Mentoring and our Purposes

At Calvary and other churches we like to look at the mission of the church in response to the great commandment and great commission in terms of five purposes: Connecting to God, Growing in God, Serving God, Sharing Christ, and Worshiping God. This is best done in community, which means that we also need to help people connect with one another, grow with others, and serve one another, and help others to know how to share Christ, all out of a desire to worship God. Sometimes we use a baseball diamond to graphically portray this discipleship pathway.

As I've been thinking about the development of mentoring relationships and a mentoring culture it seems these same steps are very important.

• Connect - mentoring is a relational process that requires two or more people to connect, to get to know one another, and to build some mutual trust. For the person looking to mentor others, taking intentional steps to connect with people is crucial.
   
• Grow - the purpose in development of a mentoring relationship is simply to grow in an area that is important for a person, to grow in some way to be more like Christ.
   
• Serve - a key attitude needed in the heart of a mentor is a desire to invest in the life of another, to be a servant looking to help the other grow - not setting the agenda but serving in a way that builds them up. It's also important in the development of a mentoring culture to stress that this is an important ministry, using whatever gifts and SHAPE that God has given us to build up the body.
   
• Share - there is benefit to two people getting together and helping one another grow. But to see a mentoring culture flourish, it's important to reproduce mentors and leaders - to equip those we serve to go and do likewise, to share with them the motivation and skills needed to invest effectively in the lives of others.
   
• Worship - we must never forget that mentoring is not a self-help program nor is it about growing for our own sake. Rather it is a way to build up the body of Christ, and to glorify God in the love we share and in the use of the gifts He has given us.