Invite them to make disciples and live with gospel focus.
Equip and Deploy Your Encore Population
The Transition to Retirement Is a Discipleship Opportunity
Most churches are intentional about discipling people in every stage of life —
marriage, parenting, career, even seasons of hardship.
Retirement may be the most overlooked transition in life.
The potential for gospel impact within your Encore population is tremendous.
As people move into retirement, there are new questions to be answered:
What are they moving toward, not just stepping away from?
What does meaningful contribution look like now?
How do we help them stay engaged in purposeful ways?
What does spiritual growth look like in this season?
How can the church walk with them through it?
These are important questions—and many churches are still figuring out how to answer them well.
How Encore Comes Alongside Churches
Each gathering includes teaching, guided reflection, and discussion, helping people think more clearly about how their time is changing, what matters most, and how they want to move forward in this season.
For leaders, it provides a structured way to engage this stage of life without having to build something from the ground up, while also creating a shared framework for ongoing discipleship.
What Encore Looks Like in Churches
Renewed Vision
Help leaders recognize retirement as one of life's most significant transitions-and one of the church's greatest discipleship opportunities. Introduce the core ideas of Encore through a seminar for congregants.
Equipped for Service
Provide practical next steps through curriculum, regular programming, marriage-in-retirement seminars, spiritual gifts and Working Genius assessments, and Encore coaching.
Deployed to Disciple
Mobilize adults to invest in mentoring, ministry, hospitality, service, and mission-inside and outside the church. Encore is not a season of disengagement, but of faithful deployment.
Encouraged in Community
Provide intentional and relational care, support, and feedback to encourage ongoing engagement.
Celebrating Fruitfulness
Share stories of God's faithfulness and fruitfulness in the Encore years. Testimonies inspire others, reinforce a culture of purpose, and remind the church that God is still at work through every generation.
Hear more about how Encore can help impact those in your church who are entering or adjusting to retirement:
“If you're a church leader, I would encourage you to ask yourself: am I really preparing people for retirement and am I challenging those that have retired to lead a legacy of not only faith, but of how they're going to serve God in the future?”
-Drew T.
Meet Andrew
Director of Life Planning & Retirement Coaching
Andrew spent more than 20 years serving on church staffs, including 17 years at First Evangelical Church of Memphis.
Much of that time was spent walking with people through meaningful transitions—helping them think clearly about their lives, their faith, and how God was at work in changing seasons.
That background continues to shape the way he approaches this work.
He understands the rhythms of church life, the responsibility of shepherding people well, and the desire to see every stage of life connected to growth, purpose, and the mission of the church.
Encore is simply an extension of that same calling—helping churches care for people as they step into a season that often raises new and important questions.
Let’s begin the conversation
If this sounds like a good fit for your church, the best place to begin is a simple conversation.
You can share a little about your context, what you’re seeing in your congregation, and any questions you may have. Andrew will follow up personally to continue the conversation and help you think through what might be a good fit.
There’s no need to have a plan in place. This is simply a place to begin.