Can a minister retire

Why would he? It is beyond me. This is not a secular job.

 

Can any Christian retire? A pastor may retire from being the pastor of a church. To me that does not mean they retire from being a Christian. I do not believe any person who says they are Christian can ever retire from the Christian duties that God calls them to, i.e. witnessing, helping others, working in their church ... you see my drift. I am sure others can add to this.

To me there is no laity nor clergy. There are only Christians, each called to the duties that God wants them to complete.

 

Yes, a minister can retire and should retire from pastoring.... but never from preaching...

There will come a tiime when I will be too old to do the duties of a pastor the way I should. Should I hang on and let some duties go undone or retire and allow the church to find someone who it will benefit from?

But I can never see myself as completely retired... I would end up dying.

 

Yes, some in the denominations "retire" to enjoy the benefits of their labors, but many pastors just get old and runon and talk a lot and not say too much about that which they are talking about and run off on rabbit trails, now rabbit trails are good if they lead somewhere, but not all rabbit trails lead somewhere though the majority do not run anywhere in particular unless there is a point to that rabbit trail in which that rabbit trails is okay. Uh where was I - oh yes I was going to say that I wanted to go off subject for a moment - I think they call that a rabbit trail and some rabbit trails are great but not all ....... :laugh:

Many should move away from ministry as they begin to fail to minister, but you can't retire from being a believer as has already been said.

Retirement is a death sentence if you don't have anything to keep yourself occupied. My father was with the county when I grew up and I watched many county officials "retire" and most had nothing financially and just sat around and many died within a year or two of "retiremnet."

Anyone looking to retire should assure themselves that they have a lot to do to keep sharp.

 

Some men don't know when to retire. I was forced to retire after suffering a stroke that took my speech, short-term memory and left me paralyzed down the right side. It took three years to get speech back, and as God is my witness, I was in the pulpit three years to the day of my stroke. It was marvellous!

Should we give up on ministry? I truly hope not. We must adjust to it. There are many things we can do such as visiting the aged and suffering. We can pray. We can benefit other preachers in many ways and we can act as guest preacher at different churches.

I currently write correspondence courses for a National Native Bible College. I correspond with people around the world, and remain available to anyone who desires help along personal lines.

I am retired! At first I hated it and got down on myself. once I woke up, I realized that it was God who called me to ministry. It was God who changed paths, and God will continue to lead me day by day. It is my duty to follow and obey Him.

Cheers,

Jim

We retyre our motorcars to go another 20,000 miles. Why should we retire our lives to nothing?

 

yeppers.

"Retire," as in not serve in a full-time vocational ministry capacity...of course.

"Quit," as in to stop ministering.....of course not.

 

At the risk of hijacking this thread (which isn't my intention), I've got a related question:

At what point and how much thought, planning & prayer (not necessarily in that order) a do you think a pastor ought to give to "grooming" a successor to his pastorate?

The Apostle Paul (who I guess you'd say was more of a "church planter" [at least in today's way of looking at it] than what we'd normally think of as being a pastor of one particular local church) appears to have done this with Timothy.

Also, should that pastor's attempts at "grooming" a successor be known to the public from the very outset, or is that something he needs to keep under wraps until it's rather obvious to all of the church's members anyway?

(NOTE TO MODERATORS / ADMINISTRATORS: It's fine w/ me if you want to move this to a brand new thread.)

 

"Groom" away all one wants. Maybe it will 'work', maybe not.

Some "groomed" successors have been phenomenally successful (1st Baptist Jacksonville, for one example, where Dr. Homer G. Lindsay, Sr. was at first, the pastor where both Dr. Homer Lindsey, Jr., then Jerry Vines, were at first "Co-Pastors, then later pastors, leading an church that was dying, in 1940, when Dr. Lindsay, Sr. first came as pastor, until today, when she is now the third largest church in the SBC, and, for another example, also my own home church, over a century ago, when "homeboy" Burdette Kemper became the third pastor, led Forks of Dix River for 36 years, through the controversies over the teachings of Alexander Campbell, et al., the Civil War, Reconstruction, even led to another rural church constituted out of our own members, which grew to equal Forks, but may have not known when to retire as the 'leader', as he stayed until he only retired from illness, shortly before his death at 86), and some have proved to be huge 'flops', at least from the human perspective.

BTW, I think it will usually appear fairly obvious, where one is starting to "groom" a successor, whether or not this 'appearance' is intended.

Ed

 

Sorry, but I must do this.



Carry on.

 

How to retire 'gracefully?'

http://www.truveo.com/Penguin-Slap/id/2086460453

Or maybe not so gracefully get helped along into retirement??

http://www.truveo.com/Penguin-Dummy-Slap/id/3839123982

:smilewinkgrin: :laugh:

Sorry! Couldn't pass up the chance presented.

Ed

 

Many pastors of smaller churches would die (literally) as well.
If the church called a new pastor when he reached the age of 60-70, then what would happen to him? He probably never made an income large enough to have any kind of retirement fund. The church was not big enough to give any kind of benefits package. If he retired he would have no income, no way to pay any kind of rent, mortgage if he still has one, utility bills, etc. I do know of pastors who have come into this situation. It is sad. Not every person has the means to care for themselves after they retire.

 

Yes. But as long as I have health, I plan on ministering in one context or another.

 

God calls every believer to preach the gospel. Every Christian should possess the message of Jesus Christ and carry it into each place he lives and travels. No pastor will ever reach everyone. Every job is spiritual and not just one.

All gifts are given to serve one another.