Mentoring

Last month I shared how at every major transition point in my life, God had a mentor there to teach me, lead me through the transition.  What does a mentor do?  First the goal of Christian mentoring is to help people align their lifestyles and purposes for living in God’s will.  Our faith is a faith that has been received from past generations in order to be passed on to the next generation.  Paul wrote,  “For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4, HCSB).  Our faith is an inheritance of truth that is shared, one disciple to another.  Christian Mentoring is about sharing your experience and companionship with Jesus to others in order for them to change and grow into a disciple who walks with Jesus too.  

Mentoring is about experience not expertise; insight, not information; wisdom, not explanation; self-discipline, not academic disciplines and surrender, not self  (Bandy, pg 8).  Mentoring is about surrendering yourself to the Holy Spirit’s calling on your life to help others in the journey of being a follower of Jesus.  We need to remember that every believer in Jesus is a new person transformed by God into a new person.  That new believer throws off the old master and commits to a new one, who is Jesus Christ.  God asks us to take every thought captive to obedience in Jesus.  Mentoring is the process whereby a leader who is further down the road  willingly goes back down the road to encourage and walk alongside the less mature disciples.   Their companionship and conversations helps the younger disciple learn the ways of God.  A mentor’s task is to help someone when they struggle with faith issues.  A mentor works to prevent drifting away from the faith by admonishing them to continue walking with Jesus.   A mentor speaks words of hope into the discouraged person, which strengthens them and gives them the faith to live life God’s way.  That is how you make disciples.  You learn from your mentor things about life and faith and you pass them onto those whom you mentor.  Can you help our church fulfill its vision of passing on God’s Hope to the next generation by becoming a mentor? 

To learn more read Christian Mentoring by Tom Bandy and/or Multiply by Francis Chan.