If you’re like most Americans, you’ve been looking forward to retirement for years — perhaps decades. This year will break a record with the largest surge of retirement-age Americans in history: Roughly 11,000 American will turn 65 every day in 2024.

If you’re part of the “silver tsunami” exiting the workforce, congrats on your retirement! Now what?

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Many retirees find themselves disappointed after the initial glory fades and they start looking for meaningful post-retirement activities.

Or maybe you haven’t hit retirement age yet but you want to use the last few years of your career to make a change and make an impact.

That’s where Crossworld workers Brian and Jody found themselves at age 50. They had intended to become missionaries earlier in life but it never happened and the years slid by. One day Jody turned to Brian and said, “If we’re going to go, we should get on this.” They completed their church’s missions training while their kids finished high school, then joined Crossworld and landed in Asia a week before Jody’s 55^th birthday.

“The typical retirement of sitting by the pool and playing golf and traveling is not very biblical,” Jody said, pictured with Brian during their second-career stint in Asia. “We need to remain active for the Lord. It’s a waste if you’ve got all this knowledge and you don’t use it. It’s pretty selfish.”

Both had valuable career experience in the U.S. — Jody as a preschool director and Brian as an audio-visual technician. They offered God their skills when they left for the mission field, not knowing how he would use them. When they arrived in Asia, they learned that their host country needed teacher training. God used Jody to start a training preschool, and Brian blessed the school and his community with his handyman skills.

“Delaying our going to the field prepared us and gave us experiences that allowed us to land well,” said Brian. “It’s stretching and scary but hilariously fun.”

Have you considered a second career as a missionary like Brian and Jody? Becoming a missionary is one of the best second career choices for retirees. Your retirement years could be your most fruitful and fulfilling years yet!

Let’s explore how serving on mission overseas can answer some of the challenges of retirement, and why retirees are strategically poised to make an impact in the last years of their career.

Feeling lost in retirement?

For most of us, retirement starts off exactly as we imagined: freedom, traveling, few responsibilities, and finally having time for our hobbies. The problem is that those things don’t prove as satisfying as we expected, and we find we miss the things we were so eager to jettison — structure, challenging goals, and people relying on us.

Are you struggling with the challenges of retirement?

• Loss of structure and routines
• Maintaining mental health and physical fitness
• Feeling isolated from peers and loss of relationships
• Loss of identity
• Finding joy and a sense of purpose

You’re not alone. Dr. Riley Moynes exposes the four phases of retirement as vacation, loss, trial and error, and reinvention.

To move past the phase of loss and grief and find purpose in retirement, you’ll need to step out in faith to try new things (like moving cross-culturally!), even as you keep your identity rooted in Christ.

That’s where missions comes in.

Find purpose in retirement by joining God’s mission

If you’ve spent your career in the business world, you may never have considered becoming a missionary. But the number of least-reached people is growing and the Great Commission is for all of God’s people — all personalities, all professions, and all ages. That means the Great Commission is for you!

With many people now retiring in their 50s or early 60s, it’s possible and even likely that you will live one-third of your life in retirement. How will you account for it before God? Could you give even five years to serving the least-reached?

Becoming a second-career missionary will help you find meaning in life after age 60 and will bless you as much as the people you serve.

Here are some benefits of missionary work for retirees.

1. Align with God’s mission.
   You don’t have to feel aimless each day. Be part of something bigger than yourself and give your time to something that will last for eternity. Join God’s mission to proclaim the good news about Jesus to all nations.
   
   
2. Leverage the skills you honed in your career.
   Instead of setting aside your decades of experience, put them to use in a part of the world that needs your expertise. Here are second-career ideas:
   • Retired engineers can consult on infrastructure projects and offer technical education in developing countries.
   • Retired teachers can build literacy programs, train educators, and develop teaching resources so people can not only learn to read but learn the read the Bible.
   • Retired accountants can manage the books for a hospital, orphanage, school, or any business as mission.
   • Retired doctors can run community health clinics and connect hospitals in need with available supplies so people can know the God who heals.
   • Retired executives can provide consulting expertise and mentor future leaders at both a professional and spiritual level.
   • Retired pastors can use their teaching gifts and guide a young church plant with new believers.
     
     
3. Contribute to society in a new way.
   When you worked full-time, you likely longed for days when you would have more free time to serve others. Now is your chance! Look at becoming a second-career missionary as a long-term volunteer opportunity. Don’t consider it as “retirement” but as “redeployment.” Try new skills, serve in new roles, and watch how God will use you.
   
