How should a Christian view retirement?
In our Finance Committee, we have been thinking about this a lot. A recent survey of our missionaries revealed concerns about the Prayer League’s retirement plan and whether it is adequate.
Prayer League missionaries tend not to give the idea much thought. We join the mission trusting God to meet our needs. We discover that he is faithful, and we trust him to remain faithful in the future. We don’t give much thought to ceasing our work, either, in order to take up gardening, golf or traveling the world. Most missionaries I know would agree with Dorothy Sayers, who said that work such as ours “is not, primarily, a thing one does to live, but the thing one lives to do.” The Great Commission does not have a retirement clause. Most of us think we will be in some form of ministry until our final day.
Yet there is nothing wrong with making plans. We plan to draw Social Security at age 65, or maybe 67, or maybe a little later. For many of us, there will come a time when we are no longer able to draw a salary. This need not be an arbitrary date. Perhaps we will want the freedom to follow God as we feel we are being led, without being restricted by someone else’s vision. I appreciate the perspective of Envoy Financial, our retirement plan advisors, who introduced us to the concept of “Future Funded Ministry.” Future Funded Ministry is the idea that one should prepare for those “retirement” times, and turn them into opportunities for ministry.
For many years, we have provided our missionaries with a retirement-oriented benefit of 15% of their basic monthly allowance. Our missionaries have the option of contributing that benefit to a 403(b) retirement account set up with Envoy Financial, putting the funds into an account of their own – or simply spending it. Too many, unfortunately, use the benefit to get by today, rather than save for tomorrow.
Upon recommendation of our Finance Committee, the Home Council has recently approved a 50% “matching” benefit for this basic monthly amount. This will increase the amount available for savings, while encouraging our missionaries to actually set it aside – for their own “Future Funded Ministry.”
Pray with the Committee as we consider other improvements to the plan.