What parenting is to family life, so mentoring is to ministry. It is very similar to the age-old practice of a father teaching his son (one-on-one) the family trade. Formal training for the ministry should hold an important place in your priorities, but without a mentoring process, you will soon find that formal training does not nor cannot impart the experience and wisdom that are so essential for ministry. There are only two ways to acquire the needed experience and wisdom: (1) to learn by trial and error (the hard way) or (2) to acquire them both from someone who has them—a mentor.
It is here that most men entering into the ministry make a serious mistake. Starting off with a good measure of insecurity, they assume the naive idea that being leaders, they are supposed to have an answer or an idea for every situation and that they are responsible to do everything there is to do. With their insecurities well in place, pride requires them to isolate themselves from any outside help, particularly from other ministers. As isolation grows, so do the spirits of competition, mistrust, and suspicion towards all other ministries. Finally, when such men come to the end of themselves and timidly begin to seek help, they have real difficulty finding someone whom they can trust. Know that entering into a mentoring relationship early in your ministry will stop all this foolish, pride-caused trouble from happening.
Mentoring is accomplished only by the building of relationships. True relationships happen only when we learn to become transparent. Being transparent is one of the most difficult things—if not the hardest—for most men to do. Building relationships takes time, time to demonstrate love and build trust. But it is only here that mentoring can do its best job. Relationships afford knowledge and wisdom; answers come and solutions happen. Mentoring releases the minister to enter the next level of his calling, each time and on time.
Mentoring works best one-on-one or through small group meetings. Pastors meet within a certain geographical area, and someone with an apostolic calling mentors the group through a living example and with pertinent and meaningful instruction. This time together allows for plenty of time for dialogue. In this way, each minister gleans and/or shares something useful during the session. In these times, he gains new confidence with his mentor, with his peers, and within himself. I have seen it many times, watching a group of pastors grow from being independent, self-conscious, and awkward spectators into becoming friends who can relate to and trust one another. They begin to open up to one another personally and then to share their giftings in one another’s local churches. When these types of relationships are forged, nothing can stop a corporate vision from readily being accomplished.
Mentoring provides much fruit. It guides you into greater character, including ethics as well as self-assurance. Mentoring helps you to discover and achieve all your God-given giftings, your calling, your vision, and strategies. Mentoring affords wise counsel that can eliminate costly mistakes in judgment and procedure. True mentoring places you and your ministry in a place of accountability so necessary for proper, honest stewardship.
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