Does your church ever struggle with raising up true followers of Jesus Christ who take responsibility in building the church? In the church I am pastoring, Thousand Hills International Church, I feel we could have had a stronger emphasis on discipleship and leadership development. There was no clear path people could walk to grow as disciples, get involved in ministry and grow as leaders. Every church needs to have a leadership pipeline in place to raise up a generation of people who are sold out on Jesus and firmly rooted in the local church.
The local church is key in extending the Kingdom of God, but is weakened by inward focus, divisions, and many other things that blur our vision. If we’re not careful we focus more on the people in the church rather than on the world outside that is perishing. I am not saying we need to focus on reaching the lost solely and forget about helping believers grow in their walk with Christ. There needs to be a “both… and”.
A key verse: 2 Timothy 2:2
One important way to help build a leadership pipeline is by offering mentoring and developing a clear growth track for people. Paul says in 2 Tim. 2:2 (NLT): “You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others.”
Paul understood this principle and made sure that his mentee, Timothy, practiced the same thing and invested in people who in turn did the same thing.
Elijah and Elisha
Another story great story that underlines the power of mentoring is the story of Elijah and Elisha. Look at 1 Kings 19:15-21 (NLT):
Then the Lord told him, ‘Go back the same way you came, and travel to the wilderness of Damascus. When you arrive there, anoint Hazael to be king of Aram. Then anoint Jehu son of Nimshi to be king of Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from the town of Abel-meholah to replace you as my prophet…
So Elijah went and found Elisha son of Shaphat plowing a field. There were twelve teams of oxen in the field, and Elisha was plowing with the twelfth team. Elijah went over to him and threw his cloak across his shoulders and then walked away. Elisha left the oxen standing there, ran after Elijah, and said to him, “First let me go and kiss my father and mother good-bye, and then I will go with you!”
Elijah replied, “Go on back, but think about what I have done to you.” So Elisha returned to his oxen and slaughtered them. He used the wood from the plow to build a fire to roast their flesh. He passed around the meat to the townspeople, and they all ate. Then he went with Elijah as his assistant.
God told Elijah to find Elisha and invest in him so that he could become his successor. Not only was Elijah committed to Elisha. It was a two way thing. Elisha was really committed to Elijah, his master: “As surely as the Lord lives and you yourself live, I will never leave you!” (2 Kings 2:2,4,6 NLT).
Key principles
When we study the story of Elijah and Elisha there are a couple of important principles we can discover if we are looking to mentor people in their walk with Christ or in their leadership:
- Allow God to tell you whom to mentor (a little side-note: if this is not clear, don’t use it as an excuse to not mentor anyone!)
- Both mentor and mentee need to be committed to the mentoring process.
- Mentoring works best in situations where the mentee wants to grow in an area the mentor excels in. Elisha wanted a double portion of Elijah’s anointing.
The vision: enlarging the pool of potential leaders
So why should we invest all this time in other (potential) leaders? I believe by investing in people this way, we can increase the quality of leadership, not only of the mentee, but also of the mentor. And if the quality of leadership grows, the church can also increase in quantity and even multiply itself by starting new churches. No longer is leadership the bottleneck to growth! As a result, we can help build God’s Kingdom in a sustainable way.
Mentoring roles
As a mentor you can take several roles in relation to your mentee and you can even change roles from time to time to help the growth process:
Discipler – empowering people to follow Christ- Spiritual guide – sharing knowledge, skills and ideas about realizing Christ-likeness in all areas of life
- Coach – helping to develop a certain skill
- Counselor – timely advice on the mentee’s view of himself, others, circumstances and ministry
- Teacher – imparting knowledge and understanding on a certain subject
- Model – the mentor’s life is an example to indirectly impart skills, principles and values on the mentee
Take the step and become a mentor!
It may take some effort for you to start mentoring someone. It may change your. But in the end it frees you up! Enjoy what God does through other people. So what steps can you take to start applying these principles?
- Find an assistant leader that can take over from you or who can lead another ministry in the future.
- Start a mentoring group.
- Use the principles of mentoring while you lead others.
- Rethink the people development process (discipleship & leadership) in your church or ministry ministry to make sure there is a leadership pipeline in place.
Now how do you apply mentoring principles in your ministry, church or work? I would love to hear your feedback!
The blog post above is based on a talk I did during the All Leadership Meeting at Thousand Hills Hilversum on June 17, 2010. If you would like to see the full video, you can check it out here:
All Leadership Meeting June 2010 part 1 from Thousand Hills Int’l Church on Vimeo.