After decades of working in the church, some senior pastors have come to another stage in their lives—retirement. Before retirement, some of them were leaders of seminaries, principal leaders of local CC&TSPM, or heads of churches. Their specific circumstances are different, but some of them show one thing in common, that is, they remain active in ministry.
Pastor Qi is a typical example. Before his retirement, he served in a church in a large city for many years as the main leader of the local CC&TSPM. Qi was quite well-known in the circle of pastors. After his retirement, he left the church and rarely appeared in public, but he reopened more mission field.
Leading believers to read the Bible is Pastor Qi’s chief service. He has led many believers to read through the Bible once a year for more than a decade. At a young age, he laid a solid foundation for his faith, so even in the various circumstances he encountered during his decades of ministry, he maintained the basic discipline of the faith. After retirement, he found that there were many Christians who could not persist in reading the Bible, and they could not read through the Bible even after reading it for many years. So he drew up a Bible reading plan, in which he played a guiding and urging role, and then sent these contents to everyone every day together with blessings. At first, he used QQ, an instant messaging software service, to send these messages one person after another. Later, with WeChat, his workload is greatly reduced due to the function of mass texting.
Pastor Qi keeps doing this thing for more than ten years every single day. He smiled and said to me, “As long as the other party does not object, I will insist on sending these contents. Even if the recipient does not follow to read, it does not matter. It can be regarded as a greeting from me, proving at least that I am still alive.”
He believes that many Christians have a partial and fragmented understanding of the Bible, and by constantly reading through the Bible, they can help believers have a complete understanding of the Bible, and the Bible can become a part of their daily lives.
In addition to continuing to lead people through the Bible, Pastor Qi also led a small group of four or five people for several years, often holding in-depth discussions with them on some topics. When a church invites him to preach, he often goes willingly.
Similar to Pastor Qi, Sister Chen, who is over 80 years old, has been retired for two decades and still has not given up the road of service. Chen came from a town where she was the first to believe in Jesus and the founder of a local church. Since the beginning of her Christian journey more than 40 years ago, she has always insisted on preaching the gospel. At first, she preached near her own home and then continued to expand to the surrounding areas, including places that would take her dozens of miles' walk. Under her leadership, the first Christian church was built in her town, and today, that church has been rebuilt and has a cathedral with more than ten acres of land. In her later years, Chen lived in the church where she had devoted so much effort.
After her retirement, Chen gradually withdrew from the management of the church and passed the baton to her successor. Although she no longer served in the church, she never stops serving. She once said, “There is never a day when there is nothing to do for me. God's work must be done every day.”
Chen said that she has the gift of preaching the gospel, and had led many people to believe in Jesus. She does not stop in her twilight years, and every year she produces several fruits. One year, there were new converts, which made her very happy. Prayer is another important part of her service, and she has many people in her heart, those with family dissension, those who are sick, or people who are weak in their faith, and so on. She also visits believers from time to time. In order to continue serving, she bought a tricycle, learned to use a smartphone, and could chat with people on WeChat.
Like Pastor Qi and Sister Chen, there are many retired pastors who continue to shine in their old age. Pastor Paul Liang, former chairperson of the Guangxi TSPM, is already a centenarian. He still attends Sunday services every week, pays attention to young preachers in his church, and uses his pension to aid the theological students who are in financial trouble. An elder in his eighties in Hebei Province learned to use the computer to make PPT in his later years. From then on, he said goodbye to the blackboard and small sticks that he used when he preached. He also learned to use WeChat and sent spiritual content to believers on WeChat every day. Aother senior pastor who has devoted much of his life to the church does not want to spend his old age in the home of his children but insists on guarding the church in the church. After retiring, a respected pastor, while taking care of several sick family members, is still often invited to preach in different churches...
(Originally published by the Gospel Times; the author is a staff member of the Gospel Times.)
- Translated by Nicolas Cao
