Mentoring is a Must

Older women must train the younger women is a major ingredient of women's ministry (Titus 2:4).  There is no way around it. Why? That little word "must." The Greek translation is exhort earnestly, admonish,  a call to duty. It's a very strong word.  Whenever God uses the word "must" in that tone we need to pay attention, it is a health and vitality issue.  This isn't a suggestion, this isn't a "do this" on a list of "to do's." It is a command, straight from the Throne of God, and the very health of the women's ministry depends on it. 

It is a "must!"

Training up the younger women, speaks of mentoring and screams of mothering. 

We have an obligation to the next generation.  We can teach them performance type task, however in a few years those type tasks, those how to do this and that will be obsolete.  For instance, it wasn't to far back we used to have overhead projectors and transparencies for singing our hymns, before that was the red back hymnal.  Now we have screens, overhead projectors even live streaming to ipads all over the world.  This "must training" is about developing character and heart in the next generation living in the midst of a society that offers so many options and mind-blowing technological advances. It is about modeling before them strengths and attitudes that are timeless.  

We are to say "my ceiling will be your floor." 

courtesy of istockphoto.com

This "must train" mandate means we are not letting the next generation have to reinvent the wheel.  We are to leave them with a legacy.  We are to blaze some trails for them, pave some paths, remove some obstacles and give them a leg up.  This means training them to take what we have and go with it, in their unique way. We are to give them everything we got, to completely pour it all out even to the last drop, give them every chance to succeed.  This "must train" means we are to show up in heaven empty.  When God asks you what you did with your life, you can say "I couldn't bring it with me, so poured it all out on those girls you sent me." You give them your everything, they are going to need it.  

Train to live victoriously in their moment.

Things are moving fast for them, and each wave of new technology makes the last wave look prehistoric. Let's take a look at a couple of things just to make this clear, texting has replaced phones and internet has replaced TV. Texting means no face to face time, communicating openly and honestly during conflict and misunderstandings is going to take creativity.  TV time used to be family time (bowl of popcorn and the wonderful world of Disney), before that dinner time was family time, before that harvesting was family time (kids stayed home from school for that). How can we train them to live victoriously in their moment if we don't understand what their moments will be? What will life for them look like when we are gone? And what can we train them in to overcome the obstacles that are coming their way? How can we model being a powerful woman of faith in the midst of crisis and success?

We are to fight for them.

There is a gap between the generations and God is implying in the "must train" that gap be closed completely.  There is a word for that, intercession. We need to stand in the gap for them, without judgement and with a whole lot of mercy and grace. We need to fight for them.  We need to fight for them in our prayer closet, in our messages, in our outreaches.  How can we fight for them when they seem so unreachable, so far away, so independent and so self confident?  We look for common ground, common battles. We have a mandate to show them how to fight the good fight, which means we need to show them the power of God through His Word. As you pray over them, speak over them, walk with them you are giving them a front row seat to Holy Spirit power in action.  Train them to fight for their families, their friends, their employers with faith. We can train them to take their best shots with what they have by modeling it.  When they know we are for them, they will be open to connections. What is worse than being "uncool" to them is being fake.  Intercession is where the rubber meets road, it's where you say what you mean and mean what you say.  It is your commitment to fight for the relationship.  You see they have a 1000 friends on Facebook, but really, how many of those friends will go the distance with them? 


for related post check out:
Mentoring for the Future
Google has replaced Mentors


In today's church culture what does mentoring look like? Is it being done by the youth department or the women's ministry department? Leave a comment.

  

Mentoring for the Future

We have in Women's Ministry a "must" mandate, it is mentoring.  

I would call it mothering, and we are to do that, however nothing can replace your own mother, and we need to always teach the younger women to respect and honor the mothers, not replace them.  Mentoring by mothering not smothering is the idea. 

We need to get the next generation to dream big about God's glory!

Let's take a look at where they are. Let's get in their shoes and take a look at what their future may hold for them. Not how bad things are, that doesn't require any faith at all.  But a look at what sort of possibilities are going to be available for them. Then get them to dream big about taking those possibilities and bringing God a ton of glory out of it.  Let's get them to perceive problems as opportunities. Let's get them to embrace new inventions as resources and not something to be scared of.  Let's train them to use the resources they have to bring honor to God's name. In order to do that WE NEED TO DO THE SAME!

 Let's not write off Facebook, Twitter and YouTube simply because Lady Gaga uses it.

 We must train them to be the top innovators in their field. How do we do that? Explore possibilities with them, not close a blind eye.  Dialogue about core values in the midst of them.  Walk with them and help identify potholes and shallow thinking.  

In order to pack if we need to know where we are going.  When we mentor the next generation we must train them for where they are going.  We can't do that if we don't accept it ourselves. 

Here's a video to give us a gentle nudge into forward thinking.  To get a glimpse at what life for the next generation might look like. 

