Retiring into Uncertainty
By Dick JacquinInnovations are allowing people to live longer than ever, and as potential retirees look into the future, they dream of exciting possibilities to explore. But the kind of retirement that enticed millions of Americans years ago is rapidly evaporating. In addition to the new opportunities they face, these pioneers of the new retirement look into uncertainty and a challenge to tackle, knowing that retirement will bring with it significant cost.
In the past, missionaries expected their supporting churches or their mission organizations to continue assisting them in a major way in retirement or after their days as active missionaries were finished. The missionary call of the past century included an unspoken vow of poverty—or at least frugality. As missionaries went out, there was an unwritten agreement that supporters and the mission agency would reward that life of sacrifice with ongoing support.
Coming to Grips with Today’s Realities
Those days of lifelong support are becoming less and less frequent, and long-term commitments of the past are quickly evaporating. Although age-discrimination laws prevent forced retirements, Christian organizations, local churches, and even individual donors are poised to reallocate their mission funds from older missionaries (sometimes not even retired yet) to younger missionaries who wait in the wings, passionately seeking support so that they can embark on their ministry. Others use the retirement of a missionary to switch their support to a project or program instead of an individual.
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The transition for our missionaries approaching retirement and returning from years of service on the field is a major dilemma. As both our own mission culture and our society changes, finding a suitable role for “older” missionaries (both pre- and post-retirement) becomes more and more difficult. It is now more challenging to match their skills after years of international hands-on ministry to our current high-tech/low-touch opportunities. Many missionaries in the past assumed that when they returned from the field they could count on continued support from their churches and individuals and easily move into support positions in the areas where they relocated. This assumption is being tested, and we must find ways to compassionately address this challenge.
That’s the dilemma—and the challenge—facing each missionary. Because of changes in the US Church and the US mission organization (and increasingly in other countries as well), the burden of effectively preparing for the transition from active service to retirement is now on each missionary’s shoulders. Preparation for those days is a burden; however, without preparation, facing retirement will be an overwhelming prospect.
Understanding the Dynamics in the Western Church
A drastic change in the mindset of the American Church has occurred in the last fifteen or twenty years. It no longer views a missionary as someone to support in perpetuity. As churches today begin to see missionaries they have had “on their rolls” approaching (or passing) the normal retirement age, many churches become anxious to be able to withdraw their support from retiring missionaries and reallocate the funds to those young people eager to begin their ministries. The younger missionaries are usually more aligned with the locations and types of ministries the churches have chosen in their individual missions strategies for the future.
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Dick Jacquin is vice-president of support ministries for HCJB Global. Formerly, he was in sales management, organizational management, and senior administration. |