   
4. Learn a new culture.
   Nothing will keep you mentally sharp like learning a new culture. Study a new language, navigate a new city, try new foods, and adapt to different customs. As you push yourself outside your comfort zone, you’ll boost your health as well as your appreciation of all the cultures and people God made in his image.
   
   
5. Be part of a new community.
   You won’t be a lone ranger on the mission field. Go deep in relationships as you get to know, encourage, work alongside, and pray with your new teammates and a family of colleagues around the world. And that’s not even counting all the local friends you’ll make in your new context. Experience the joy of making disciples in the context of authentic relationships.
   
   
6. Grow your faith.
   Choosing to step out in obedience to God’s call will stretch you in ways no other experience has up to this point. And that’s where growth happens. Allow God to shape you as you learn to trust him in deeper ways.
   
   

Why now? The unique advantages of going to the mission field later in life

You might think those reasons to become a second-career missionary sound great, but you may still be asking yourself, Is it too late for me?

No, it’s not! In fact, here are some reasons that post-retirement is the best time to go to the mission field.

1. Financial stability | Retirees have steady retirement income and may not need to raise support. (Plus, living overseas is often less expensive than North America, making retirement savings go further.) Retirees who do raise support usually raise it faster because their friends are further in their careers and have more disposable income.
   
   
2. Experience | Retirees have the career experience needed to secure a visa in almost any context.
   
   
3. Network | Retirees often have international marketplace connections to help provide credibility and secure a job (if desired).
   
   
4. Respect | Most least-reached cultures respect elders and value gray hair as a sign of wisdom.
   
   
5. Independence | Retirees’ children are grown and out of the house, eliminating the stress of transitioning a family.
   
   

Lori’s story | Second-career missionary in Africa

Lori grew up wanting to be a missionary but God kept telling her no. So instead of going herself, she stayed in the U.S., established a career as a nurse, and faithfully supported others on the mission field. Fast forward a few decades and she had the opportunity to visit friends in Africa and Central Asia. She expected to just visit for a few weeks, but during the trip she heard a different direction from the Lord.

Lori said, “All those years, it wasn’t that the Lord was telling me no, he had been saying not yet.”

Now Lori has been serving as a second-career missionary in West Africa for 12 years.

“Humanly speaking, I gave up a lot [to be a second-career missionary],” said Lori, pictured with her adopted African family. “But in return, God has given me a second family here that I love more than I can say, and I’m living my childhood dream.”

“Going to language school was a humbling experience,” Lori said. “I was 50 years old and felt like a baby many days because I couldn't express myself. I brought experience and some competence from working and living on my own, but suddenly you find yourself in a place where everything is different, and you feel like you don't know anything. I’m reminded over and over of how much I need to depend on the Lord. He keeps me going every day.”

And all the things she gave up at home?

I had a good job, I owned a home, and I lived near my family and friends. Humanly speaking, I gave up a lot. But in return, God has given me a second family here that I love more than I can say, and I’m living my childhood dream. It’s absolutely been worth it! Whether missions was your childhood dream like mine or something you never saw coming, if the Lord is calling you, say yes! It may be very hard to give up being close to children or grandchildren. But if you hold your hands open instead of clinging to those things, what God will pour into your hands will overflow in ways you cannot imagine.

How to become a second-career missionary after retirement

1. Talk to your church and a missions coach.
   Have a conversation with your pastor about your interest in serving overseas in your retirement. At the same time, connect with a Crossworld coach to share about your career experience, ask questions, and receive guidance.
   
   
2. Assess your physical, emotional, financial, and spiritual readiness.
   An unbiased mentor or Crossworld coach can help you evaluate your motives and qualifications. Ask for honest feedback about areas you may need to address before moving forward.
   
   
3. Discuss the decision with your family and loved ones.
   Your kids may not be moving with you, but it will be a big transition for them nonetheless. Pray together for God’s leading and for peace about the changes.
   
   
4. Choose the missions agency that’s right for you.
   Are you doctrinally aligned? Do you value the same things they do? Do they have experience sending second-career missionaries? Here’s a list of questions to help you choose an agency.
   
   
5. Walk forward in faith.
   God is with you in this journey! He will be faithful to you in this, just as he has been through your whole career.
   
   

Don’t let your retirement years fade into the sunset. This could be the most fruitful and purpose-filled season of your life if you invest your retirement in building Jesus’ kingdom around the world.

Will you consider giving five years to the mission field? Discover the profound joy of a meaningful retirement by serving in God’s mission. Talk to a coach about becoming a second-career missionary today.

Considering missions? Download our free guide, “Am I Called to Missions?” to help you discern God's leading.

CLAIM MY FREE PDF