Mentors
Aug. 19, 2010 No Comments Posted under: Lead Well, Live Orange
Recently, I had a very interesting conversation with a men’s ministry pastor about a new initiative he was leading in men’s ministry. Can you guess what men most requested of ministry?
Mentors.
Yup. Mentors.
The younger men in the ministry were longing to find other voices who would speak wisdom into the pivotal circumstances of their lives.
I thought that would be a curious process to arrange. Finding a mentor seems like an organic process where you naturally find someone you resonate with who has traveled further down the road than you. So to arrange mentors for fully functioning adults was quite fascinating to me.
My pastor friend went on to tell me that he also felt like this was a very organic process so he’s arranging opportunities for the men of his ministry to mingle and hopefully form a mentor – mentee connection.
Before we could go down a rabbit hole of the gathering looking like speed dating for mentors, our conversation shifted (thankfully) to a more thoughtful concept.
The young men in this ministry were longing for mentors. And I suggested that the problem might be better solved by not only looking for ways to help make that happen, but how to stop the cycle sooner.
If we encouraged our adults to be mentors to KIDS…..well, then hopefully we wouldn’t have an epidemic of a lack of mentoring relationships in the years to come.
So maybe, the better part of valor, is to acknowledge there is a gap and encourage everyone to invest in a generational shift. Be a church that mentors your kids. Move up with a group of young men or women and stick with them through college and into adulthood. What effect would that have on the future generations?
This entry was posted on Thursday, August 19th, 2010 at 7:00 am and is filed under Lead Well, Live Orange. You can leave a comment and follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
