Mentoring Ministry: How God Can Use You to Shape the Following Generations

Our journeys are unique, and as we get older we should be better able to help shape the following generations using our gifts and experience. Yet many would-be mentors aren't so sure about how to go about this. Past failures, pride, insecurity, lack of confidence and opportunity in a fragmented Western culture that prizes individualism have helped create seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Reliance on programs and the professionalization of ministry have tended to hinder more natural connections between the generations; systems and organizational expertise may have grown, but often at the expense of personal discipleship.

Drawing on 30 years of ministry experience in four churches across three countries, my aim is to help you consider how you can better mentor an increasingly isolated generation of older teenagers and young adults—those aged roughly between 18 and 30 years.

By reading this you will:

1. Gain a better understanding of the history of mentoring, and its biblical basis.
2. Better appreciate typical hindrances to effective mentoring.
3. Consider biblical characters who mentored others, and how they point us to Christ.
4. Gain clarity regarding your own unique skills, interests and knowledge.
5. Understand the components essential to a solid mentoring relationship.
6. Recognize how you can begin to invest practically in young adults, and put yourself at God's disposal to help them.