When I was an undergrad, I learned the importance of mentoring. One-on-One mentoring, that is. The baptist collegiate ministry that I was involved in introduced me to this concept. As a believer, I had never heard something so profound. The idea of mentoring was introduced to me in the following way. A mentoring relationship is one in which two people meet on a consistent basis to discuss certain subjects. The mentoring I am talking about, is mainly focused on biblical mentoring. However, biblical mentoring transcends into many other areas such as school life, relationships, family, etc. In this biblical mentoring relationship, one person would be wiser, biblically, than the other. This is not meant to be a prideful thing. Actually, it is the most humbling experience ever. For example, my freshman year at TU, I was paired up with a senior girl (it is important to keep with the same gender, to protect from awkward touchy subjects). We met weekly throughout my freshman year, for an hour each time, and simply talked. She was clearly stronger in the Lord than I was, especially having seen the college life already, so she had a lot of wisdom to share with me about how to juggle school and a relationship with the Lord. It was a rewarding experience. We talked about my bible study time at that time in my life, we talked about academics, we talked about my dating relationship with AJ and how to prevent temptation in that dating relationship to honor the Lord. Those weekly meetings are some of the fondest moments of my freshman year. All of us are in different places in our lives. Some of us have experienced one thing more often than others, which gives that person a [humble] upperhand on the others in regards to that experience.
My BCM director, at the time, explained the significance, as believers, to always be mentoring someone while being mentored. Sort of like a step-ladder. So, while you are being mentored by someone wiser than you, you should also be mentoring someone potentially younger in faith than yourself. We see examples of these mentor relationships in the Bible. Paul and Timothy, Moses and Joshua, etc. Friendships that are built upon the Lord are the best friendships I have had.
My BCM director, at the time, explained the significance, as believers, to always be mentoring someone while being mentored. Sort of like a step-ladder. So, while you are being mentored by someone wiser than you, you should also be mentoring someone potentially younger in faith than yourself. We see examples of these mentor relationships in the Bible. Paul and Timothy, Moses and Joshua, etc. Friendships that are built upon the Lord are the best friendships I have had.
Once my freshman year ended, I began to mentor two younger girls that I met at the church that AJ was serving at, at the time. At the same time, I was being mentored by a new girl, an upperclassmen at TU. I've mentored probably a little more than a handful of students over the past several years, and it's been a learning experience. For example, I was mentoring 3 different young girls my sophomore year. However, only one of them was faithful to meet every single time. I was scheduled to meet weekly with this faithful girl, and every other week with each of these two other girls (separately). Any longer of a waiting period than a week and a half or two weeks will make it a little hard to keep up a consistent relationship. The other girls had their reasons as to why they couldn't meet up at our particular meeting time, which was fine. However, the mentoring relationship that I had with the one girl who was faithful blossomed tremendously. I learned an overwhelmingly large amount from mentoring this younger girl. That's the blessing about mentoring. While I am looked as the older, wiser one. I never leave without having learned something myself. It is important to caution, here, to be careful in these mentoring relationships. These mentoring relationships are different than friendships in a way. Because we are split up not only by age, but also by potentially a learning deficit, we must guard our hearts. It would be hard for me, for example, to mentor someone very very close to me. Maybe Stephanie, for example. It would be hard for me to mentor her because we are already so close. I might become to relaxed in the relationship and not provide her with the wisdom I would someone else simply because we easily goof off. Or, it might be smart to avoid this type of relationship because it could become hard for me to be honest with her. It's not easy to tell someone you love that they are doing something wrong or influencing someone in the wrong way. Thus, Stephanie and I would probably be better for an accountability relationship. Some people confuse the idea of mentoring and the idea of accountability partners. Mentoring relationships are focused on the younger/newer believer in the relationship, while the accountability partner relationship is focused on each of the people in the relationship. Accountability partners focus on bettering themselves by holding the other accountable. Mentoring relationships focus on growing the younger one to become stronger in the Lord. Like I said, it is a humbling experience. Hopefully that's obvious. It would be easy for my to just talk about myself the whole time, but that is not necessarily going to help this young girl. Always listen first, ask questions, and stay in tune with the Holy Spirit to be able to give proper guidance.
Once I graduated with my undergraduate degree, I never found a new mentor nor a new mentee. However, this has been heavy on my heart. I pray that at the right time, both of these people will be brought into my life. This is not meant to replace the significance of your relationship with the Lord, but it is meant to further the kingdom by equipping younger believers to do God's work.
Once I graduated with my undergraduate degree, I never found a new mentor nor a new mentee. However, this has been heavy on my heart. I pray that at the right time, both of these people will be brought into my life. This is not meant to replace the significance of your relationship with the Lord, but it is meant to further the kingdom by equipping younger believers to do God's work.