Pastor Chuck Rife is retiring Dec. 31 after nearly 60 years in ministry in two city ministries and eight churches, starting at age 20 in New York City. He’s spent the past 19 years at First Free Rockford as Pastor of Senior Adults and Caring Ministries. We spoke with him about his life and ministry career.

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Are you a Midwest native?

No, I grew up in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania which is 25 miles west of Gettysburg—south-central Pennsylvania. This is where (my wife) Ruth’s family still lives. My family is all with the Lord now, except for nine nephews.

60 years in ministry is a nice, round number to end on.

I’ll be 80 in February. That’s partially the reason why I’m retiring. I think 80 is long enough. I’m not as young as I used to be or as a lot of people think I am. I don’t have the energy I used to have.

You’ve been part-time the last several years, right?

Ten hours a week.

I’m sure it’s more than that.

Yeah, probably! I’m still going to volunteer, though. I’ll still plan do hospital visitation along with people in rehab, but I won’t be doing the rest of the visitation. It’s become too much with the 120 family units we visit. And I’m going to continue leading the Fairhaven venue service. The plan is to lead that service three out of four Sundays.

As you step into official retirement, what’s your feeling about it all?

I’m excited. I’m ready. I’m tired. It has been a very busy year with funerals and visitation. I’m just ready to be free from the responsibility of it and yet to do what I can do, when I can do it.  

I’ll continue to serve the Lord as long as I can.  Some say it’s not biblical to retire but that’s not accurate. The priests were not allowed to serve at the altar past age 50. They could still be priests, though. So, I’m just going to stop serving at the altar (laughs).

I’m looking forward to relaxing more, reading more, and spending more time with our kids. I really don’t have major projects at home. We’ve done the projects as needed. There are some things that I want to do in my little shop at home that I haven’t had time to do. Some of those things are for our kids and some for ourselves.

Tell me about your family.

We have two children. Our son is pastor of the Oelwein Free Church in Iowa. And our daughter is a designer who lives in Philly now but works in New York City. Our daughter is single and has never been married. Our son and his wife were unable to have children and they chose not to adopt. They once asked us, “Are grandkids important to you?” We responded, “It’s not about us, that’s your choice.” But we do have an adorable Maltese grandpuppy named JJ.

People are often shocked when we say we have no grandchildren. I just say, “We’re not old enough yet.”

What kinds of insights has that circumstance given you?

 Just accept what life offers and make the most of it!

Ruth gets her grandma time working in the kindergarten Sunday School here at church. She has done this since we came here, almost 19 years. That’s why she never goes with me to Fairhaven, because she’s serving here. She wants to continue to serve also. She’s also a Stephen Minister, which she enjoys. And she has also gone with me one afternoon every week visiting our 120 shut-ins.

What’s the best part for you of serving an older segment of our congregation?

Well, here’s what I like to say. We’re all twice a child, once an adult. So, I served the younger side of childhood for 25 years (as a children’s pastor in my early career) and now I’m serving the older side. I happen to like the older side better.

Tell me what you mean by that saying.

As we get older, we kind of revert back to some of the ways of our childhood. We become spunky, even stubborn, need more sleep by taking naps, don’t want to be told what to do, speak our mind freely, and are more carefree.  I’ve greatly enjoyed serving this age group. If you call them by their name, love them and give them attention, you can do little wrong. We have sought to do this by treating them as valued individuals. We love them. They are like family to us.

I find great fulfillment in ministering to people. Some people have asked, how can you conduct so many funerals? Are they not emotionally draining? I enjoy conducting funerals simply because people are more sensitive to the Lord’s working in their lives and in need of comfort, encouragement, hope, someone to walk with them and guide them in a tough time. This is the ultimate in ministry to me.  It’s also why I’ve found it fruitful  leading our GriefShare ministry for seven years.

What’s your take on the American church right now and its health?

I think we’ve declined in our first love for the Lord. We’ve become comfortable, too busy and complacent. There are too many things vying for our attention. I’d like to see a greater vibrancy in our love and walk with the Lord, a renewed passion and commitment to our Lord, an expectancy in Him meeting us in our services. I desire these things in my own life. I’d like to see a greater passion for ministry in the church today. I’m afraid we’ve become a generation that prefers to be served.

Do you think that’s an older Christian problem? That as we get older, we want to be more comfortable?

I think there is some truth in that, but I don’t see it much in most of the younger generation, either. There are pockets of great passion and vibrancy among some young people. COVID has definitely done a number on all churches in America. I think it has separated the nominal from the committed. Many have become satisfied to sit in their living rooms and do church rather than follow the Lord’s command of coming together, enjoy the fellowship of the body collected, and be an inspiration to one another. The 27 “One Anothers” of Scripture have not changed.

Having said this, I still have hope that the church’s greatest days are yet to come.

COVID and its aftermath did reveal a lot about the church, didn’t it?

It did. You see where people’s hearts are. I don’t pray for or desire persecution, but if persecution comes, that will be an even greater revealing of the heart. I do think we’re in the beginning stages of persecution in America. Christians are beginning to be considered extremist and, as such, a problem to current society. We must continue to stand up and say what we believe and do so in a loving way. In Peter’s words, “be ready to give answer to the reason for the hope that you have.”

I’ve been praying for a renewal in my own heart and in our church. I pray, Lord, let it begin with me. But I often ask myself, what would that look like in me and how would I respond to that? What if the Lord asked me to do something with which I felt uncomfortable? It’s all about surrendering to the Spirit of God.