What sort of mentoring are you doing? What sort of mentoring will the next generation do in the future?

  

The One Question

There is one question everyone is asking.  All the people around you are asking this question and your true character and heart is what will answer it.  Your lifestyle will be your reply.  Your core values will be reflected.  

Are you for me, against me or for yourself?

Look at the all the leaders in your life, coaches, teachers, parents and even employers.   Which of those individuals had the most impact?  I know for me it is the ones that were for me.  They weren't the most talented or gifted but I felt safe around them. I listened to them, I pursued them, I spent time with them.  Sure I had some people that were for themselves and they made some sort of a dent, but not impact like the first ones.  


Let's take a look at those around us.  Has the question been answered or is the jury still out?  


Make a list of the people you serve and by each persons name write if you are for them or against them.  Or maybe they are just there to help you and you alone.  Go deep on this, it is an important question.


Then ask yourself how they would answer that question concerning you. 


Jesus' idea of leadership was really all about answering this question.  To be a great leader we really need to be a great servant. We really need to serve with "I am for you" attitude.




Got someone in your life that has made a positive impact in your life?  Or someone that was just for themselves?  What was it like to be around them? leave a comment.

Google Has Replaced Mentors

It used to be…

I know, I know I sound like one of those "Well, in my day....." like I don't have a day now.  

Mentors used to be someone I would go to when I had a question about anything, and I had a lot of questions.   I would go to someone wiser, well I thought was wiser and ask them.  Some of their answers were out there and some were on the money.  I learned how to decipher their stories and glean some sort of wisdom. (sounds a lot like Google)  

For instance, when I was a young teen I went to my volunteer youth leader and said "I feel like God is calling me into ministry, to be a speaker." My Google search would have been a series of "God calling, Women in Ministry, and hearing God's voice." What I got from this guy was  "Girls don't do that, let me introduce you to my son."  

What?! I stopped going to church after that and took a while to convince me to come back. 

Another time I asked a grandmother type about guys and she had  great advice and it proved to be very valuable. Who knows what I would have googled for that.

"Don't date a guy you wouldn't marry, love can be blind." 

Today, instead of going to people, I can get the same thing just faster from Google.  All I have to do is type in my question and wha-la instant answer.  I don't have to interrupt people in their busy schedule. I don't have to make time to sit down with them. I don't have to listen to them carry on and on and on and on.  I don't have to worry about what they think of me when I ask.  

I can google my question and even get blogs that will have a constant flow of mentoring whenever and wherever I need it.  I can get book recommendations, podcast, even videos from them and really do it myself.  Hmmm mentor myself, that just sounds wrong!

So what about women's ministry?  Are we to concede to Google?  Are we to allow unknown people speak into our daughters lives?  Are we to let Google mentor the next generation? What about that Titus verse "older women must train up the younger.." is Google to do that for us?

First of all, do WE use Google as a mentor?

Who do we go to if we go to anyone at all? What is it about her that get us to take the time to build a relationship and schedule time with them, just to get questions answered? If we want the younger women to come to us shouldn't we be modeling that behavior? If we want to foster inter-generational relationships it has to start with us.  Who is  your mentor? Google or Sister Got the Goods? 

What about us, will the younger generation pick Google over us?

I know we don't have the answers like Google.  But we can see that Google has some qualities that we can develop.  

Google is humble.  Google doesn't judge people by their searches and totally respects their privacy. Let's not judge them period.  In fact, Google is perfectly aligned with it's users.  They want answers and Google wants to give it to them.  

Google's core value is relevance.  Google doesn't give them what Google thinks they should know.  Google listens to their search query and tries to give them the best locations for that answer.  Listen to the younger generation, and answer the questions they are asking! 

Google doesn't have the answer but knows where to get it.  Google itself isn't smart, the places Google searches are.  Where do we go to get answers?  The best way to know God's word is to apply it.  

Google is accessible, anytime and anywhere. The next generation, growing up on Google, the same ones that cut their teeth on your phone, "wait" is a four letter word.  What does that mean to a mentor? Be accessible and train others in your generation to be accessible too. 

What makes you different than Google? What would make them pick you over Google?

The human connection. 

 Google can't hug them when they are hurting.  Google doesn't know how to listen to the run on sentence and decipher it as "I need a friend." Google doesn't invite them to dinner.  Google doesn't give them a tissue when they cry.  Google won't text them an encouragement right before they go out on the field or court.  Google won't tell them "I believe in you, I have faith."  Google won't  drive them to their first job interview.  Google doesn't help them get up when they fail. Google doesn't throw bridal showers and wrap baby gifts.  Google doesn't open it's door and say "come on in, we just put the burgers on the grill."

 This was about Google, the new search engine is YouTube.  Are we ready for THAT!? 

What else Google can't do but you can?  leave a comment