(Editor's Note: This article was first published in the January/February 2022 print edition of The Stand)
“The concept of retirement is really not in the Bible. You can’t find it there.”
Those words may not be well received and may even come as a shock to the roughly 14 %, or nearly 50 million people of the U.S. population who fall into that demographic, but nonetheless, the words are true.
Bruce Bruinsma, founder of Retirement Reformation ministry, made that observation in a recent conversation with The Stand.
Bruinsma knows a little about retirees and their mindset, as he has spent the last 25 years as founder and CEO of Envoy Financial, a retirement planning organization.
He hopes to change the way Christians view retirement and awaken so many from spiritual dormancy as they live out their final decades of life.
It is a lofty goal, to be sure, but one he hopes to achieve through the Retirement Reformation movement. Bruinsma spoke with TS about the movement, its genesis, and how he hopes the Lord will use it.
The Stand: Where did the idea originate that the retirement community needs reformation?
Bruce Bruinsma: Well, I’ve spent almost 30 years helping people prepare for retirement. Unfortunately, the industry motivation for retirement is the idea that one needs to save or else they will end up being a bag lady. It’s kind of a fear technique the industry has used over the years, and it has not been particularly successful.
So about six years ago, I was praying and thinking about why it’s so difficult to get Jesus followers to prepare well for retirement. When most people think about retirement, they start with the financial side; however, a thought came to me that was really a turning point. And the thought was this: If your why isn’t big enough, the how doesn’t matter.
For years the financial services industry has operated with the supposition that if people only knew how to invest or how to save, they would.
That’s just not true. So I’ve been searching to find the why that’s missing?
TS: What have you found?
BB: It appears that believers are not connecting with a couple of key issues. No. 1 is the realization that our lifespan is extending. From what the world calls retirement, let’s say age 65 to 70, until the end of one’s life may be a 30-year period.
The other piece has to do with living like God has a plan for your life. Most Christians believe that, but when we examine what people do when they reach retirement age and go through a transition from a career to a different lifestyle, they don’t reflect that belief. They don’t live as though they recognize that God’s call on our lives extends until we die.
In recent surveys asking what they plan to do upon retirement, 85% of Christ-followers, answered with some version of nothing. Now that nothing often takes the form of trying to create meaning out of leisure. Leisure is fine, it has value. But it does not have meaning.
So what’s missing is that retirees realize our life spans are extending, and we have an ongoing call that doesn’t end with retirement.
TS: How do retirees still have a lot to offer?
BB: In those retirement years, many are uniquely positioned to be able to help build the kingdom. And yet, as I’ve already mentioned, 85% of Christ-followers are really doing nothing to build the kingdom during that time.
That is a time in their lives when they have the most time, the most money, and should be the closest in their walk with God. They’ve got wisdom, and they’ve got opportunity. But so few are doing anything to really help build the kingdom.
So it’s out of that context that the idea of Retirement Reformation evolved and continues to evolve. And the goal of Retirement Reformation is to change the minds of Christ’s followers to be connected with God’s ongoing call on their lives during retirement and to be productive for Him.
In turn, that brings meaning and purpose to life – and freedom and joy – rather than a meaningless existence, which is not what we’re called to.
TS: Why do so many embrace the “take it easy” approach to retirement?
BB: Well, I think there’s a couple of pieces to that.
Culture says to the world that retirement is one homogenous time frame. It’s pretty much all downhill, both physically and mentally, and then you die. And the goal is to jam as much leisure as you can into that intervening period.
Well, that’s a whole series of lies that unfortunately, many – if not most – Christians have adopted. Then that provokes a turning from an outward orientation where Jesus calls us to love our neighbors, to this idea of "Now it’s time to love myself. I’ve worked hard, and I deserve this!"
As Christ-followers, we have bought into the world’s version of what retirement is rather than following the ongoing message that Jesus brings to us that we are called, prepared and that there are issues in our world that we need to address.
In John 15:16, Jesus said, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain.”
The Retirement Reformation movement is hoping to focus on the idea of bearing fruit and what that looks like, and how each one of us has a unique role in how our fruit-bearing will build the kingdom.
TS: Are you saying a person shouldn’t simply retire but should rethink that season of life?
BB: I think the word rethink is really important. A friend of mine says we first need to rethink, and then we need to refire.
I like to tell about a 93-year-old “retired” missionary. She’s in the last stages of her life and is pretty much bedridden.
After her morning routine – breakfast, bathroom, and medicine – she climbs back in her bed and grabs the phone book to start her day.
She opens it to a dog-eared page, finds the next person in the list, and gives them a call.
When someone answers, she says, “Good morning, my name is Pam, and I’m praying my way through the phone book. Is there some way I can pray for you?”
So here is Pam, who from a worldly perspective can’t do anything and is deemed useless. Yet on a daily basis, she is perhaps having as big an impact as ever, even long after her years on the mission field.
Find more resources
▶ Visit retirementreformation.org where books, podcasts, and more resources are available. Read, sign, and commit to The Retirement Reformation Manifesto, a document that encourages believers to bear fruit at all stages of life – even in retirement.
▶ The Association of Mature Adult Citizens (AMAC) is a Christian-based alternative to AARP and its ultra-liberal bias. AMAC offers discounts on insurance, travel, cell phone plans, and more. Its bimonthly magazine covers health topics, Social Security questions, U.S. history, military issues, and political insights. It also challenges seniors to be active in political and cultural issues. Learn more at amac.us.
