CategoriesMentoring Matters, Preparing Your Heart by

A bad hat, a good heart 

If you’re a Puritan, this picture might not scare you. If you lived in the 1650s, you might recognize this man whose name is Richard Baxter. He has a bad hat and a good heart and wrote an important book. 

 

It is not about a Reformed theology but about formation, primarily how people in a congregation become spiritually formed. The book is older than the United States, is still in print, and is centuries deep. It’s had that kind of impact. I’m not sure he still gets royalties, but his words still need to be heard, especially by mentors, leaders, and pastors. I’m really not cool with his hat.

 

He wrote to his congregation, “See that the work of saving grace be thoroughly wrought in your own souls.” Then, four riveting words: “Take heed to yourselves, lest you be void of that saving grace of God which you offer to others.”[i]  Read More

CategoriesMentoring Matters, Preparing Your Heart by

Perfect people need not apply

If a resume is necessary to be involved in the mentoring ministry, the most essential guideline should be that perfect people need not apply. Mentors are not superheroes or champions. They are those who stand alongside one another with unending curiosity, inexplicable faith, and patience. You might be considering a mentoring relationship yourself and wonder if special qualities, such as a highly successful spiritual life, are required. 

 

What kind of person is best for this ministry? The more time we spend on scripture, the more we realize that there aren’t really heroes of faith or perfect people. Read More

CategoriesMentoring Matters, Preparing Your Heart by

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, discipleship, 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: Read More

CategoriesEncouraging, Mentoring Matters by

Blessing is waiting

When it comes to mentoring or spiritual direction, blessing is waiting. But why bother? What’s the point of it anyway?

Those are fair enough questions, but let’s be honest: We have other questions that might be quietly paused within your spirit. Let’s try two:

  1. What are you looking for? It’s another way of asking about your level of contentment, I suppose. What makes you curious? When do you feel most at rest within your spirit? When was the last time you would say you knew yourself to be heard, deeply listened to, and highly valued?
  2. What are you longing for?  It’s been said, “Stay close to your longing…” This refers to yearnings, craving, hungering, or just plain desiring. It’s another way to look within to assess your level of interior contentment.

Mentoring gives sacred access to one’s life, heart, interior self, and, yes, soul.

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CategoriesJesus' Way, Mentoring Matters by

Mentoring matters.

Mentoring matters.

I have been rereading David Kinnaman’s essay, “The Need to Rediscover: Mentoring as a Crucial Formation Process.” He thoughtfully writes about the need for mentoring among young adults within the Church. His conclusions stretch far beyond the confines of young adult faith development into the whole lifespan of adult faith development. His last three paragraphs capture both the challenge and the opportunity before us as men and women who care deeply about helping others develop and mature in Christ. Kinnaman writes,

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