Mentor for Gospel Workers

It is one thing to read from a textbook how to do something; it is another thing to have a mentor show you how to do something.  As a teenager I read lots of articles on how to do woodworking.  But into my early twenties I had a brother-in-law show me how to make things out of timber.  A few years later a skilled craftsman in my first church showed me how to build furniture.  What I read in shop manuals and books now made sense.  I think also of the men who worked alongside me in the Volkswagen dealership where I had a part-time job throughout highschool.   They could have handed me a shop manual, but instead they showed me how to do panel repair and rebuild engines.  Because of these mentors in my life, I have been building things out of wood and working on engines, cars, and motorcycles ever since.  Today I am passing on these skills I have learned and mastered to a 12 year old boy.

Mentoring is important in life.  We all should pass on the skills we have mastered to others.   We should intentionally invest in others, especially the next generation.  This is not only true generally, but this is especially true in the church.  In my previous article I talked about the importance of training.   Training is critical if we as a denomination and churches are going to raise up the next generation of gospel workers.  Training is in addition to teaching and praying, all part of the sixfold strategy to raise up gospel workers.   While we must train many people, we should mentor a few, as did the apostle Paul with young Timothy.   Paul tells Timothy:   "... the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others." (2 Timothy 2:2)  Pastors and other mature disciples ought to intentionally invest in one or two people each year, to help them grow in Christ, learn biblically and theologically, and be better equipped to serve.   In our local churches, church leaders ought to particularly mentor those who show promise for future gospel ministry.

Mentoring is different from discipling.  Jesus tells us our goal in ministry is make disciples of all people.   Discipling is all about helping people understand the fundamentals of the Christian faith and grow in faithful obedience to Jesus. (see Matthew 28:18-20)   While mentoring includes teaching and training, it is much more.  So what is involved with mentoring?

Well, good mentoring involves a series of four activities.  There will be instruction.  Mentors need to provide those they mentor (who I like to refer to as a protege) with the knowledge necessary to lead or do ministry.  This will include teaching, as well as learning from books, seminars, and the experience of others.  While there is an emphasis on knowledge, those you mentor need to grow in all four areas of training: being, knowing, doing, and feeling. 

Mentoring also includes modelling.  Having knowledge is not enough.   Good mentors must model what they are teaching.  People need to see and observe others in ministry.  For example, if you want to teach your grandchildren how to fish, you don't just give them a textbook on fishing.   You show them: how to tie the fishing line to a hook; how to set the bait; how to cast the rod; how to know when you have a fish on the line; how to reel in the fish; and so on.  At first you do everything and they simply observe.  Only after you have modelled to them the art of fishing, you hand the rod over to them.  Then you watch, or should I say, watch out!   You might need to show them again.

This brings us to the third activity you do in mentoring:  observation.  Not only do you teach and model effective leadership and ministry skills, as a mentor you now observe your protege as they attempt to do what you have modelled.  Back to my fishing example.  Once you hand the rod over to your grandchild, you now observe how they handle the rod.  As a mentor you watch.  You notice what your protege is doing well and what they could do better. 

With observation comes the fourth activity:  evaluation.   As a mentor you need to give feedback to your protege.  How are they doing in leading and/or ministry?   Are they progressing in ministry skills?   Are they growing in ministry capacity and competence?   This task of evaluation happens throughout the mentoring process.  Over four decades of gospel ministry I know the real value of evaluation.  The feedback I have received (both what I have done well and what I could do better) has enabled me to not only grow in gospel ministry, but to be resilient in ministry for the long haul.  And those I mentor appreciate the encouragement I give through evaluation.

If you have a sense that God is nudging you into gospel ministry, then talk to your pastor or other church leaders about finding someone to mentor you.  If you are church leader, a pastor, elder, or other ministry leader, then look for those you can mentor.  Invest in one or two people every year.  Be a mentor:  instruct, model, observe and evaluate your proteges.  If we are ever going to raise the next generation of gospel workers needed in the CRCA we must have those we mentor.