Making the Most of Life in Retirement: Practical and Spiritual Insights

After dedicating hours to their work each day, week after week, for decades, many individuals feel a lost sense of purpose once that comes to a screeching halt in retirement. Rev. Dr. Steve Harper felt no different when he retired in 2012.

Following his call to ministry as a teenager, Steve went on to become a pastor for seven years and a professor for 28, which included 12 years as vice president of Asbury Theological Seminary’s Orlando campus.

Concerned by the clergy burnout he saw during his ministry, Steve and his wife Jeannie began a ministry for ministers and their families called Shepherd’s Care. Several years later, The Upper Room invited him to cofound (with Marjorie Thompson, a widely recognized spiritual formation teacher, retreat leader and writer associated with The Upper Room) the Pathways Initiative, aimed at fostering spiritual formation and clergy wellness within local congregations.

Steve’s focus on wellness continued into retirement when he felt the spiritual and emotional struggles that many retirees experience.

“There are aspects of being in active ministry of any kind that stop immediately upon retirement,” he said. “I had my own struggles with that because I enjoyed teaching so much. To suddenly no longer experience the daily heart to heart, spirit to spirit with my students… yeah, I felt that.”

At the same time, he recognized there is no expiration date on abundant living. “When Jesus said, ‘I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly,’ he didn't say ‘until you’re 65.’”

Steve began talking to clergy who were retired for five or more years to learn what they found challenging and rewarding in retirement. He and Jeannie also attended a pre-retirement seminar conducted by the Florida Annual Conference to gain more insight.

He recalled, “Our speaker said that he can easily walk us through the stages of retirement, but spirituality is something only we ourselves can and will need to work on—and a lot at that. I realized that in addition to the very helpful information, I was also looking for the ‘soul factor.’”

Steve felt he wanted to write a book about exactly that, but not right away; he first wanted to experience living in retirement for a while. Four years later, Abingdon Press invited him to write “Stepping Aside: Moving Ahead,” published in 2016.

“After everything I learned from the [Florida Annual Conference pre-retirement] seminar, speaking to retired folks and experiencing retirement myself, I wanted to provide spiritual and practical wisdom for those who were experiencing similar internal struggles as they approached retirement.”

He noticed that the people he knew who had done the “best” in retirement were those who found personal identity in their humanity, not in their professional credentials.

“If your identity is in your work and suddenly you’re not doing that work anymore, it becomes a bumpy ride pretty fast. But if you pay attention to who you are, not what you do, you’ll find you can be more fulfilled in retirement.”

“I know some clergy who, as soon as they retired, asked their bishop, ‘Is there a small church somewhere I can pastor?’ They didn’t know what else to do except what they’ve always done,” Steve said. “But elders don’t do that. Elders in the Bible sit at the gate ready to listen, to converse.”

This lesson from the Bible was the inspiration behind the book title. “If you’re willing to step aside, you can move ahead, and others can come into the places where you served. It took me until I was retired to realize how many people had to retire before I did so I could have my place in ministry. By stepping aside, we give younger individuals a fresh start, and that’s exciting.”

Steps for Moving Ahead

Steve recommends getting the practical aspects of your retirement in order before you focus on your inner self. “Take advantage of EY Financial Planning Services and get a financial planner early in your career. I started working with a financial planner several years before I retired, and it made me realize how much better off I might have been if I had received that same kind of advice 20 years earlier.”

“Once you have your financials in order, it’s imperative you find your identity and worth in your personhood. We are made in the image of God. Our job titles are just adjectives; ‘human’ is the noun. It’s who we are and what we need to lean into.”

“There is life after retirement,” emphasized Steve. “It’s spending time with your spouse if you’re married, enjoying your family, your hobbies, grabbing coffee with a friend, giving back to your community, and so much more. Retirement isn’t the end—it’s a new beginning.”