Building One Another
MENTORING Vol 9 No 24
July 20, 2010
Dear Friend,
Think of the people who have invested themselves in you helping you become the person you are today. They may include parents, grandparents, friends, pastors, teachers as well as authors whom you have never met but who have influenced you.
Mentoring is the impact and influence of life on life that imparts faith, knowledge and skill to another person. It is one person building life into another life!
Our mentors introduce us to faith in Jesus and help us grow in our love of God. They impart the skills of our professions to us and the skills of life from cooking meals, talking at table, managing our money and enjoying the sports we play.
As we grow as Christians we are called to mentor others since Christian discipleship is for the sake of others. For whom is God calling you to be a mentor? A child or grandchild in your life? A neighbor? A co-worker? Someone in the church you attend?
Does mentoring mean forcing others into the mold that is you? By no means! It is you sharing in others what you have learned so that they may grow into the unique persons God intends them to be. As Dick Halverson, one of my mentors used to say, “Allow the Holy Spirit the same freedom with the next person that the Spirit had with you!”
Effective Christian mentoring is not offered not out of pride but out of a humble heart that only wants to pass on what God has given you. It is you passing on the torch of faith in Jesus and other knowledge that has been passed on to you. First you receive it and hold it. Then the persons to whom you are passing it hold it with you as they learn from you. Finally you let go and they keep on going only to eventually pass it on again.
“And what you have heard from me through many witnesses entrust to faithful people who will be able to teach others as well.” II Timothy 2:2*
With joy - E. Stanley Ott
Copyright 2010 E. Stanley Ott
*Scripture from the NRSV