A retired preacher on a pension has one sum arriving on a fixed day, and three claims on it: the household, the relatives who are sick or in need, and the gospel. Many ask how to use their retirement income for ministry without neglecting any of the three. Scripture gives a measure for this in 2 Corinthians 8:12: “For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.”
That verse puts the standard of acceptable giving in what is in your hand today. It sets no standard in what you wish you had or what you once earned. The sections below apply it to one pension.
The Pension Is God’s Appointed Supply
The apostle asks, “What hast thou that thou didst not receive?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). James writes that “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17). If these words are true, the pension is a gift to be handled as a steward handles his master’s goods, and the preacher is no more its owner than he was the owner of his strength in younger years.
This changes the first question. A man who thinks the money is his own asks, “How much can I spare for God?” A man who knows it is entrusted asks, “What does the Giver require of me in handling it?” The second question leads to a plan, and the plan begins at home.
Provide for Your Own House First, and Why This Is No Betrayal of the Pulpit
Paul writes to Timothy: “But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel” (1 Timothy 5:8). Food, shelter, medicine and the ordinary costs of your own table come first. Attending to them is obedience to a command, and it takes nothing from the pulpit.
Christ rebuked those who used a gift to God as an excuse for neglecting their parents (Mark 7:10-13). A man who gives to the gospel while his own household goes short has not honoured God. He has set one commandment against another, and Christ named that as wrong.
The same reasoning covers relatives in need. James asks what profit there is in saying to a brother or sister without clothes or daily food, “Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled,” while giving them nothing (James 2:15-16). School uniforms, school fees and food for a sick relative are therefore part of the obedience Scripture asks of you, and they do not compete with it. If you have not yet put your limits into words for those who ask, the article Tell Your Relatives Plainly What You Can Give, and Let God Supply the Rest may help.
Give According to What You Have: The Widow’s Two Mites and the Churches of Macedonia
Christ sat opposite the treasury and watched the people cast in their money. Many rich men gave much. A poor widow gave two mites, and He said that she “hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury” (Mark 12:43). He judged the gift by what remained behind it. Her portion was small in coin and complete in surrender.
The churches of Macedonia are the second example. Paul says that in “a great trial of affliction” and “deep poverty” they gave with abundant joy, “to their power” and even beyond it, of their own accord (2 Corinthians 8:2-3). They did not wait until they were comfortable.
Both examples agree with 2 Corinthians 8:12. God receives a willing mind working with what it has. A pensioner with a modest sum is therefore not asked for the offering of a wealthy man, and is not excused from giving either.
Setting Apart the Portions of One Pension
The New Testament gives no fixed percentage for the Christian’s giving. It gives principles: “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him” (1 Corinthians 16:2). Giving is regular, planned beforehand, and in proportion to what God has provided. A pension arriving on a set date suits this well. A practical way to proceed:
- Write down the exact amount that arrives each month. Use the figure itself and leave out any amount you hope for.
- Set out the household’s fixed needs first: food, lodging, medicine, and the costs of your own transport and light.
- Name the relatives who depend on you and list what each truly needs, such as a child’s school uniform, a term’s fees, or food for someone who is ill.
- Set apart a portion for the gospel: travel to the place where you preach, printed material, an offering to the congregation, or help for another preacher.
- Pray over the paper and adjust it before the money is spent, not afterward.
The order of this list is the order of obligation. It says nothing about the importance of the gospel, which is the greatest of the three. Writing the portions down also removes the confusion that comes when money is divided in the moment, under the pressure of whoever asks first. For the month-to-month side of this, the earlier article Making a Fixed Pension Last the Month Without Dropping Your Ministry goes through it in detail.
What Ministry Costs When Money Is Fixed, and What Costs Nothing but Faithfulness
Some parts of ministry need money and some need only a willing person. Travel to a distant village costs fare. A tract costs paper. Prayer costs nothing, and neither does reading Scripture aloud to a neighbour or teaching a grandchild a verse at the table. Visiting a sick relative and speaking the gospel at the bedside costs only the time and the willingness.
Peter, at the gate of the temple, said to the lame man, “Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee” (Acts 3:6). He gave what he had, and it was greater than money. A retired preacher can ask honestly what he has in his hand besides coins: knowledge of the Word, years of experience, a voice that still speaks, a home that can receive a guest. Each of these can go into the gospel portion beside the money.
The money portion can be small without the ministry being small. A preacher who stays within a modest gospel portion and uses it with care is being faithful, which is what is asked of him. The article What a Volunteer Preacher Should Do With the Small Gifts Placed in His Hands treats the handling of small sums directly.
The Day the Pension Falls Short
Some months the sum will not cover what the paper says. A relative falls ill, a school term begins, or prices rise. Scripture does not advise reducing every portion in equal measure. It gives three directions.
First, bring the shortage to God in prayer. Paul wrote, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19). He wrote it to people who had given out of their poverty, and the promise follows their giving.
Second, review the paper honestly. A need may have been counted wrongly, or a portion may have been set higher than what you truly have. Paul’s phrase “according to that a man hath” works in both directions. It frees you from giving what you lack, and it does not permit you to give less than you have.
Third, make the need known where it is proper to do so. The household of faith exists for such days, and a preacher may tell his congregation the truth about his situation. The article What a Volunteer Preacher Can Honestly Say to His Congregation When He Is in Need gives wording for it.
Counting Output the Way Heaven Counts It
Men count preaching by the number of sermons, the size of the crowd and the distance travelled. A pensioner whose body and purse are limited may feel that his output has fallen. Scripture measures differently: “Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful” (1 Corinthians 4:2). Christ’s word to the servant is “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21), and it names faithfulness as the ground of praise. It says nothing of the amount produced.
He also says, “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much” (Luke 16:10). A pension portion set apart, a child sent to school in a clean uniform, a sick relative fed, and a gospel offering given on time are all faithful acts, and the Lord sees each. “For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name” (Hebrews 6:10).
Paul closes his great chapter on the resurrection with an assurance that fits this: “Your labour is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58). Those who serve without payment can read the whole matter of reward in A Whole Life of Unpaid Preaching Ends in a Crown, Not in Loss.
This week, sit down with your pension amount and with Scripture open, set out in writing the portions for your household, your relatives and the gospel, then bring that paper to God in prayer and ask Him to bless each portion.
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