A Call for Mentors

By Curt De Graaff, Young Adult Pastor

A look at the spiritual landscape within the evangelical church of America tells me that a paradigm shift is in order. We need to be less about programs and more about relationships.

Church isn’t something we go to do. It is something we are. We teach what we know, but we reproduce what we are. The old model of “just tell them what we know” has left too many supposed Christ-followers abandoned along the roadway of life. These well-intentioned believers have been told about the way, but they need someone to show them the way. The way-shower (John the Baptist) had disciples. The Way (Jesus Christ) also had disciples. Today’s church must follow that same model.

For my purposes in this article, let me call the personalization of that discipleship model “mentoring”. Steve Farrar defines the concept for us. “Mentoring is a relational experience through which one person empowers another person through sharing God-given resources.” Synonymous terms include coaching, teaching, and counseling, but those descriptions may be too formal.

Simply stated, each of God’s children needs a friend—as biblically defined. In fact, they could use three friends:

• A Pacesetter—ahead of him
• A Peer—beside him
• A Pupil—following him

Friends do life together. They play together, pray together and stay together through thick and thin. (Check out Proverbs 17:17 and 27:10.) You see, mentoring is more caught than taught. It is more horizontal than vertical. It is more incarnational than informational.

Today’s younger generation, variously categorized as Millennials, Mosiacs and Busters, are looking for friends to help them find their way home. So let me make a plea for mentoring friendships.

Pick at least one of the categories listed above—a pacesetter, a peer or a pupil. Often, pacesetters are older than we are. Peers are similar in age. Pupils are our juniors. But connect at some level to mentor or be mentored.

If you are willing to be a mentor, look for someone to befriend who has three characteristics:

• An ATTITUDE of hunger and openness
• AVAILABILITY to spend time together
• ACCOUNTABILITY which involves honestly communicating one’s goals and expectations at the beginning of the mentoring process. Obviously, the purpose of life on life is to bring Scripture and its disciplines into the mainstream of our being.

New Testament Christianity is meant to be done in community. It’s part of the sanctification process. If the Spirit of God is nudging you toward mentoring someone in Young Adult Ministries, send me an email and I’ll get in touch with you.

Remember, you can make a difference in someone’s life!