In some cultures, old age has been respected. The wisdom of the ancient Greeks was seen to reside especially in older people. The Hebrews were told to “rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly” (Lev. 19:32). Modem Japan looks on its elderly with reverence.
But in the United States, Ronald Reagan’s age was considered a political liability. His campaign officers made certain Reagan was seen riding horses and chopping wood. The message was clear: Mr. Reagan may be approaching seventy, but he’s not really old. In our country, old is synonymous with useless, rundown, obsolete. Presidential candidates aren’t the only ones affected by this attitude.
If some things get better with age, pastors aren’t among them, according to many churches. In fact, it is an “unwritten law of the ministry,” says one observer, that beyond fifty it is increasingly difficult to gain a church appointment. One minister, age fifty-one, says, “Churches may not come right out and say they want a younger man-that’s not ‘spiritual.’ But they do.”
Some churches, in fact, will admit it. “Our search committee is definitely looking for a younger pastor,” says one member of a North Carolina church. Her church’s attendance has been falling since 1976. “Our past two pastors were older men,” she explains, “getting ready to retire.”
Ben Lacy Rose, former General Assembly moderator of the Presbyterian Church in the United States and a veteran pastor, says the problem is nothing new. Now retired, Rose recalls writing an article on the anti-old bias when he was a young pastor. The reasons for the attitudes, he says, are much the same now as then.
Some protection exists in denominations such as the United Methodist Church, where ministers are assigned parishes and so are “guaranteed” an appointment regardless of age. But what of pastors in other denominations and in independent churches? What are the biases, real or imagined, just or unjust, that they face? And, short of planning to retire fifteen years early, what can pastors do to prepare for the later years of ministry?
Roadblocks for older pastors
By age fifty-five, a pastor, like all mortals, is showing a few wrinkles, perhaps some gray hair or baldness. However enthusiastic and vigorous he actually is, his looks are no longer those of a young man. Charles Wickman, interim pastor at the Addison (Illinois) Bible Church, recently completed a dissertation at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School on those who had left the ministry in frustration. He became aware of obstacles facing aging pastors. “Churches put a higher premium on the pastor being a parish promoter than the pastor himself usually does,” Wickman says.
In other words, it’s important to churches how their pastor will be perceived at the Lions Club or a football game. In society’s eyes, the older pastor is at a disadvantage. He is not considered to have the fire and dynamism of a younger man. As a Methodist minister from Kentucky puts it, the ideal pastor is about thirty-five, married, and with children-old enough to be experienced but young enough, it is assumed, to be energetic.
Churches do not simply want pastors who look energetic; they really want energy. According to Robert Tenery, pastor of the Burkmont Baptist Church in Morganton, North Carolina, ministers are expected to sit with surgical patients, make social and evangelistic calls, attend basketball games with the young people, and preach great sermons every Sunday without needing time to study. It is often assumed an older pastor won’t be able to do everything.
Churches also assume older pastors have more difficulty attracting the young. “Thriving churches are perceived to have strong contingents of young, vigorous, ambitious people,” Rose says. “It is considered especially important to attract those who are newly married, establishing families, and concerned for the future.” The pastor is expected to be “looking out for tomorrow,” as one church board member put it. The pastor in his late fifties is feared to be “coasting” till retirement, overly cautious, afraid to take risks such as going into debt to construct a new building. Congregations may believe older pastors are bound to stop striving and rely on past achievements. Or a church may want a minister who will stay ten years-past the point of an older pastor’s impending retirement.
Finally, some churches hesitate to call an older pastor because they assume he is too well established to move. Wayte Fulton, a retired minister now serving as interim pastor at Hope Presbyterian Church in Winter Haven, Florida, says small churches are often afraid they can’t match an experienced pastor’s salary. Or they surmise an older pastor would be unwilling to move, and the invitation is never extended.
Advantages of an older pastor
To say churches are biased against older pastors is a half-truth. Not all older pastors are discouraged, and not all churches look for youth.
