Caring Financially for Retired Missionaries

Part 1 of a three-part series on caring for missionaries in their retirement.

By Scott Kenson

“Do you know __________ [retired missionary Jane Doe]? Our church has supported her for years, and now that she’s retired we still support her. We’d like to free up that money to support new missionaries. What do you think? Is it good stewardship to continue supporting retired missionaries? Doesn’t the mission have retirement plans for retired missionaries?”

While this is a compilation of several conversations we’ve had over the years, it represents the struggle that pastors face. This is an important issue, for it touches on stewardship of God’s resources, giving honor to whom honor is due, support for the needy, and the urgent need to share the gospel around the world. That is the subject of this first article on retired missionaries. The second article will focus on caring emotionally for retired missionaries, and the third article will then focus on how retired missionaries can be a huge blessing to your church.

A Change in Culture

In the 1800s and on into the early 1900s, most missionaries died on the mission field. Many did not live long lives, often dying from diseases such as malaria, typhoid, or dysentery. As a result, no one thought of retirement. For example, William Carey and Adoniram Judson were both married three times because their first and second wives died. Both men also died on the mission field.

Those who followed in their footsteps in the early- to mid-1900s likewise expected to die on the field, and many did. However, due to improvements in medical care, there were those who lived on into their 70s and 80s. As they aged, their health declined, to the point where, if they remained on the field, their poor health required the younger missionaries to take care of them while trying to carry on the work of the ministry. This led many mission boards to adopt a mandatory retirement age (usually around 65) and require retiring missionaries to return to their passport country. These missionaries, who had expected to die on the field, typically had not set aside money for retirement, considering it unnecessary. Others may have considered retiring back in the States but believed saving for retirement showed a lack of faith in God’s provision at a time when they were trusting God to provide for their needs from day to day. Many churches at the time would have frowned upon missionaries “padding their nests” by saving for retirement as well, for the culture in the States was such that families took care of their elderly, rather than expecting them to have saved money for retirement.

In the 1950s and 60s, large corporations in America began offering pensions as part of their wage package. In 1974, the US passed a law allowing for IRAs to be created. This changed the culture in the US so that families no longer expected to take care of their elderly. Instead, they expected the elderly to have saved enough through Social Security, pensions, and IRAs to manage on their own when they retired.

When missionaries who had gone to the field in the 1940s and 50s began retiring in the 1980s and 1990s, they stepped into a culture with very different expectations than the one they had left. Churches began to balk at the idea of supporting missionaries who were no longer on the field, tying up funds that could be put toward supporting new missionaries heading to the field. Mission boards then began to require that missionaries start setting aside funds for retirement and include those funds as part of their support estimate. A brief survey of several independent baptistic mission boards revealed that most started requiring their missionaries to set aside money towards retirement somewhere in the late 80s on into the 90s, while some only started requiring it as recently as the early 2000s.

The missionaries who had gone to the field in earlier years ended up caught in the middle of this transition. Having started saving for retirement later in life, their retirement portfolios were pretty meager. Today these missionaries are retiring and returning to the States to find two painful discoveries. First, many of their supporting churches no longer want to continue their support, wanting instead to support new missionaries. Second, their churches expect them to have adequate savings for retirement even though they have not had adequate time to do so.

Urgency and Honor

As churches consider the command to make disciples of all nations and see the need to send new missionaries to the field, they wrestle with how best to use the funds in their mission budget. Supporting missionaries who are no longer on the field, and who may not be in active ministry, seems a waste of valuable resources that could be used to advance the gospel around the world. At first glance it looks like an obvious step for churches to move their support from retired missionaries to new missionaries who are ready to go out and serve the Lord. However, there are other biblical principles to consider.

In Paul’s instructions to Timothy regarding the responsibility of the church toward elders, he writes, “The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching” (1 Tim 5:17). While this verse does not specifically address missionaries, we can extend the application to cover those who have faithfully served the Lord overseas, because “They went out for the sake of the Name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles” (3 Jn 7). Having dedicated their lives to serving the Lord, they are well worth honoring by making sure their needs are met even after retirement. Just as churches with long-serving pastors make sure that they are taken care of in retirement, so too, churches should make sure that their missionaries have adequate resources to live on when they retire from the field.

Wise Stewards

So how do we make the best use of God’s resources, making sure to keep in mind both the urgency of the Great Commission and the responsibility to honor and provide for those who are faithful servants? First of all, realize that missionaries have a heart for the lost and a burden for sending out new missionaries. They did not enter the ministry to make money. In their retirement, they usually live very humbly and continue to give sacrificially toward mission work, so any support funds sent to them will not be wasted.

Secondly, because mission boards started requiring missionaries to save for retirement several decades ago, most missionaries who retire these days do not need full financial support. They can survive on a reduced support level, coupled with their retirement savings. This then frees up some money that the churches can invest in sending out new missionaries. Most mission boards work with their missionaries to ascertain their financial needs in retirement and then communicate with their supporting churches about that need. However, if you have retired missionaries that your church has supported for years, and you haven’t heard how they are doing financially, it can be helpful to contact them before making a decision on whether to continue supporting them and how much support is still needed.

Third, if you have younger missionaries sent out by your church, find out if they are required to put aside money for retirement. If they don’t have a retirement plan, help connect them with a financial planner who can help them think through their needs. Let them know that, as their sending church, you want them to set aside money for retirement and that you don’t consider it a waste of the Lord’s resources to do so. You could even encourage them to invest in a house and connect them to a property manager who could look after the house while they are on the field.

Finally, if you have retired missionaries in your church, engage them in ministry! Retired missionaries typically don’t want to sit around and enjoy a comfortable life of ease in their retirement. The many retired missionaries I know are still looking for ways to serve the Lord even in retirement. Think of them as veteran workers whom the Lord has reassigned to help your church.

May the Lord give wisdom as we seek to be good stewards of His resources and to honor those to whom honor is due.

Scott Kenson (a pseudonym) serves as a church planter in Creative Access Nations ministry.