Three Important Questions Every Pastor Should Ask

While none of us likes to think about our health or even our imminent death, we’re selling our families short if we don’t prepare for a strong finish someday. All of us would like to finish well like Caleb who outlived the other 11 guys who spied out the promised land. This 85-year-old warrior was still healthy and enthusiastic about his mission to possess the land. I would not consider Caleb’s model a given since the U.S. life span declined from 77 to 76 years in 2021.

Studies have shown that after the death of a primary income earner, it takes an average of four to five years for a family to recover financially. Most pastors will not outlive our spouses, so let’s make sure those who we leave behind are not victims of our poor planning. Here are three important questions to ask ourselves that may determine whether we are setting our family and ministry up for success or failure when we get our final promotion to heaven.

1. Am I protecting my family with sufficient insurance?

Is your family being exposed to unnecessary risk due to being underinsured?

Even if you have life insurance, you may not have enough. While life insurance obviously can’t replace all you do for your family, it should replace enough of your income to provide adequately for the loved ones who survive you. Currently, about 75% of households have some form of life insurance coverage; yet on average, their coverage is only sufficient to replace 3.6 years of income. Most families say they would feel more comfortable with 5.7 years of replacement coverage.

Last year one of our state conventions lost two pastors in their forties. Both still had children at home, yet one had life and disability insurance and one did not. One grieving spouse got a $100,000 check and the other didn’t. Life insurance is about caring for those who are left behind after a tragedy. 

How would you answer this question: “Am I protecting my family with sufficient insurance?”

2. Am I preparing my church for a healthy transition?

“But I consider my life of no value to myself; my purpose is to FINISH my course and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of God’s grace.”(Acts 20:24 CSB)

Churches are vulnerable during pastoral transitions, so we need to do everything we can to set both our successor and our church up for success. I love the fact that Paul went out of his way (literally) to do this well with Timothy and the elders of the church that he initially planted.

Since I have been asked to write about financial matters in this series, I want to lean in toward these more practical ways we can set our family and ministry up for a successful transition. Consider this cautionary tale.

A few years ago, a pastor had a heart emergency which disabled him from continuing to fulfill the duties of his pastorate.  The church committed to support the pastor for the remainder of the year in hopes he would be able to recover but unfortunately, he didn’t.  The church was left with the difficult situation where they had to balance their desire to continue to support their disabled pastor while trying to also provide a meaningful compensation package to a new leader for their church.

Sixty-four percent of people believe that they were highly unlikely to be disabled. But the reality is that one in four Americans will become disabled during his career. The “clean bill of health” mindset lulls many into thinking that they don’t need to protect their salary and therefore their church against disability.

Most pastors do not enjoy thinking about transitions, much less insurance, including me. However, if you are the lead pastor in your church there is no one more responsible for the church than you are.

3. Am I preparing myself for a strong finish with an exit plan?

Lifeway Research asked retirement-aged pastors, ministers, and missionaries about their life, health, relationships, reflections on ministry and how they’ve adjusted to life at this stage. Some reported that their post-vocational ministry life was good. Unfortunately, many others said they were not as prepared as they would have wanted. Financial stability for retirement was one characteristic that predicted higher life satisfaction.

“I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. You yourselves know that I worked with my own hands to support myself and those who are with me. In every way I’ve shown you that it is necessary to help the weak by laboring like this and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, because he said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive. After he said this, he knelt down and prayed with all of them. There were many tears shed by everyone. They embraced Paul and kissed him.”(Acts 20:33-37 CSB)

Paul had a financial plan. All pastors need a financial plan for their lives, their family, and their ministry. Other people in your ministry will likely be more proficient at finances than you are, but no one will be more responsible than you are. The same applies to your home.

GuideStone’s vision is to help every servant of Christ finish well. Part of how we do that is to enhance your financial security and resilience. Pastoral resilience is not limping across the finish line, it is accelerating through it.

How we run our race today will affect how we will finish it later.

• 34% of ministers 65+ have total household savings for retirement of less than $50k.
• 80% of ministers have less than $30k in non-retirement savings.
• 43% have credit card debit, 22% have educational debt.
• Half of those with a mortgage have 20+ years left.
• Over half of ministers are not confident they will have enough money to live comfortably throughout their retirement years.
• 15% have opted out of Social Security.
• 16% never expect to retire due to limited financial resources.
• Among those expecting to retire, more than half expect to work until they are 68 or older.
• 96% agree personal finances can distract ministers from their ministry.
• 59% of SBC churches do not provide medical coverage (LR/GS)

(Lifeway Research Pastor Attrition Study ‘21; SBC Minister Financial Wellbeing Survey – 1,490 SBC staff members ‘16)

The median age for ministers who ask GuideStone for help with their retirement is 42. Consequently, pastors are retiring later because they are not financially prepared for retirement.

Pastor, no one expects you to be an expert about insurance or retirement. My suggestion is that you let someone help you sort things out.

©2024 Mark Dance. Used with permission.