Has that changed over these past several generations?

I think life was much easier in the ‘50s. People in the church had common values. There were not as many things to attract one’s attention away from the church. The church was the center of the community. And with raising children, the church was mostly on the same page. Our children’s best friends were raised with the same morals and values as ours. But today, values are over the board. They are even quite different from person to person within the church.

However, I would not want to go back and live again in the ’50s. There is a lot of talk about Christian nationalism today. I don’t remember ever thinking that nationalism was the same as being a Christian. Salvation was strongly taught in my church as God’s grace through individual faith, and you were lost, doomed to a lost hell if you reject Christ. In fact, I grew up in a separatist community that was nonpolitical, very conservative, plain clothing and simple living—not Amish or Mennonite, but the women did wear bonnets. In addition, holiness of living was continually taught and preached in every message.

I remember you saying you didn’t see a movie until you were an adult.

We weren’t permitted to attend movies or participate in much of anything, for that matter, that was fun. It was a very restrictive, negative, and legalistic community.

What sort of impact did all of that have on you?

Enormous. The negative Christianity affected my outlook on life as a teenager and adult believer. It was all about what you should not do, rather than living life to its fullest in the blessings of Jesus Christ. That affected my thinking and the way we initially taught our children until they entered junior and senior high school. We really did not mix with those of the world. It was even implied that other Christians who were not like us were not saved. I remember feeling sorry for those people who went to church but were not plain like us. Even the first churches we served were very legalistic.

Did you have to unlearn a lot of that?

Yes, we did and that occurred when we moved to Wheaton and First Baptist Church. Church life there was a real eye-opener for us. It was doctrinally sound but very progressive in conduct, how they lived their lives—not liberal but not legalistic, either. Ruth made the statement, “This church is going to destroy our family.” And I said, “Honey, if our family’s no stronger than that, then we’ve got a problem.”

So, here is what we decided to do. We said we’re not going to react initially to anything put in front of us and our teenagers. But whatever comes to us, to our kids, etc., we will stop and talk about it, pray about it, and look at what the Scripture says. We had family devotions as well as devotions individually with our children using materials that dealt with biblical values and lifestyle up until high school. We then moved those discussions to our evening mealtimes.

First Baptist became the best thing that ever happened to us in our Christian living and outlook on life because it freed us from much of our thinking that Christian living was primarily what one did rather than who one is and what one believes that honored Christ. Our belief in what the Scriptures taught helped us rethink the concept called Christian living. In Paul’s words, “For freedom we have been set free.” We thus became focused on what the Scriptures teach as how best to live to the praise and glory of our Heavenly Father and enjoy him forever.

Has all of that helped you face the culture instead of turning your back on it?

Yeah, but only as we moved into the latter 20^th and early 21^st century.  The Scripture says, we live in the world, but we can surely not be a part of it. That is where the rubber meets the road. It is a fine line of connecting with culture while not being drawn into it. Too often, I’m afraid, we’ve become guilty of lowering Biblical standards in the name of reaching the culture. That’s equally wrong and damaging as was the legalistic teaching in my life.

Today, it seems the church too often seeks to justify the lifestyle people desire by saying the truth doesn’t apply to us in the way it used to. Of course, we say this more subtly than that. Has the Word of God changed? No. However, yes, there has been change in the way it’s applied—some for the good and some for the bad. And yes, methods for reaching people need to change to reach the current culture, but we can never change the message. We must never water down the truth of God’s Word to make it more attractive and acceptable to culture.

Wheaton helped us see that there are other people who dearly love and serve the Lord who are quite different than us but who are still strong Christians. So, we thank the Lord for First Baptist in that regard. Our own church now is a conservative church but not in the spirit of ultra-conservatism in which we grew up.

What do you know now that you wish you had known when you were a young pastor?

That’s a good question but tough to answer. I wish I had known how better to love people and accept them for whom and what they were and had guided them forward in that vein toward Christlikeness. To have better helped them discover the truth of God’s Word and its application for living for it themselves, taking ownership for the way they chose to live out God’s truth. Discipleship has always been my strongest bent, but I have had to grow over the years to understand how it plays out in one’s daily life. The Word of God is powerful in and of itself in changing people’s lives than for me just to tell them how to live.

I wish I would not have been as legalistic as I was, really taking on the way in which I was raised. However, I do not have many regrets in ministry. That in no way means that I think I have arrived; rather, I read and searched the truth diligently along with methods and ways to help people appropriate it into their own living while constantly seeking the wisdom, strength and power of the Lord.

I was way too hard on myself. I’m a perfectionist, but thank the Lord that has mellowed out greatly. I’ve beaten myself up way too much over the years, allowing myself to become discouraged, depressed and frustrated in ministry. I wish I could take all of that back and just trust the Lord more, allowing the Holy Spirit to do his work more fully in and through me, leaving the results to him. Really, he’s the primary one we need to please.  

What didn’t I ask you that you’d like to add to this conversation?

Well, I want to say that we have enjoyed ministry here at First Free. Yes, there were some hard times, but I am most grateful to the church for the way they embraced Ruth and me in ministry.  We have felt accepted and loved. If we were asked to do it all over again, we would make the same choice. We love our people here and are grateful for the opportunity they gave us to serve them. Hopefully, the Lord will say, “well done good and faithful servant.”