Main description:

Clergy Retirement: Every Ending a New Beginning for Clergy,Their Families, and Congregants, emphasizes that retirement is much more than a significant personal loss and has an impact on more than just the retiring clergy. Besides saying goodbye to congregants, colleagues, and a career, clergy are encouraged to devote time discovering new meaning in life and seeking potential opportunities, both personal and professional. At the same time, the impact of this retirement on others who significantly shared the clergy's life is sensitively highlighted. The ripple effects of this transition are broad, but can be most meaningfully addressed with sensitive consideration and thoughtful planning.

This book, therefore, offers practical advice, serving as a manual for transition for the entire congregation. Everyone touched by this retirement is guided to find new meaning for their future after honestly and sensitively facing the end of a career.

Contents:

Introduction: Clergy Retirement: Endings and New Beginnings Part I: Perspectives on Retirement 1. Grieving a Retirement: Reflections of a Thanatologist 2. Opportunities of Transition: A Psychologist's Perspective of Retirement Part 2: For the Clergy 3. Retirement is Not a Dirty Word 4. Saying Goodbye 5. Dangers to Watch Out For 6. Thinking About New Meanings 7. Finding Spirituality in the Next Stage of Life Part 3: For the People in Your Life 8. Listening and Sharing with Spouses 9. For Children of Retired Clergy 10. Clergy Transition: Engaging the Congregation 11. The Responsibilities Leaders of Religious Organizations Have to Their Retirees 12. Encouraging the Other: A Successor Interacts with a Predecessor 13. Encouraging the Other: A Predecessor Interacts with a Successor 14. Part 4: Conclusion Every Ending a New Beginning Appendix I: Other Resources Appendix II: Survey