mentoring leadership

Biblical Mentoring

Mentoring is currently trendy among pastors . In spite of the hype it is occupying nowadays in leadership conferences , it is but a contemporizing of discipleship concept . It is rather a more trendy word for a more Biblical term discipleship

In Megginson 's word (The Mentoring Manual , he defined mentoring ' as providing guidance , support and practical help through life crisis or into new stages of development ' It seems that , with the word , comes a new meaning or new approach in nurturing would-be leaders (Eims ,1978

We assume struggles against our

weaknesses as part of a Christian 's life . Mentoring anticipates these weaknesses even in leaders only , in current-day mentoring , the leaders are presumed to be having struggles with sins that are most common with newly converted Christians (Neighbor , 1990

It is accepted that leaders are the same as non-believers in desires and passions . Examples such as young people having problems like drug-abuse , teenage pregnancy , bullying or peer pressure , and even premarital sex are talked about in these conferences . Though one cannot deny the fact that these are all realities that even leaders could be facing , still the expectation in a spiritual leader is that he is not living in these sins deliberately while exercising his spiritual leadership (Neighbor , 1990

Many seminar-workshops regarding mentoring contain assumptions that leaders lead a double life . Their conduct in public is different from their private lives which they live in examples are taken from the Bible to support the idea of mentoring Examples such as David and Solomon , Elijah and Elisha , Moses and Joshua Jesus and His disciples as well as Paul and Timothy are all used to buttress the teaching

The following sample diagram shows the recent use of many national leaders in the effort to implement the mentoring concept in evangelical circles

5 Tracks to Guide Pastors and Evangelists as They Implement the Ministry of Mentoring (Source : Evangelism Explosion Level 2- Training retreat

Biblical Idea of Mentoring

We can be liberal in applying different terminology as we approach the work of discipleship provided we do not lose its essence in the process How should we strike this balance of relevance and integrity as we champion this cause initiated by biblical heroes

The best way to do this is probably to apply proper interpretation of the Word of God to what we try to achieve . For example , though Moses and Joshua showed some weaknesses in character , we cannot find in recorded Scripture that either one of them were secretly engaged in gross sinful practices . Moses may have had some problems in his leadership approach that his father in law had to intervene and teach him some strategies to be more effective in how to execute his leadership but he did not have problems with hiding something from the people of God . He may have had occasional outbursts problem but those things he quickly got over with in repentance

The first thing to do as we develop leaders or try to attract more leaders...