Seven Foundations

Monthly Theme


Monthly Theme: Mentoring and Discipleship


When God commissioned Abraham, it was with the intent that Abraham would pass on the blessings he received.  Later, Jesus gave a similar commission to his disciples; he told them that they must follow his example and "go to the people of all nations and make them my disciples."  God doesn't intend for our gifts, blessings, and life experience to end with us; our gifts are meant to equip the saints for the work of ministry.

Mentoring and discipling others in their spiritual walks is a requirement for all Christians, and this month ForMinistry is focusing on the reasons for being in a mentoring relationship, resources to help you mentor others and equip people to mentor and disciple others.


 


ForMinistry Resources

50 Ways Mentors Can Show Teens They Care
Jolene Roehlkepartain
Jul-16-2004
The effectiveness of a mentoring relationship, to a great extent, rests on the rapport between the mentor and mentee. Here are 50 practical ways adult mentors can communicate to their teen mentees that they care.   more...

Authentic Mentoring: Making the Shift to Relationship-Driven Youth Ministry
Abe Bergen
Jan-13-2002
Program-driven youth ministry just doesn't work anymore. Saturated in a culture of sensory overload, teenagers are yearning for authentic relationships. Abe Bergen shares some of the advantages of mentor-driven youth ministry as well as the various roles an adult can play in the life of a teen.   more...

Mentoring That Changes Lives
Dr. Randy MacFarland
Aug-25-2004
Apart from family and love relationships, mentoring can be the most powerful relationship for influencing human behavior. If it is working. Dr. Randy MacFarland discusses the role relationships play in mentoring.   more...

Mentoring: The Urgent Task
Dr. Clyde McDowell
Jan-19-2005
In a society that is increasingly high-tech, people are increasingly in need of high touch. Dr. Clyde McDowell, the late president of Denver Seminary, explains why, more than ever, mentoring is important as well, as the payoffs of being a mentor.   more...

The Art of Mentoring: An Interview With Dr. Howard Hendricks
Mike Klassen
One of the most celebrated mentors in our time is Dr. Howard Hendricks. Read sage advice and wisdom from a man who has mentored thousands of lives through his books, public speaking, and personal relationships.   more...

The Historical and Biblical Lessons of Mentoring
Stephen Graves and Thomas Addington
Jan-13-2002
Mentor is in Homer’s Odyssey, not the Bible, but this holistic teaching style is demonstrated over and over in Scripture.   more...

What Mentoring Can Do For Your Ministry
George Oehlert
Want to invest in the future of your ministry? Take to heart these words about leadership through group mentoring.   more...

Best Resources from Around the Web

A Few Good Men: Releasing Mentoring Power In Your Church
located on www.mentoring-disciples.org
It doesn't take pews and pews of the right kind of people to change a church or ministry around -- just one or two, a few. Ministers pray that laborers will join their churches, but they rarely do. You've got to build them, from scratch! 'Mentoring is a relational experience through which one person empowers another by sharing God-given resources.'  Through mentoring, God will dramatically use you to train a few in your church to reach the multitudes for Christ! 

Coaching for Life Balance
located on www.christian-living.com
Psychologist Gary Collins interviews Christopher McCluskey, who runs Coaching for Christian Living. McCluskey talks about how he coaches his clients to better balance their lives.

Finding Personal Mentors Exercise
located on www.urbana.org
Are you looking for a person who can give you perspective and provide wisdom, support, resources, and guidance as you seek to grow and develop into the person and leader that God intends? Do you desire to help others grow and achieve a level of effectiveness that they have yet to experience? Do you desire to influence the next generation of Christian leaders?

From Generation to Generation
located on www.navpress.com
Discover the biblical mandate for investing in the next generation. 

How to Be an Effective Mentor
located on www.christianitytoday.com
Erik Johnson of Family Challenge Ministries describes what actual mentoring is, how mentors benefit from the process, and then goes on to detail what mentors actually do, and how to do it better.

