As South Carolina Baptist Ministries for the Aging launches a campaign to establish a fund to provide financial assistance for retired pastors and missionaries and their spouses or widows to live at one of the ministry’s two retirement communities, the question arises: How significant is the need?

The answer returns loud and clear: The need is large and growing everyday, according to SCBMA president Richard McLawhorn.

McLawhorn says a seismic collision of demographic and economic forces – an imminent tidal wave of retiring baby-boomer pastors, coupled with the fact that many have spent their entire ministries working for low pay in small churches that provided modest, or, in some cases, no retirement funding – will force South Carolina Baptists to take a hard look at how they will respond to what he calls a “real-world situation.”

Today, about 12 percent (44 of 356) of SCBMA’s residents are retired pastors and missionaries and/or their spouses or widows. That number is not higher, McLawhorn says, because many retirement-age ministers, some of whom “barely have enough money to make ends meet now,” automatically dismiss the notion of being able to afford to live at a Baptist retirement community.

The costs for independent living at one of SCBMA’s retirement facilities – Martha Franks Baptist Retirement Community in Laurens, and Bethea Baptist Retirement Community in Darlington – range from $8,400 to $19,092 annually. Assisted-living costs range from $16,548 to $26,928, and healthcare costs can exceed $50,000 a year (although Medicaid benefits may lessen the cost – healthcare beds at Bethea are dually certified to accommodate Medicaid patients, and SCBMA is seeking the same certification for all beds at Martha Franks).

When he visits churches or speaks at meetings across the state, McLawhorn says pastors who are nearing retirement age talk to him about their private concerns. “Like anyone who is getting old, they are thinking about the future for themselves and their wives,” he said. “They have no idea what will happen.”

McLawhorn said many ministers he talks with don’t entertain the possibility of living at one of SCBMA’s two retirement communities because they know they don’t have the resources. Specifically, he said, they cite three reasons why: 1) they have served in medium or small churches that put little or no money into a retirement program for them; 2) their modest salaries have been consumed with meeting living expenses, so they have not been able to save much for retirement; and 3) many have lived in parsonages and have no home equity.

In another indicator that a significant number of pastors are living without sufficient income for retirement, 143 retired South Carolina pastors receive funding from GuideStone’s “Adopt An Annuitant” program, which is funded by donations from churches and individuals to help retirees who cannot meet the basic expenses of living, such as paying the electric bill or buying medications.

For McLawhorn, a former pastor who has been on the job as SCBMA president for two years, responding to the issue is nothing less than a moral imperative for South Carolina Baptists, and he is quick to cite chapter and verse (John 13:34-35, Galatians 6:10, 1 Timothy 5:17, 1 John 3:17) for support.

“Think about the situation in practical terms,” he said. “Here we have God’s longtime faithful servants with needs, clear directions from God that we should help our people in need, and empty space that could accommodate many of them. It seems to me that logic and faith demand action to begin linking obvious problems with potential solutions.”

One potential solution is the upcoming Mother’s Day Offering in churches across South Carolina. All proceeds will go to establish a fund to provide supplemental financial assistance to retired pastors and missionaries and their spouses or widows who hope to live at Martha Franks or Bethea. South Carolina Baptists gave $250,000 to the Mother’s Day Offering last year; McLawhorn hopes they’ll give twice that amount this year.

Still, the Mother’s Day Offering addresses only “one part of what needs attention,” McLawhorn said. “My hope is that this will be only the beginning of Baptists thinking about how we relate to God’s faithful servants and our elderly brothers and sisters.”