pastors or Ministers ever retire? Reflection of a young Ghanaian pastor & Theologian

The issue of the appropriate pension scheme for Pastors is one that often goes unattended to. The reasons for this are varied, ranging from the apathy of the pastors themselves towards their retirement to the refusal by churches to put in plans for it.

Therefore, for any meaningful discussion to be had on this subject, it is important to first answer the

Read full article.most important question: should Pastors retire? My stance on this is that Pastors must retire from active service in the ministry at some point because they cannot be working actively all their lives. In retirement, though they can engage ministry albeit in less active capacity.

Retire in the context of scripture

Retirement for priests is mentioned once in the Bible (Numbers 8:24-26) with reference to the Levites who worked within the Tabernacle/Temple or ten meeting. In that scripture the Levites were expected to start work at age 25 years and could work until they turned 50 years (Amegatse, n.d).

Jack Wellman in an article titled, “Should Pastors or Ministers Ever Retire” points out that the priests didn’t voluntarily retire but God had commanded them to “withdraw from the duty of the service and serve no more” at age fifty, and they could still be reassigned to another service, less demanding.

Amegatse (n.d) postulates that although no reasons were assigned to this arrangement, we can deduce that due to how tedious the work was and the age of the some of the priests, they could not continue in the work until they are worn out hence were expected to take a break to spend the remaining time grooming the younger priests to succeed them.

Despite the above, some misters work all their lives until they can work no more. There are several reasons for this and I have enumerated them in the paragraphs that follow.

Why some ministers choose not to retire

From a financial standpoint, most ministers in the vocational ministry often can’t afford to truly retire. The salary that many receive doesn’t allow them to put much away for future retirement. Also, most churches do not have the kind of retirement or pension plans that are offered by secular employers.

In some cases also, most churches lack proper succession planning through proper mentorship programs. In such cases ministers are not able to retire because they are afraid their successors cannot handle the work with the same level of competence they possess.

The last reason is what E. Prince Amegatse, Ph.D calls “the legacy system or family heritage” that is characteristics of “one man churches” which run on family lines with ministers preferring to handover to their spouse and or children as successors.

Why Ministers should retire?

Ministers who find themselves in vocational ministry, much like people in secular employment are human beings whose physical strength reduces with age. It is for this reason that they cannot engage in active ministry all the days of their life.

The Bible in Ecclesiastes 12:1 makes a clear distinction between the prime years of a man’s life and his later years.
Remember your Creator in the days of your youth before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, “I find no pleasure in them”. Ecclesiastes 12:1, NIV

The days of our youth are when we are strong and well able to do much for the Lord. Impliedly, when we become old and physically not as strong, we cannot continue to work actively in the ministry. Ministers at this stage can engage less in active ministry and rather use their experience to groom the young ministers.

They can write and publish to share the knowledge they have gained and their experiences with others. Although not totally disengaged from ministry, their time in retirement will them well physically and health wise.

Consequently, churches and ministries should define the condition of service for their pastors and other church workers. A good remuneration package that befits the office of the pastor and consistent with his privileges, general economic conditions, and the strength of the church’s ability to pay on time must be put in place whilst the minister is in active service (Amegatse, n.d)

The key to planning for pastoral retirement

Vanderbloemen (2020) and Amegatse (n.d) proffer the following as a means to properly plan for the ministerial retirement.

1.Pastors should be compensated well - Far too often, ministers pass up a raise or allow themselves to be under-compensated for the sake of the kingdom. While the church’s missions and ministry are important, it is also important that the pastor is taken care of now and in the future in order to have the resources to continue serving well after their pastoral days are over.

2.Planning the pastor’s succession - it is never too early to start a succession conversation, whether the retirement of the pastor is in 3 years or 30 years time. Having a smooth transition can be difficult, but planning early can help ensure that your pastor’s succession is seamless.

3.Pastor must practice retirement savings - pastors should save diligently for retirement no matter their income to avoid becoming a burden to their relations in old age. They can do this by subscribing to private pension schemes and investment arrangement in order to retire honorably.

4.Pension contributions as required by law should be instituted especially by every church for its serving salaried pastors and volunteers who are volunteering fulltime.

Conclusion

Although not a subject that is topical among ministers, the retirement of ministers from full-time service is as important as the work they do. Retirement ensures that ministers take their well-deserved rest after they have labored for the Lord in their prime years. It affords them the opportunity to groom younger ministers rather than