Who are the people (outside of your family) who have helped to make you who you are today? Who are the people who have marked you, who have made a significant impact, a lasting impression on your life? Who are the people that redirected your path so that today you can look back and say, “I never would have become who I am were it not for that person’s influence.” If you can think of someone then you know by experience the value of a mentoring relationship.
MENTOR comes from the story of a Greek warrior named Odysseus who went off to fight in the Trojan War. Before he left, he entrusted his son, Telemachus, in the care of a guardian named Mentor. The siege of Troy lasted ten years, and it took Odysseus another ten years to make his way home. When he arrived, he found that the boy Telemachus had grown into a man – thanks to Mentor’s wise tutelage. Because of this story, we now speak of a mentor as someone who functions to some extent as a father or mother figure (in the best sense of the term), a man or woman who fundamentally affects and influences the development of another, usually younger, man or woman.
When we look to the Scriptures, we see numerous examples of mentors (Jesus with His disciples; Barnabas with Saul and later with John Mark; Paul with Timothy, Silas, etc.). But some people have the impression that it is simply meeting in a classroom for a Bible study and some prayer. Although those are certainly a part of mentoring there is much more. Mentoring is VERY DIFFICULT AND WILL COST US DEARLY. It will take our time, money, and intense prayers. It will stretch us beyond our current wisdom and make us dependent upon God like never before. It will assault our selfishness, confront our laziness, and point out inconsistencies in our lives. It will lead to times of great joy and incredible disappointment.
Then why would we do it? Three reasons come quickly to mind: 1) NEED. A brief look at the news will show us there are troubled young people in our world today involved in all kinds of horrible things. Many of these kids do not have a godly role model in their lives. A growing number of kids are being raised in single-parent homes and could benefit greatly from a mentor. A number of young couples / singles would love to have an older couple / individual mentor them and help them grow strong in the Lord. 2) PERSONAL BENEFIT. The mentor stands to gain as much if not more from the relationship as the one he or she mentors. There is great joy that comes from watching a young person grow in wisdom, godliness, and fruitfulness. 3) MANDATE. Jesus mandated that we be involved in this process!
Read the following passages and pray about what the Lord would want you to do in the process of mentoring a young person at The Bridge.
- The Mandate to Mentoring
- Matthew 28:18-20 – And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
- The mandate = “make disciples.”
- The method = Go, Baptize, and Teach to obey.
- The motivation = Jesus will be with us as we go and make disciples.
- Titus 2 – Titus was told to challenge the older members of his congregation to keep growing in godliness and never retire from ministry. In fact, they were to pour their lives into the younger members (older men with younger men; older women with younger women).
- 2 Timothy 2:2 – “And the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.” Paul told Timothy to take what he had learned from Paul and pass it on to faithful men so they could in turn pass it on to others.
- Matthew 28:18-20 – And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
- The Method of Mentoring – 1 Thess. 2:7-12 tells us of Paul’s method of mentoring young believers. Paul had led these people to saving faith in Jesus then was run out of town a few weeks later. When he writes this letter the church is only about six months old. In this section we see Paul’s method of mentoring these people when he was with them. He became a spiritual mother and father to these young believers.
- The Mother’s role – v. 7-9
- Attitude = The gentleness of a nursing mother taking care of her very own child. Cherishing and providing for the child whatever it needs to grow strong and healthy. She does this because she loves her child and derives great joy from meeting the child’s needs.
- Action = She gives not only the life-changing gospel of God but her own life (soul) as well because the child means everything to her. She doesn’t just tell the child what to do she models it! She works to the point of exhaustion 24 hours a day if necessary to meet the needs of this precious child that she loves.
- The Father’s role – v. 10-12
- Example. Paul modeled right relationships in three areas:
- Total devotion and consecration to God (“devoutly”).
- Moral purity and integrity in relationship to men (“uprightly”).
- Impeccable reputation because of purity of heart (“blamelessly”).
- Exhortation (see Dt. 6; Prov. 1:8; 4:1-10, 20; 5:1; 6:20). It isn’t enough to simply live a godly lifestyle, a godly father will also exhort his children to grow in godliness too. Paul did this in three ways:
- Exhorting = to come alongside & appeal to a specific course. This is INSTRUCTION that challenges the WILL to obey God.
- Encouraging = to inspire them to stay on the right course. This is MOTIVATION that challenges the FEELINGS to remain faithful no matter what.
- Imploring = giving personal testimony from your experience. This is DISCIPLINE that lets the child know there are CONSEQUENCES if they fail to walk in God’s ways.
- End Result. The goal is people that “walk worthy” of the God that saved them and go on to mentor others who will do the same.
- Example. Paul modeled right relationships in three areas:
- The Mother’s role – v. 7-9
In the coming months, you will be hearing from Pastor Tom Harcus about specific ways to encourage and help people grow. Start praying now for the Lord to direct you to the person (people) that He wants you to serve in that way.
Who are the people who marked your life as a mentor? Give thanks to God for those people then go invest your life in some of the young people at The Bridge so someday they can look back and give God thanks for you.