Is Spiritual Mentoring a Biblical Idea?
located on www.heartlight.org
Whether or not the leaders of my church are mentoring me, I am called to be a mentor and to find mentors. You too. Be intentional. Move in beside someone and build your life into theirs. And be intentional about finding mentors. Pull in beside spiritually exciting and mature persons that you admire and ask them to help you find a mentor. Who knows, that person may actually become the mentor you need.

Making Authentic Christian Disciples
located on www.vineyardusa.org
Pastor Tri Robinson explains how Vineyard churches develop churches that are genuinely transforming people's lives through the gospel of Jesus Christ. He explains that discipleship must take on many forms to be effective. Because we are all created uniquely we learn in different ways and the forums of our classrooms must be varied. For the church to become effective in helping people walk through this learning process, it is essential that we provide the forums or environments for people to grasp this biblical truth.

Mentoring
located on www.ed.gov
This article from the Research Consumer Guide, while not explicitly Christian or religious, answers the Who, What, and Why questions about effective mentoring programs.

Mentoring Activities
located on www.mentoring.org
Mentoring is serious business, but it should be enjoyable all the same. The trick is to find activities that you both enjoy and that keep the lines of communication open. In this section, the National Mentoring Partnership offers some fun mentoring ideas, along with links to other sites that offer mentoring possibilities. Use them as a springboard to find new ways that you and your mentee can enjoy your time together.

Mentoring That Matters
located on www.christianitytoday.com
It is not difficult to make a list of desired characteristics in a mentor. However, like characteristics of a leader, they are in combination and mix, not equally balanced qualities. Each of the ingredients, described in this article however, in some degree should be in a mentor. 

Mentoring to Make Disciples and Leaders
located on www.arrowleadership.org
Mentoring has been defined in various ways. In its broad application to Christian disciples and leaders, John Mallison defines it in this article as "a dynamic, intentional relationship of trust in which one person enables another to maximize the grace of God in their life and service." There are three ways in which we can be involved in mentoring. Ideally we should endeavor to be engaged in each of these aspects at one and the same time to balance the receiving in personal mentoring relationships with a giving of support and encouragement to others.

Mentoring Your Pastor
located on www.mentoring-disciples.org
As church members we should strengthen and encourage our pastors to do the work of ministry victoriously!

The Nuts and Bolts of Mentoring
located on www.mentoring-disciples.org
Dr. Waylon Moore writes, "Nothing I've done in 40 years of ministry has been as rewarding to me as intensive mentoring. The time has produced fruit who have surpassed and multiplied my own ability. The Promise Keepers men's movement has emphasized the Biblical concept that everyone needs to mentor someone, and that all need a mentor." Here he explains the nuts and bolts of the mentoring process.

Passing On What You Know
located on www.gospelcom.net
This article describes how church prayer meetings can involve children, and how these meetings can be important opportunities to mentor children.

Peer to Peer Mentoring
located on http://reachtheu.com
Reach the U campus ministry talks about how college students can mentor one another in the faith more effectively. This article is written in more of a notes style rather than narrative style, but there are some good ideas along with powerful anecdotes.

Purposeful Proximity -- Jesus' Model of Mentoring
located on www.ag.org
Shoulder-to-shoulder, qualitative investment in the lives of other women is one of the keys to fulfilling Christ's commission. How can women who are called to the ministry follow Jesus' mentoring example in a culture where value and productivity are married, where the visible and measurable are applauded, and where many spend more quality time with their computer than with their life companion?

What I Have Learned about Boys, So Far
located on www.creativeministry.com
To be an effective mentor, you have to understand who you're mentoring. Here are a few things the author has learned so far about mentoring teen boys. 

When Starbucks Meets Sanka
located on www.navpress.com
One young woman describes what she'd like in a mentoring relationship with an older believer. 


ForMinistry Kenya is a Internet Ministry of the Bible Society of Kenya
in partnership with the American Bible Society.
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