The Effects of Retirement on AIC Missionaries in North Rift Regional Church Council

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of retirement on missionaries within the North Rift church area council. The voices of retired missionaries are utilized to increase awareness of the needs of missionary retirees, enable the church to reevaluate its role with regard to retired missionaries, and to help with the support of missionary retirees. Qualitative research was essential to the study as it enabled an in-depth understanding of the experiences of missionary retirees including their expectations, views about the ministry after missionary work, and areas where they felt improvements could be made. It was determined that retired missionaries in the North Rift region still held the conventional view of dependency without prior planning for retirement and these affected their psychological, physical, and spiritual needs after they had retired. It was recommended that the church and mission agencies should be equipped to provide for missionary retirees in their different areas of need, raise awareness about the needs of this population, and analyze the potential of integrated retirement activities with the home church.