MentorNet #76
15
REASONS FOR THE FACE-TO-FACE MENTORING
OF CPM WORKERS
Copyright
© 2010 by
Galen Currah, George Patterson and Edward Aw
Permission is granted to copy, translate, distribute, post or sell in
any
medium.
Experience
in the field, as well as reports from others, suggests several reasons
for which
trainers opt for mentoring a few workers who do the same, in turn, with
others.
(Compare 14 functions of mentoring chains in MentorNet #69.) In
alphabetical
order, these reasons include the following.
1. Biblical. Exodus 18, Moses & elders. Mark 6:7-13, 30, Jesus & apostles. Colossians 1 & 4, Paul, Timothy, Epiphras, Archippus, Nympha. 2 Timothy 2:1-2, four generations.
2. Effective. Mentored leaders consistently prove more competent leaders and teachers than do bible school leavers, because their learning remains tied to urgent challenges and opportunities, eventually dealing with every facet of ministry and theology.
3. Efficient. Whilst a busy leader must take valuable time to mentor a few, these quickly take up a share of the work and begin mentoring others, in turn. Over time, a leader will win more folk and take better pastoral care of them, by raising up more leaders than s/he could otherwise.
4. Enjoyable. Lecturers delight in preparing and delivering fascinating material. Mentors find joy in relating personally with apprentices, in watching their progress, in ministries growing rapidly, and in practical lessons learned from the field.
5. Inexpensive. Whereas institutional education can prove costly for organizations and students, networks of mentors can cost near to nothing, while they and their learners remain self-supported.
6. Informative. Mentoring involves listening to workers report directly from live ministries. Coupled with numerical monitoring of outcomes, ministry leaders can make timely tactical decisions.
7. Multiplicative. Mentoring even a little number of apprentices, empowering them to do the same with others, can quickly include several generations of leaders whose numbers grow exponentially.
8. Organic. Mentoring builds upon a Christ-centered, loving relationships, as a father to sons or as a mother to daughters, as a family in which parents desire for their children to achieve even more than they did.
9. Practical. Mentoring focuses on apprentices’ churches and cell groups, meeting their urgent needs by transferring needed insight and skills to their leaders.
10. Proven. On-the-job training of various kinds characterizes most rapidly-expanding Christian movements across many cultures. Some kind of need-focused mentoring has proven integral to all reproductive disciple-making movements.
11. Relational. Mentors and their mentees grow in mutual respect and personal affection. Paul called Timothy and Titus, ‘my dear son'.
12. Replicable. Whereas it can take years to become a competent scholar and a skillful teacher, most folk can learn to mentor others in the same manner that they have been mentored.
13. Safe. In fields where civil or religious authorities oppose or forbid openly-Christian activities, such as the erection of bible schools, workers can quietly and privately mentor new leaders, changing venue as required by needs and circumstances.
14. Spiritual. To lay plans for immediate implementation in apprentices’ churches, both they and their mentors require wisdom that the Holy Spirit provides in response to humble prayer. Most often, a plan comes from spiritual revelation through the apprentice that needs it.
15. Timely. Instead of exposing a massive amount of information that students may someday apply in a future ministry, mentoring helps workers respond to urgent needs and current opportunities.
Resources
|
See
tested workshop manuals for training trainers:
<http://www.paul-timothy.net/pages/workshop/>. |