Clergy Retirement And Wholeness

What would you wish for in retirement? Good health? Financial Stability? A supportive social community? Retiring well is everyone’s goal, but accomplishing this end requires planning and effort. Family physician Gwen Halaas recognizes the challenges professional caregivers such as clergy experience as they try to practice good self-care, particularly as they approach the significant changes inherent in retirement.

What does retirement mean for Church of England clergy? Fourteen retired clergy reflect on their experiences in retirement and discuss the challenges and opportunities of this new stage of life.

In Clergy Retirement: Every Ending a New Beginning for Clergy, Their Families, and Congregants, retirement is likened to a death experience, but much more. Besides saying goodbye to congregants, colleagues, and a career, it is equally important, as in any other loss, to take time to grieve aernd then to discover new meaning in life through which to reinvent oneself and grow to new heights. This book is a manual for transition into a new world as one approaches retirement. It not only encourages the retiree to think through the process of making new meaning, but offers practical suggestions of how to do so.

Taking inspiration from the Spanish word for retirement—jubilacion—veteran minister Bruce Epperly challenges and empowers clergy to see retirement as a celebration of new possibilities. Similar in spirit to the Jubilee year described in scripture, retirement can be a time of transformation and exploration, of freedom to try on new versions of yourself and new paths of service. In that spirit, clergy can embrace creative transformation in their relationships, neighborhoods, religious communities, and politics. No longer tethered to the politics and administrative duties of congregational leadership, they can now freely commit themselves to relational, intellectual, and spiritual growth. They can also focus on personal, community, and planetary healing and transformation. Retired clergy can become sages and wisdom givers sharing their insights and energy with seminarians and novice pastors, congregations, and communities. Bringing together the fruits of conversations with more than 100 retired clergy, theological reflection, and spiritual practices, this text provides a way forward for clergy considering retirement and retired clergy. Based on interviews from persons from diverse denominations, theological perspectives, and ethnic and racial backgrounds, this book garners wisdom from pastors on their retirement journeys, from personal preparation and public announcement to first steps following retirement and long-term adventures.

Clergy Retirement: Every Ending a New Beginning for Clergy,Their Families, and Congregants, emphasizes that retirement is much more than a significant personal loss and has an impact on more than just the retiring clergy. Besides saying goodbye to congregants, colleagues, and a career, clergy are encouraged to devote time discovering new meaning in life and seeking potential opportunities, both personal and professional. At the same time, the impact of this retirement on others who significantly shared the clergy’s life is sensitively highlighted. The ripple effects of this transition are broad, but can be most meaningfully addressed with sensitive consideration and thoughtful planning. This book, therefore, offers practical advice, serving as a manual for transition for the entire congregation. Everyone touched by this retirement is guided to find new meaning for their future after honestly and sensitively facing the end of a career.

In a time of shifting worldviews and changing expectations of the church, how does a pastor navigate the challenges, joys, and pains of ministry? How does a church support, love, and hold accountable its pastoral leaders? The key lies in the relationship between pastor and congregation – in the duet they are singing, in the rhythms of their life together. In this book, Gary Harder reflects on the difficulties and rewards, the missteps and humour that are part of learning that ministry duet. Here he celebrates the mysterious ways God works through, and sometimes in spite of, the people singing God’s songs together. We reach for harmony. We hear dissonant notes. We catch only a glimpse of God’s beautiful music. And that is enough.