by Ken Howard
It’s been over two years since I left my last church to startup FaithX and, I swear, hardly a week goes by that some clergy colleague doesn’t ask me about how I’m enjoying retirement. The exchange usually goes something like this:
Colleague: So how are you enjoying retirement?
Ken: I’m not.
Colleague: Not enjoying retirement?
Ken: Not retired.
[at this point I explain how what I’m doing is a different different kind of ministry]It’s not just the fact that people (often the same ones) keep getting wrong that irks me. What truly troubles me is the unexamined assumptions behind the sometimes spoken but usually unspoken exchange that follows:
Colleague: What? Wait! You left your congregation, right?
Ken: Yep.
Colleague: And you didn’t accept a call to a new congregation, right?
Ken: Yep.
Colleague: Then how can say you’re not retired?