A Required Course

Mentoring the next generation of followers of Jesus is not an elective; it is a required course in the curriculum of faith.  Here’s why: 

• The Christian faith was grounded in the first two generations of Jesus’ followers, especially in the first generation.
• It is entirely possible for us to see the decline and/or demise in another generation or two.

I sat in the back of remarkable architecture in a cathedral in Scotland.  It was no longer a vibrant congregation of the faithful; instead, it was a museum of the past. Only a very few saw this as a place for the formation of faith, and this narrative is repeated across Europe.

Mentoring is a required course. 

Mentoring, disciplining, and spiritual formation for the next generation is not an elective for us; it is a required course in the curriculum of faith.  Again, here’s why:

• On a call with a friend and brother, he said that one of his mentors spoke to him of a “possible self” for which he alone had no imagination. The mentor’s questions and words opened his eyes. To step into a new future, one must see oneself with the eyes of what we might become.  That friend went on to graduate school, a PhD, and a lifetime of teaching and leading academic institutions.  Until the mentor spoke the words, he never saw such a future for himself: he never imagined the possible self that he is now.

 

•  He heard what we want every mentee to hear—do it for us! Your story is not being formed for you alone; you are being formed by a larger story for a larger story.  When he considered graduate school as a first-generation college student, his mama said, “Do it for us.” Jesus intentionally gathered followers together because his vision was for the future, not only the present or the past. Mentoring is a bold commitment to a future we cannot yet see.

 

• In mentoring, we are being formed by others, with others, and for others. In a recent movie, a new young Christian is mentored by an older man. He has gathered those he mentored into a community where each was now mentoring another young follower of Jesus. The symbol used by their group comes from Hebrews, “For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword…”[1] They placed such a sword in the hands of the newest young man to join their community.  It weighs about 10 pounds, he is told. He is asked to stand and hold the sword in front of him, balancing the weight by himself as his mentor tells the whole group, “We are not meant to do this work alone. You cannot stand alone in your faith. You will not be formed if you stand alone.” The others in the room reached forward one by one to add their strength to help him hold this symbol of faith together.[2]

 

• Perhaps we are called one by one, but we are never called for our sake alone. As followers of Jesus, we are, each and every one of us, given a responsibility for others. Remember?
     ° Love God. That’s the beginning point.
     ° Love your neighbor. That’s the continuing point.
  When we practice our faith, we are committing to those who will follow us just as we stand on the shoulders of those who went before.

The future is saying to us, each one, “Do it for us!”

The formation of others is not an elective for us—male or female, young or old: it is a required course in the curriculum of faith.  Because you have been chosen as God’s people, you are each one called to live your faith with others, for others, just as you have come to your faith.  

 

Practice: Give thanks if you are a mentor.  Seek God’s guidance to find a mentee if you are not currently mentoring. 

 

[1] Hebrews 4:12

[2] Netflix: The Forge