It has been said,
"Old Baptist pastors never die,
they just go on .........
and on ................... and
on ................... and on
................... (Author
unknown)

There Is a Time for Everything

"I will die in the pulpit!" These were the words that I heard from the old pastors and preachers, when I was first called into the preaching ministry. According to them, it was God who had called them into the pastorate and the calling was for life. For the early part of my pastorate, "pastor for life" was my understanding of God's calling on my life. I don't remember any forums or workshops dealing with retirement preparation. I graduated from two prestigious seminaries and I don't recall any classes or presentations on life after serving as pastor of a church. At ministers' conferences, every now and then, someone would be invited to speak about how to report income from funerals, weddings and freewill offerings; how to designate housing allowance; how to designate income for the greatest tax benefit and maybe the person would mention something about retirement in passing.

However, for the pastors I knew, instructions about retirement were for those pastors who saw themselves as what the Apostle John called "a hireling" (John 10:12). The "hireling" was not the shepherd so he saw his duties as just a job. In the time of trouble, the hireling would leave the sheep. He would leave because his main concern was not the care of the sheep, but for his own safety. A "hireling" sees himself as a mercenary. He fills his position for the temporal gains which it affords. On the other hand, the "good shepherd" is willing to give his life for the well-being of the sheep. The premise was that the "good shepherd" would never leave the sheep, except through death. Retirement from the pastorate was not on the radar screen for most of the pastors in my areas. For some, it was a sense of self-sacrifice or martyrdom to stay in the pulpit for life and this view was honored, revered and even celebrated in some circles.

After a few years into my pastorate, I began to question the assumption of "pastor for life." Serving as the moderator of our local association and president of our state convention, I was privileged to witness in a very intimate manner the relationship between the pastors and their congregations. On one occasion, a pastor who started his pastorate late in life was now serving in his sixteenth year. His eyesight had diminished to the point that he could not read the Bible and had to be led to the "sacred desk" for preaching. The attendance in worship services and the impact of the church in the community had decreased dramatically. The deacons of the church tried to work out a retirement package, but the pastor insisted that he was voted in by the church and that the church would have to vote him out. The church voted him out. This was a painful experience for the church members and the pastor. I also recall that there were several pastors who had served for over 40 years, and had done great work and had obtained remarkable reputations in the local church and the community. Over the years the demographics of the congregations began to reflect the age of the pastors. Their declining health could be seen in their preaching and in other areas of ministry.

In all of these cases these churches were exhibiting the symptoms of what Tom S. Rainer, in his book, "Autopsy of a Deceased Church" highlights. The churches no longer looked like the community; the budgets had become more inward focus; there was no longer a zeal for evangelism; they ceased to see corporate prayer as an integral ingredient to the ongoing progress and growth of the church; and the churches lost their purpose for existing. These congregations would never vote the pastors out because they were beloved as father figures, but the members could see the vitality of the church slowly perishing. The boiling frog theory explains how some pastors and congregations allow for the death of their churches. The premise is that a frog placed in boiling water will immediately jump out of the pot, but if it is placed in cool or cold water and the heat is slowly raised, it would not perceive the danger and allow itself to be boiled to death. The story is used to illustrate the unwillingness or inability of people to react to change when the change occurs gradually. Slow erosion is the most dangerous of church decline, because it is difficult for people to see and recognize.

It has been my experience that most churchgoers are passive and non-confrontational. That is, they would prefer to "just pray it away," rather than engaging in serious dialogue with the pastor and other stakeholders concerning the health and ongoing progress of the church. The pastor must constantly remind himself that not only is he the under shepherd, but he is also a steward. That which he has been granted privileged to oversee, by God's grace, does not belong to him.

On another occasion, the pastor, who had served long enough to retire, had some major health issues that rendered him incapable of fulfilling the duties of the office of pastor. Yet, he stayed on until the members requested that he leave. In still another case, the pastor served for over 40 years. He did some great works during his tenure and the church was progressing. He had led the congregation in accepting a plan to build a new edifice. The children he had dedicated and baptized went off to college. When they returned they began to question his leadership and his ability to serve as pastor. According to them, he had not "kept up with the times." He had remained a creature of his times.

The congregation had forgotten about the good works this pastor had done. In other words, "Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph" (Ex. 1:8). The congregation voted the pastor out after 42 years of service. As far as I know, he had done nothing wrong, except he stayed beyond the time set by some of the members. The pastor left without a banquet, no certificate of appreciation, and no words of commendation, there were many hurt feelings among some of the members of the congregation. The church split, with many members going with the ousted pastor to start a new church. This action resulted in broken relationships between friends and families.

I believe the pastor died the night he was voted out, not a physical death, but within his spirit. He called me and told me that after he preached his last sermon at the church, a few days later he went to get his belongings from his office and the trustees had changed the locks on the doors. The pastor was devastated. He...