Youth may offer vigor, but experience appears to develop its own kind of muscle. Charles Wickman, at fifty-one, is now in an interim pastorate. But a California church is waiting for him when he finishes his graduate work. That church, Wickman says, recognizes older pastors are likely to handle conflict better than their younger counterparts.
“Younger pastors feel more threatened when the kingdom they’re building is attacked.” Older pastors have seen their kingdoms rise, crumble, fall, and (maybe) rise again. They’re not as likely to feel personally attacked when the board challenges one of their ideas.
Experience may also bring a deeper appreciation of the laity. It also teaches not to jump to conclusions during conflict. A minister’s experience may help in the preparation of sermons as well. “A fifty-five-year-old ought to prepare a good sermon in half or a third the time it took when he was thirty-five,” says veteran preacher Wayte Fulton.
Older pastors may be wiser in economizing their energy-better able to judge when a hospital visit is necessary and when one more visit would be a nuisance, or when counseling has accomplished all it can and when more sessions would be wasted time and breath.
It may be true that older pastors lose some physical stamina, but as one board member says, “It is replaced by a more precious commodity: wisdom in the Lord.” His pastor has special credibility when speaking on matters of the family, he adds. At fifty-seven, the man and his wife have successfully raised a Christian family. Their children are the living results, and they lend a special authority to their father’s preached philosophy and theology of family.
This is true not only of child raising but of spirituality in general. Spirituality can ultimately be learned from no book or class: it must be lived, learned in daily experience. Churches realize-even if they occasionally have to be reminded in a youth-crazed culture-that an older person’s long spiritual pilgrimage counts for something.
As is widely known, the average age in America is creeping upward. This will probably deepen society’s-and churches’-appreciation of the advantages of age. But in the meantime, older pastors still face many obstacles. Ministers who do nothing to prepare for their later years of ministry are often stuck with a host of problems, many of which cannot be changed. But those who look ahead say the later years are among the best. Preparation is the key.
Preparing for ministry’s later years
Preparing is not done suddenly, but gradually and steadily. “If you don’t make a valuable contribution where you are now, no one will want you later,” observes one pastor. Working with devotion and intelligence, at whatever age, lays a solid foundation for later years.
One of the liabilities older pastors have is that they are seen as “out of date” or “behind the times.” With many older ministers, of course, that is not the case, and it doesn’t have to be with any. “Keep on top of what’s happening,” says Wickman. The key is to read. Sometimes pastors’ libraries are a dead giveaway of their age: all the books are twenty years old.
There are also a number of common sense measures. Health will be an important job consideration in later years, so obviously the pastor should stay in shape physically.
“Pace yourself,” one pastor advises. “Commit a pleasure. Don’t take yourself too seriously.” Since middle age can bring burnout to persons in any profession, understand the dynamics of burnout ahead of time. “Midlife changes can bring tiredness, hopelessness, and restlessness. Too many pastors settle into a rut and take sabbaticals on the job,” he says. Anticipating these problems and recognizing them as common can help the pastor keep them in perspective and overcome them.
If a pastor is seriously dissatisfied with the ministry when younger, he should consider other occupations while there’s time to retool.
Even pastors who aren’t planning to break with the ministry should develop other interests. “If an older pastor can’t find a church for a while, he may be able to lean on other interests that have helped him develop skills. A person needs two or three interests,” said Cary Weisiger, seventy-four, who still serves interim pastorates at United Presbyterian churches in California.
Weisiger, Rose, Fulton, and others also recommend older pastors consider smaller churches for their later ministries. Since children will be through college, salary needs are not as acute. The small church may allow the minister not to overextend but still to serve a vital function.
Finally, recognize that you can’t ease off and “coast” to retirement. Fulton suggests deciding what retirement age will be, then sticking to it. “Work the same number of hours you always did. Retirement is fine as long as you don’t retire before you get there. Keep working. Then when you get up to go, go.”
The mature years, according to Paul Tournier, can be ruined either by self-satisfaction or rancor and disillusionment. The minister who has had a solid earlier ministry, has prepared for the later ministry, and resists complacency can look forward to a later ministry that is just that-a true ministry.
-Rodney Clapp
Copyright © 1984 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal. Click here for reprint information on Leadership Journal.
