Basics to Becoming a Christian Mentor

Two Things you Must Understand to be an Effective Christian Mentor

This past Sunday I completed a sermon series on Paul’s second Letter to Timothy. Paul was an amazing Christian mentor. Few people rivaled Paul in building the church. He did not have a big building to work out of, an elaborate advertising campaign, an engaging curriculum, enticing programs or a hot praise band.  What Paul had was so much simpler and so much more compelling. He had a passionate concern that people know, love and follow Christ and he did the two most basic things you must do to be a christian mentor.  He adopted and invested in people.
 

Adopting

Paul mentored Timothy to carry forth the Christian faith to the next generation. Paul did not have just an idle interest in Timothy he took Timothy into his heart. He adopted Timothy as part of his family. In the opening of 2 Timothy Paul refers to him as his “beloved child.”  Later in the letter, he refers to Timothy as his son.
 
There is an old saying, “People don’t care what you know until they know you care.” Timothy could not doubt Paul’s care. Paul’s references to Timothy as son, his letters, his words of instruction, encouragement, pray and thanks, would have all told Timothy how incredibly important he was to Paul. Do you have someone that you have adopted in faith? Do you have someone that you want to succeed in growing in and following Jesus Christ? Who is like a son, daughter, brother or sister to you? The first step to being a Christian mentor is adopting a person into your heart and having a passionate concern about their spiritual well-being.
 

Investing

Paul invested time and energy into Timothy. He wrote Timothy letters. He instructed and encouraged.  He prayed for and gave thanks to God for him and he let Timothy know that.
 
All of these things take time. Jesus said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…” Disciple making is a very active process. It involves going and making. Unfortunately, in many churches we have taken on an all to passive approach. Disciple making has become “Build it and they will come and then over time they will hopefully become disciples.” An unspoken expectation often exists that the pastor and programs will some how magically transform people. Seldom does it work that way.
 
Have you fallen into that mindset of passivity? Are you just hoping people will come to church and start believing? I know that I do all too often and then I read one of Paul’s letters and realize if I am serious about wanting the body of Christ to grow then I must personally adopt and invest in the next generation of believers. How about you? Who are you actively encouraging in the faith? Who are you instructing or reminding of spiritual truths?
 
Pray about these things and in tomorrow’s post I will share with you the challenge I shared with my congregation on Sunday. I will be offering you an extremely practical action step to take in becoming a Christian mentor.  If you just can’t wait to hear what that is or if you would like to hear more about how Paul adopted and invested in Timothy, then you can listen to the sermon, The Legacy We Leave, by clicking on the player below.  People in my congregation found it inspiring.  I hope you will too.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

 
Subscribe today and never miss a post.

Subscribe to The Practical Disciple by Email
 Subscribe in a reader