If a minister of the Word, by reason of age, sickness or otherwise, is rendered incapable of performing the duties of his office he shall retain the honour and title of minister of the Word. He shall also retain his official bond with the church which he served last, and this church shall provide honourably for his support. The same obligation exists towards a minister’s widow and orphans.
A minister of the Word is a minister for the entire duration of
his life.
However, there can be certain reasons why he will no longer be
able to discharge the duties of his office to the fullest
extent.
The first reason is that of age. In our churches and in some of
our foreign sister-churches ministers have the right to retire at
the age of sixty-five.
Another reason is chronic illness.
The term “otherwise” leaves
the door open for other possibilities, e.g. disability as the
consequence of an accident.
This article covers also the retirement of those ministers who are set apart for the training of students in the ministry of the Word.
The nature of the retirement of a minister of the Word is that he
is relieved from the duties of his office. However, a retired
minister remains a minister, and can be occasionally invited to
preach God’s Word, administer the sacraments, etcetera.
Another consequence of the principle is that he is and continues
to be a minister, is that the church he has served until his
retirement must continue their financial support of him.
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It is a matter of course that the same obligation also applies to
widows and orphans of the minister.
Our churches would be well advised to initiate funds for this
purpose, at the earliest possible opportunity.
Usually the honorarium of a retired minister is less than that of
an active minister. Hereby it is sometimes forgotten that most
ministers, upon their retirement, are not in a position to buy a
house for themselves. It would be a good thing if the
consistories made timely provision in this respect.
Another consequence of the above-mentioned principle is that the
minister-emeritus, in comparison to the minister who is called to
replace him, is the ‘first’ and the latter the ‘second’
minister.
This means that if a congregation met with difficulties in
financially supporting both ministers, she would have to request
the assistance of the sister-churches for the financial support
of the replacing minister.
Retirement procedure, according to Article 14, is as follows:
1. The minister requests his consistory in writing to relieve him
from the duties of his office, giving the reason for this
request.
2. The consistory, having considered this reason, grants him his
request and declares him an emeritus at a time agreed upon by
both parties; and issues him with an appropriate certificate.
3. The classis is informed and requested to approve the action,
having been supported by the deputies of the synod appointed for
this purpose.
4. The classis and the deputies ensure that there are sufficient
reasons to declare the minister concerned an emeritus, and in
consequence make sure that the consistory will indeed support the
minister-emeritus honourably.
5. A certificate is issued by the classis and the deputies both
to the minister and the consistory.