A MOMENTARY SPEED BUMP ON THE ROAD OF LIFE

By Kenneth Heer

Our culture extols the virtues of youth and tries its best to deter the prospects of and effects of aging. Some people are temporarily able to facial cream away the wrinkles and exercise away the accumulated effects of gravity and too many church dinners. But at some point reality must set in and we all must accept the fact that the years add up at an ever-increasing rate.

The problem is not that one gets older. The problem is that some have marked certain birthdays as significant transitional ones that signal weary travelers they are facing the slippery slopes of declining ability and usefulness. One of these mythical mile markers occurs at your 50th birthday. Having passed that mile marker five years ago, and now having completed 35 years of ministry, I have some observations regarding ministry after 50.

1. I work harder. Yes, I believe I work harder now than I did when I was 30. I don’t play on the church ball team like I used to, but my energy for work and ministry has not left me. Fifty does not live up to its reputation as being the end of the road for productive living. It is not as if you go to bed a vibrant 49-year old and wake up the next day a debilitated 50-year old with no energy or desire to work. Realizing the importance of each day, I am motivated to work harder. It is a matter of motivation, not physical dexterity. Vision for ministry begets motivation. Motivation begets energy. My metabolism has slowed, but not my motivation. I can eat less and gain more—but my ministerial energy is not metabolism related.

I have been granted the gift of becoming a morning person. I didn’t seek it. I didn’t want it. It is not necessarily a spiritual gift. But I have found that the extra, uninterrupted, early morning hours contribute more effectiveness to my spiritual formation and work productivity.

2. I work smarter. If there is such a thing as learning “the tricks of the trade” in ministry, you have learned them by the time you are 50. Less unnecessary energy is burned while performing administrative, leadership, and pastoral-care tasks. “The harder I work the behinder I get” does not have to happen if you work smart.

3. I work with greater focus. Children are grown. There are fewer distractions. There is less need to impress others or drive to establish myself in the hierarchy of things. Energy and activity are not in themselves great virtues. They can be wasted on a lot of unnecessary things. Ministry is not a sprint but a marathon. Focus and pacing are necessary. I think I have a greater capacity for both than I did when I was younger.

4. I choose my battles more carefully. Youth may be ready to fight every battle, no matter how bloody it may leave them and their victims. Fifty-year olds have a greater capacity to know the battles that are worth fighting and the skirmishes that should just be avoided because no one will emerge a winner and only the Kingdom will be the loser. I don’t have to fix everything or straighten out everybody. I do not have to speak on every issue. I reserve the right to be wrong on an issue without it throwing me off balance.

5. I work within the context of a wealth of experience. Ministry is enhanced when you minister out of experiential knowledge. I ministered more effectively to those who were grieving after I experienced the death of my father. There is value in accumulated experience. The younger players may assume places of higher visibility and the older may spend more time on the bench, but when the game is non the line and experience, stability, wisdom, leadership, and someone to bring focus to the team are needed, where do they turn? They turn to those with experience. Some may even see value in bringing retired players back and suiting them up (At least it worked for a player in Chicago that wears the number 23).

6. I work within a hammered out and tested theology of and philosophy of ministry. It sure helps to know what ministry is, what the church is, and what your place in God’s will is for both. This is in sharper focus the longer you are in ministry. I think I have a better grasp of all this than I did twenty years ago. There is less temptation toward pragmatism.

7. I am less impressed and influenced with fads. The longer you are in ministry the more you sense that which is faddish. There is a difference between discerning trends that call for adjustments in methodology, and falling for fads that are essentially pragmatic, short-term glitches in the program of things. Age brings a certain ability to resist fads while still being flexible. Maybe there is a point where rigor mortises of opinion and methodology sets in, but I don’t think it has to happen when you turn 50. The hippies of the sixties and seventies proved rejecting the establishment can take on its own convention and status quo. This is not a disease of age but of heart.

8. I work with less wanderlust. Having weathered some of the storms of life and ministry there is less interest in running from problems or seeking greener grass. The willingness to stay put in tough times is often the prelude to additional years of effective ministry.

9. I work with a clearer knowledge of myself. Knowing your limitations, strengths, and weaknesses is a valuable asset in ministry. Mid-life crises notwithstanding, 50 year olds have a greater understanding of themselves than 30 year olds. They know what energizes them and what exhausts them. They know where temptations lurk for them. They know where they can be most productive. They have a greater capacity to know their moods and how to manage them.

10. I work with the enablement of networks. It is not just a matter of “who you know”, but a matter of having developed associates, friends, and resources that you can refer to, keep you sharp as “steel sharpens steel”, maintain your equilibrium through accountability, and provide enablement in your areas and times of weakness. Some of that network is the corps of young ministers that I have had some measure of involvement within the time of their call and preparation. It is a tremendous energizer to know there are ministers out there who are extensions of your ministry.

11. I have proved there is joy in serving Jesus. Of necessity, young ministers have to pay off school debts, establish their families, purchase the tools of the trade, and catch up to the lifestyles of their congregates. Remuneration is a very important issue. At this stage of my life I can focus more on the rewards of ministry than the remuneration of ministry. I can reflect back over years of character-building struggle and acknowledge God’s faithfulness. I can honestly say that the rewards of ministry are of greater value than the remuneration of ministry (and I have known both plenty and want). There is a liberating joy in serving Jesus that I have come now to realize—after 35 years of ministry.
Life neither begins nor ends at 50. It is only a speed bump that creates the amount of bounce that your heart allows. Once past it you are free to resume normal speed.