In a world of faith, Dr John Mbugua is a follower of facts. And the facts are simple: one grows old, then one retires. As the founder of Clergy Retirement Planning—a programme guiding pastors through the uneasy passage into life after ministry—he should know. He was an insider and a native of church ministry, at one point serving as a deacon.
“It’s quite painful for a pastor to feed people with the word for 40 years,” he says, “Then retire, and their life disintegrates.”
While one is called for life, Dr Mbugua insists, one also has to prepare for life after the pulpit. Retirement, he argues, is not merely a financial question, but a psychological one, perhaps the more dangerous of the two. For clergy, ministry gives them meaning.
Take that away, and you can leave a shell of a person: all light, no heat. At 56, and himself retired, is it easier to preach water and take the proverbial? No, he says. Which is why he wrote the book “Shepherding the Sunset Years for Clergy” because he has skin in the game; because he is a man of faith, yes, but he, too, bows at the altar of facts.
I have been in church leadership for over 25 years, serving in various capacities—chairman of the elders’ court for a decade, and as a deacon. I walked closely with pastors as they retired and saw the same challenges repeat themselves: financial instability and a profound loss of purpose. Ministry is deeply engaging. Then, suddenly, there is nothing to do. Some people refuse to retire because they don’t know where they are going. This has led to some cases where churches have split, because there are people who need to take over.
I can’t put a number on it, but I have trained my church at Karura Community Chapel. I'm the chairman of the National Governing Council of the Bible Life Fellowship Kenya, where I trained them in Thika.
Think of a Venn diagram. There is overlap—financial preparation, lifestyle changes—but clergy face unique transitions. One is moving from the pulpit to the pew. Suddenly, you’re no longer preaching every Sunday unless invited. That raises hard questions:
Do you stay in the same church or move? Staying allows mentoring, but it can also create tension if the new pastor feels undermined. People may still come to you as “their pastor”, which complicates leadership. As for the emotional cost, a pastor invests a lot in the people. He could dedicate a child, see them through Sunday school to adulthood, and preside over their wedding.
That is quite deep, and letting go is not easy, which may need counselling to cope.
The other thing, of course, is that many pastors don't have regular income. You know, when you talk about the Nairobi pastors, most of them are well. But when you go to the rural areas, you'll find a pastor whose income is just irregular. And the little they get, they take it back to the same congregation through contributions like school fees and hospital bills.
Clergy Retirement Planning Founder and Chair John Mbugua at new Muthaiga Mall, Nairobi, on January 22, 2026.
Photo credit: Lucy Wanjiru | Nation Media
But the assumption is that one is a pastor till they die. You founded a church here. Why does one need to retire?
Actually, you're right. People often say that pastors don’t retire. But you see, if you go back to the Bible, there were people who were called Levites who were priests from about 25 years old to about 50, where they became mentors and all that. We also need to agree that age and energy play a factor; the church will change with younger generations. Retiring is not stopping everything, but moving to a different role where you are more of a mentor. Pastors are called; no one can finish the call for them.
One is financial, looking at various investment vehicles like Saccos, Money Market Funds, and savings. Two, the nonfinancial areas, moving from the pulpit to the pew, which may need counselling for mental wellness. We bring in experts like doctors who can perhaps talk about nutrition. And all these trainings are free.
Mostly traditional vehicles like Saccos and loans from Saccos. Cryptocurrency came about after one of the reverends in Kiserian asked me if it is okay to invest in crypto. And he was not a young person. But the numbers are not many. There are also other problems, like betting, where pastors get into that lifestyle. Biblically, it's not allowed.
Money. Always money. It’s what gets their attention fastest. But I try to show them retirement is more than money. I've done a lot of counselling for some pastors who were in debt and were not able to get out of debt. Those are confidential. You do them one-on-one. But investments have no miracle, you have to use the power of time compounding. When you are 25 and starting as a pastor is the best time to invest for retirement.
Letting go of the pulpit. It’s not about money, but the mental shift that one day you'll not be the one preaching every Sunday. Sometimes you have an office where people come, and you have authority, you have staff, and then all of a sudden, you're no longer the senior pastor. Are women affected differently, you ask? There are fewer women, but men tend to struggle more with the loss of status and role. To help them deal with this, we bring in counsellors and retired clergy to talk honestly about the transition. We help them imagine new uses of time—mentorship, social work, community service.
Many times, the faith can weaken. This person might not even feel the need to pray. After all, now that he is just a regular Christian, he does not have the motivation to read the Bible because he’s not going to preach anywhere. The end goal for me is for these pastors to finish well and to finish strongly. Finishing well means until the last day he's called, he's very close to God in terms of what he's doing.
If this pastor now just comes home and there is nothing he's doing, he's not involved in some charity work and some social work and many other things, you'll find the marriages in some of those cases will be affected because, also, the income which was coming in may no longer be available. When I was writing my book, Shepherding the Sunset Years for Clergy, I interviewed many retired pastors, and I went to their homes, and I found that a number of the marriages were stable and solid.
I lost a sister to domestic violence. And these were people who were doing very well when they were working. But they retired. They had not planned very well. The pension was small, the husband continued drinking, and the rest happened. It’s quite painful for a pastor to feed people with the word for 40 years and retire, and their life disintegrates. I remember a pastor who became mentally ill after retiring. It is not pleasant to see.
There are four in this office at Muthaiga. There is another office at Ruaka where we have two ladies. I have a bigger group of volunteers, like doctors and counsellors, and that is what has helped me a lot. The trainings are free. I fundraise and work in consultancies to help the ministry, and I run an insurance agency. The book is not free, but it alone cannot sustain the ministry, hence why I do what we call in church “tent making”: doing actual work to earn money.
The ideal situation is where they are not struggling financially. One needs about 70 per cent of whatever was your last salary. They also need to be mentally prepared and have a purpose for when they are retired, like mentorship, social work and community work. That is the ideal pastor who can also come in to help with ministry at the pleasure of the active pastor.
They need behavioural change. It’s not how much you have. What I learnt while researching for the book is behavioural science and behavioural economics. How do you deal with money? For example, if today you are given money that you have not worked for, many a time people squander that money. Don’t bet, or look for a quick shilling. Live within your means. For there could be a lot of pressure and ‘feeling small.’
What is a question about retirement that you wish more people asked you, but they don’t?
About mental preparedness. In Africa, issues of mental wellness have not been a critical issue. Mental preparedness is a very big issue as you retire.
