What is Mentoring?

Have you ever been confused, hearing the words disciple or mentor, and wondered if it relates to you?

Mentoring, or discipling, is: 

• investing time in the life of someone else
• meeting one-to-one
• meeting with the intention of encouraging them in their relationship with God
• sharing life experiences with someone younger in their walk with God
• done with a new believer -- or any believer -- who wants to grow in their faith
• beyond a peer Bible study

Some helpful things to keep in mind:

• Consider meeting together for an agreed upon period of time: a school year, a calendar year, or a few months, for example.
• Choose materials to study.
• Don’t let mentoring end with you. Learn how one person can help change the world.

Even the Apostle Paul mentored other believers in I Thessalonians and offers a biblical model for it.

Just as a new believer needs to learn the foundations of faith, other believers can be encouraged to keep on in the foundations of faith.

People who have believed for a while can find a new enthusiasm in their relationship with God from the prayers and encouragement of a mentor.

Mentoring can be an opportunity to receive a different perspective, be held accountable, and to get good, godly advice.

One reservation about being a mentor may be the misconception that one’s life has to be perfect first. God can use the mentoring relationship both ways, by encouraging the person who is doing the mentoring.

Many people think they must behave a certain way to become a mentor. We all have something to pass on to another person. The Bible explains that it is actually quite simple.

 “Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing” (1 Thessalonians 5:11, New American Standard).

If the idea of mentoring is appealing, ask God to show you someone in whom to invest.

Perhaps you may have had the thought, “I could be a mentor" or "I need a mentor.” Here is a helpful place to start for mentoring.