How can you help leaders prepare for retirement?
Preparing for retirement can be an exciting time. For others, however, it can be a frightening season full of unknowns.  When succession and retirement is looming, you can coach ministry leaders through this season helping them gain peace and confidence. 

Written By Gary Reinecke

ICF Master Certified Coach, Resource Designer, Mission Strategist : InFocus

Leaders in their final years of vocational ministry are in a unique phase of life. Serving in the same role for a couple of years prior to retirement is one thing; serving in the same role for a decade or two (or three!) is a different thing altogether! There is a sense of finality that has not occurred during other life transitions. 

Discovering Peace Leading into Retirement

The question leaders face in this season is, “What’s next?”

In retirement, some leaders envision unplugging altogether. Others want to continue their ministry in some capacity. Others, still, will pivot into an entirely new focus. The best path for you will likely be different from the path chosen by your peers and colleagues.

Coaching leaders as they enter into retirement can be a life-giving exercise, particularly for the leader who may not have another forum to process their thinking. 

  • Understanding the Lord is intimately involved throughout this time
  • Experiencing the love and support of family and friends
  • Life-giving opportunities to serve post-retirement
  • Having a financial plan that allows to maintain your standard of living 

Coaching Leaders Through Retirement

pastor retirement

Imagine this scenario: you are a lead pastor or a denominational leader. You have been serving in your role for more than two decades! Now, you are contemplating life after your transition off of ministry staff. If you have planned carefully, you have created a financial pathway that will meet your needs for the near and long-term future. Relationally, you have established healthy relationships or have a community you will be involved with once the grind of your working life slows. You might feel called into a new season of ministry that allows you to put your ministry experience to good use, empowering the next generation of emerging leaders to continue the work of making disciples, developing leaders, and investing in new works.

There is also another, less predictable scenario. The financial pathway is not as clear.  You may not have many established healthy relationships and will need to invest the effort into developing a community that will benefit you during the next season. And, you may or may not have a desire to continue in a ministry context but still need to earn money to meet your financial obligations.

Whatever your situation, here is a list of questions leaders face when considering retirement. If these hit at the core of the issues you face or have seen others face–keep reading!

3 Challenges leaders face when considering retirement

Retirement can be a challenging time for most leaders.  Many people face one or more of these challenges when retirement is pending.  

1. Identity

Who am I apart from my role(s)?

The role in which you have served bleeds into your identity and you might need to establish who you are apart from what you do. A healthier narrative is rediscovering that you are valuable apart from what you do. Making that shift can be difficult; asking the right questions can help shift your perspective and help you rediscover your true identity.

2. Significance 

What will I do to make the biggest impact for the Kingdom?

After you have transitioned out of vocational ministry, it can be a challenge to find ways to still make a difference in people’s lives. The answer to this might be engaging in things that you love but have put aside for a season and need to reactivate. Hobbies, volunteering, or recreational activities can serve as ways you can add value to people’s lives.

3. Convergence

How can I leverage my experience, gifting and skills to advance the Kingdom?

This is where many leaders I coach into retirement focus their energies. No longer are they serving out of obligation to a job but simply to bless others.  Imagine taking the lifetime of experience you have garnered and now using that experience in a very focused way, doing only those things you enjoy doing, like writing, preaching, or training leaders.

Finishing well!

This is a wonderful time for a coach to help ensure leaders finish well! Coming alongside a leader through the season leading up to retirement and post-retirement is an honor and privilege. It is a unique opportunity to help a leader reflect on his or her life and prepare for an unprecedented transition, capturing learnings while they are still fresh in the mind of the leader.  

During this season, celebrate the “wins” that God has accomplished along the journey!

The theme of Bobby Clinton’s work on Leadership Emergence Theory in The Making of a Leader is that few leaders finish well!  It is evident when a leader is finishing well–that leader is more in love with Jesus now than when he or she began their journey of faith, has a lifetime of life and ministry fruit to show for it, and is still going strong even until the end of their life.  

The road to retirement can be rich and full of future opportunities–the right coach can help navigate that journey and walk alongside leaders in any situation to finish their journey well!

Resources

The commitment to helping others doesn’t end in retirement. For many ministry leaders, coaching is a natural next step. Check out our resources that will provide you with a solid coaching foundation and are crafted for ministry application. 

A great place to start is with our Independent Study GrowthTrack.

Photo by Rene Asmussen

Cover Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Coaching to Develop Problem Solving Skills

Your clients come to you because they are stuck and need help moving forward. Often, because you are experienced and have the benefit of objectivity, you can pinpoint the problem and have a good idea where the solution lies. It’s tempting just to provide that help, knowing that clients will find it helpful. 

22 Questions to Ask the Mid-Sized Church

On the surface, finances might be healthy, facilities appear sufficient and staff are content. Underneath the veneer however there may be a high level of dissatisfaction – and reason for concern! What strategies do you use when coaching pastors of mid-sized churches? 

6 Strategies for Landing New Clients

You are poised and ready to help people and you are getting a lot of interest in coaching. Now you need to turn those potential clients into contracted clients.

Coaching the Small Church Pastor

There are wonderful things about working with small congregations, but just as with any church, there are potential pit-falls to be aware of from the perspective of a coach.

6 Ways You Can Upgrade Your Coaching Questions

You don’t just want to get your clients talking, you want the conversation to get deep, meaningful, and actionable. Upgrade your coaching questions from good to powerful.

5 Challenges Every House Church Faces

House Churches are becoming more common. Are you ready to coach their leadership toward effective ministry?

When church planters need coaching the most

No one likes feeling stuck. Coaching church planters when they are at critical sticking points helps them move forward with clarity and confidence. 

How to reboot your church board

If you feel like your board is tying your hands from moving forward effectively in ministry—or if your board members feel like you are tying their hands—there’s need for a reboot.

The best investment you can make in your church

It’s not a building or hiring additional staff members. And it’s not coming up with a new program. The best investment you can make in your church is to help develop the innate leadership skills in the people who are already there.

Slow Your Roll and Establish Disciple Making DNA

One of the pitfalls of launching small groups after the corporate gathering is established is that the DNA of disciple making can become secondary rather than primary.  This is a common problem when coaching church planters who, in their compulsion to “go public”, have found themselves relaunching two years later.  You as the church planter coach have influence in this decision.