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The Retirement of a Congregation Overview This article explores the eighth of ten stages of development in the life cycle and stages of congregational development: Retirement. The ten stages are grouped into five phases. Phase Four: Early Aging involves an indefinable number of years in the life of a congregation. It includes the stages of Empty Nest and Retirement. To understand the Retirement stage appropriately it is necessary to look at the transition from the Empty Nest stage, understand the place of the organizing principles in the Retirement stage, review the characteristics of this stage, and determine how a congregation makes the passage to the Old Age stage. How Does a Congregation Make the Passage to Retirement? Time has broken down at this point in the life cycle. Knowing how long a congregation may remain in Empty Nest is difficult. It appears that a congregation can go through multiple rounds of Empty Nest before either redeveloping or moving farther down the Aging side of the life cycle. The key factor that sets in when a congregation is getting ready to move from Empty Nest to Retirement is private despair. Part of the despair may be weariness from the struggles of Empty Nest. Long-term members begin to feel that their congregation is no longer a good place to invite new people to come for worship, spiritual growth, and fellowship. As a result they become hesitant in their ministry to lost, unchurched, dechurched, and hurting people. Retirement begins to emerge when these same people begin to express excitement about making another major effort to turn around the congregation. They look forward to revitalized and new programs that a newer, younger pastor, and the new members that he can attract, can start. What is the Place of the Organizing Principles in the Retirement Stage? Retirement is that period when programs and management are dominant. Vision and relationships are no longer dominant. Management is controlling the direction of the congregation. Congregations in Retirement are no longer living out the vision that God has given them for a congregation that ought to be present in a certain place or target group of people. Vision is the fuel or energy that will drive the congregation forward throughout the growth side of the life cycle. Vision is the current understanding of God’s spiritual strategic direction for a congregation that is cast by leadership and owned by membership. Programs, which were diminished in Empty Nest, revitalize and are again dominant. This is because permission is given and resources are provided for new program emphases. Programs are the functional attempts to provide projects, ministries, services, activities, and training for people connected to the congregation by membership, fellowship, or through relationship processes. Relationships are now diminished. The natural fellowship of the congregation is wounded. Few core leaders and long-term members invite people to become a part of the congregation. Relationships are the spiritual and relational processes by which persons are brought to faith in God through Jesus Christ, become connected to a local New Testament congregation, are assimilated into the fellowship life and care ministry of a congregation, have opportunities for spiritual growth and leadership development, and are mentored to use their gifts and skills through Kingdom involvement. Management, which moved into the driver’s seat during Maturity, is now in firm control of the congregation. Any hope of a return of vision as the driving force is gone, and congregational members and regular attendees begin to realize this, and feel they must empower new programmatic efforts. The primary role of management is to provide the systems and structures that work in an integrative pattern to under gird the fulfillment of vision, and the implementation of relationships and programs. What are the Characteristics of the Retirement Stage? Many long-term members and attendees decided at the end of Empty Nest that this is no longer a good place to invite people to come and be members and attendees. Simultaneously they want the congregation to be alive and vital long enough to help them with various life passages, including their own death. Existing members and attendees may feel that new people will be disappointed in the congregation. Or, new people may want to change the congregation, and if it does not work, then the congregation may be weaker than it is already. However, existing members would love it if some effort were successful at again filling the sanctuary with worshipers, and restoring the congregation to past glory. Therefore, the stakeholders in the congregation who have been members or regular attendees for 20 years or more, have been professing Christians for 40 years or more, and are 60 years of age or more give permission for the newer, younger members and attendees to try new programmatic directions. At times this takes the form of an appeal made to a prospective pastor. The pastor search committee urges the new pastor to come lead them into a new era of transformation. Change, transitions, and new ideas are said to be welcomed and supported. The stakeholders really do not realize what they have asked for. They want the congregation to experience qualitative and quantitative growth that is congruent with the patterns of the past. They do not realize that the necessary changes will probably result in forms and styles very different from the past. Simultaneously, the new pastor, and the newer, younger members and attendees hear what they want to hear. They seek to move forward in new programmatic directions claiming that it is the new way of doing congregational ministry for the third millennium. The stakeholders cannot usually articulate well the changes that are acceptable. They will affirm change, but they do not want to have to accept too many personal transitions, or create a congregation that is not held in high esteem in the denomination or the community. The ideal new member or regular attendee household for the stakeholders to accept would be a family with the parents in the age range 25 to 45, the father only works full-time outside the home, the wife is available during the week for volunteer activities, they have two or three children, they are hard workers who volunteer for preschool, children and/or youth leadership responsibilities, they tithe their income through the congregation, and they do not aspire to top congregational elected leadership positions. About 18 to 24 months into the changes initiated by newer, younger leaders the stakeholders may realize that things are not working the way they thought they would. If so, they seek to stop the change efforts, and—if necessary—get rid of or discourage the leaders of the changes. Retirement congregations may actually split when this happens. Whether the stakeholders leave or the newer, younger leaders leave depends on how successful the changes have been, and for how long the change efforts have taken place. How Does a Congregation Make the Passage to Old Age? Congregations in Retirement may repeat this stage several times before redeveloping, or moving onto the next stage, Old Age. How many times the congregation aborts attempts at redevelopment does not have a consistent pattern. It will vary from congregation to congregation. A congregation in Retirement is like a truck without four-wheel drive stuck in mud to its axles, and cannot get out without help. At some point the congregation gives up hope, or runs out of resources to mount a change and transition effort. Rather than give permission for a new round of programmatic efforts to redevelop the congregation, they give up. When this happens the congregation slips quietly into Old Age. This may occur following a split, or following the leaving of a pastor they felt would be able to lead them forward, but instead he gave up. Old Age comes when the congregation is at rest. The congregation becomes a preaching station or chaplaincy ministry. | 
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