Mentors

picture courtesy of soulshepherding.org

I've been concerned about a buzz word that we hear more and more in Christian communities

 mentor, mentoring, mentorship 

Interestingly, these words cannot be found in the Bible, nor in the Webster's 1828 Dictionary.  However, I did find this in the Webster's Dictionary:

MENTO'RIAL, adjective [from Mentor, the friend and adviser of Ulysses.]
Containing advice or admonition.

I think it's funny that the church has borrowed a term from greek mythology to describe a relationship between two people. Mostly because the Hebrew people are all about relationships.  Everything in the Word of God is about man learning and relating with God and each other.  

Years ago, when I heard the term mentor, it meant someone who was older and wiser than myself whose position it was to encourage those younger and less experienced.  It brought a certain weight to the relationship. It meant that the younger person was listening and learning from someone who had gained understanding and could offer support, friendship and knowledge. 

The Bible does give us precedence to participate in relationship with others who are wiser than ourselves.  This is a great list of Scripture on mentoring.   In addition we see examples of mentoring in the Word.

Barnabus and Paul
Paul and Timothy
Jethro and Moses
Eli and Samuel
Moses and Joshua
Naomi and Ruth
Elijah and Elisha
Deborah and Barak
Elizabeth and Mary
Jesus and the disciples

I am not sold out on the word mentor.  But I am completely in agreement to Scripture.  I think 1 Corinthians 11:1 sums it up well. 

" Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ." 1 Corinthians 11:1

We are to imitate those who are imitating Christ.  How do we know they are imitating Him?  Their words and actions will support the Word of God. 

No one is perfect.  No one will get it right 100% of the time.  That's why God gave us a brain and the Holy Spirit.  We need to constantly evaluate the encouragement we receive from others.  If it agrees with the Word of God, we can embrace it.  If it does not, we reject it and seek God for the truth. 

As my daughter grows closer to the high school age, I will be teaching her about being a mentee as well as a mentor. I have noticed that the girl's youth ministries in many churches often have mentoring programs in which younger girls are assigned older girls. I have no idea if the older girls are wise or not.  That's the problem when you condense mentorship down into a formal program.  So, I continue to teach her to use discernment, to seek God in His Word and to use a concordance and other Bible study tools in researching various topics.  In addition, I encourage all of my children to seek counsel from more than one person, and certainly from those they know have more understanding and wisdom.

I encourage everyone to be thoughtful mentors and mentees, observing boundaries and recognizing that the ultimate authority is the Word of God. 

Grateful for grace,