“Walk sign is on” — 2nd half of life-friendly mission organizations

Photo on Unsplash by Taichi Nakamura

What motivations led you initially to engage in mission? How have those motivations changed? These are questions – among others – that we ask on our application for the 2nd Half Collaborative or 2HC.

Responses of those who have joined 2HC have indicated a desire now for these things:

- a deepening or a simplifying of relationship with God,
- discernment in times of family or ministry transition
- friendships with others in similar life circumstances
- and help in facing seasons of disorientation

Our 2HC retreats, stations of learning, and interactions provide space for 2HC members to express these longings honestly and listen for what God and their own hearts are saying.

But more broadly, beyond the dedicated space that 2HC has provided, how can we bring an orientation toward 2nd half of life flourishing into many more places and spaces of mission?

More specifically, in what ways can we help our families, teams, and mission organizations be places that encourage and support global workers who are uncovering these typical 2nd half of life longings listed above? How can we keep the green “walk sign” on so that they keep walking with us and us with them?

We asked these questions of our second cohort at our final retreat last month. Numerous ideas for both postures and practices surfaced. We share some of these responses below, grouped in four main categories.

Let what we have shared provide prompts for your own reflection and action: How might I apply or expand and adapt these ideas in my own family, team, friendship groups and organizations? What other ideas come to mind?

Give space for unhurry

• organize family in an unhurried way

• celebrate unhurriedness and resist the organizational debt [or burden] that busyness creates

• pay attention to patient, loving “unhurry” as we transition from doing one thing to the other

In organizations, incorporate spiritual practices, offer spiritual direction and develop trainings

• give people work time for contemplative practices and space to reflect – together and alone. In 2HC these include reflective ways to engage Scripture, retreats of silence, contemplative prayer, and silence.

• hold silence for a time in meetings after someone has shared

• encourage people not to schedule back-to-back meetings

• normalize spiritual direction [or spiritual companioning] and coaching; pay for spiritual direction for staff

• ask, “What is this organization’s corporate discernment framework?” and then offer group discernment before planning

• use what we have learned from a particular 2HC station for speaking or leading a workshop. We have 10 different stations of learning centered around themes of identity and the inner life, supportive and authentic friendship and community, and sustainable mission.

• give space for people to pursue these types of programs/intensives, such as 2HC or other programs.

Make space for sharing our own “2nd half of life” experiences (storytelling and story listening)

• share with my adult kids and friends the new ways of seeing, what I’m learning, and what I’m experiencing as I encounter Christ in the “back half of life” - being honest with the ups and downs of the journey along the way.

• interview people and invite them to share their experiences

• invite others in my organization into a short-term explorative community to discuss the “second half”

• pursue a group of friends to talk about these kinds of “second half of life” concepts

Focus on “being” and not just “doing”

• what gets evaluated gets done; have different metrics that reflect 2HC values such as “being” rather than “doing”

• the foundation seems to be making sure "2HC DNA" is alive, well, and cultivated in me. If it's "who I am," I will necessarily carry it with me everywhere I go and in every interaction. It will be something that simply and naturally “bubbles out of me”

• talk about who we are called to be in our groups [what kind of “sign” we carry around our neck; i.e., a short statement that expresses where we find our deepest significance]

What happens in mission organizations when we do not provide spaces and support for those facing the challenges and opportunities of the “2nd half of life?”

Conversely, when we steward the precious resource, the treasure that is the maturing person in mission, what results will follow?

At the very least, fruitfulness and longevity in mission will naturally flow from that person. Additionally, that person will become a safe, trustworthy and compassionate role model for younger generations of those drawn to the excitement and the calling of God in mission.

Let’s keep the green “walk sign” on.