Ministry opportunities for retired pastors in the Evangelical Free Church of Germany

In the next ten years more than one hundred pastors in the Evangelical Free Church of Germany will retire. The new generation of retirees from the baby boomer generation will define aging and retirement in a new way. So the church is challenged to find new ways to accompany pastors in retirement and to use the growing potential of retired pastors.;This project is an investigative study to develop a strategy for the Evangelical Free Church of Germany in order to use the enormous potential of retired pastors in a better way. As an inductive study this project contains theological and biblical perspectives on aging and retirement.;Field research was conducted in three different ways: 1. The web-based quantitative questionnaire concerning expectations for retirement from eighty-three German EFC pastors, born between 1950 and 1959. 2. The qualitative interviews concerning their experiences with retirement from eight pastors born between 1940 and 1949. 3. The focus group of six participants with different backgrounds from our denomination evaluated the quantitative questionnaire and the qualitative interviews and collected ideas for new ministry opportunities for retired pastors.;Transcriptions and notes of interviews were subjected to qualitative data analysis using summary memos.;The results of the project show that there is a need for an ongoing personality development process in the life of a pastor to stay physically, intellectually, and spiritually healthy. Besides this, pastors would value good and brief material to prepare for retirement. Most important however is the fact that we need a new image of aging to help retiring pastors use their potential and find acceptance for that in the local churches. This new image should be communicated on every level and with every possible media in the EFC Germany.;There is a big challenge and also a big chance to use the increasing potential of the older generation in general and of retired pastors specifically for the benefit of the local churches, the sake of lost people, and to the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.