Has anyone asked you to mentor them?  Have you asked someone to mentor you?  It can feel a little weird right?  Mentoring is just one way of viewing it, maybe it looks like discipleship, maybe it’s leadership or spiritual development.  But research shows people want it and need it as they seek to follow Christ through the challenges of life. But research often shows it’s not happening very often and people don’t know how to ask for it or offer it. This is no different for ministry leaders!  In Asia, these challenges are great as there is a lack of equipping, lack of confidence, or such a task-focused vision of ministry that neglects to truly develop and cultivate mature and deep leaders that can multiply for the next generation or for other kingdom purposes.

       One of my highlights this semester has been teaching a course on mentoring and leader formation and development (one section shown above).  I don’t know when it was…but sometime in the last few years I started asking myself the question, “Am I old now?” I suppose it’s all relative but I began thinking differently about some of where I put my time and where I should invest more.  This semester provided me an opportunity to do a deep dive on mentoring and discipleship across stages of life for the sake of deeply formed and rooted leaders who know Christ and minister out of Christ’s presence and power over their whole lifetime. It’s been awesome to lead a group of Asian pastors, missionaries, Cru staff, and ministry leaders from all over Asia through this area. 

          Here’s what I’ve found in the journey:

• Older leaders are increasingly want to mentor, but often don’t know how.
• Younger leaders desperately are seeking mentoring, especially those from broken families – but they don’t know how to ask or can believe that they will be a burden.
• Leaders at all levels are wanting deeper and more honest experiences to learn and do ministry with others life on life.
• Mentoring often is informal. But when it comes to ongoing relationships, it’s awkward like dating.  Who asks who?  How often are we going to meet? What’s it going to look like? How do I behave? Can I be honest?

        A key passage is Mark 3:14, reflecting on how Jesus selected and called specific people to Him to go with him (mission), to be with him (relationship), and to eventually send them out to be multiplying leaders. This has been a framework for how IGSL does leadership development training, but it’s also a framework for mentoring as well.  In many places, my students have been consistent that they have been routinely “going with” in ministry, but the “being with” and “sending out” are not always strong in the Asian church.

        A highlight of the year for me was in the discussion (screenshotted above) we had wrapping up the module. I was overwhelmed seeing leader after leader share a commitment to offer themselves sacrificially and lovingly to mentor and invest themselves for the sake of developing the next generation of church and ministry leaders.   Here are some brief quotes shared…..

• I want to help them know God is with them in those hard moments. 
• I can help younger leaders with God-given visions be taken seriously and be empowered on mission and in faithfulness to God. I’m excited to help open doors and remove barriers for these leaders. I can do that.
• I want them to have someone alongside of them because when I was coming up in the ministry I did not have that person and it was difficult and I almost quit the ministry. I can be that leader and mentor for them.
• I want younger leaders to be able to benefit from what God has taught me through pain and mistakes so they do not have to go through them themselves.
• I want to invest in younger people and younger leaders because they are the ones that are best equipped to reach their generation.
• I want to give of myself to younger leaders because I had a senior leader invest in me in ways that changed my life!  It’s my turn to pass that on.

       In our conversation it was unsolicited, but I grew emotional hearing person after person express their passion…really it was professing a commitment to being a multiplying leader in the ways of helping younger believers and younger leaders walk with the Lord and grow into what God wants them to be…for their own walk with the Lord and for what the Church and the Great Commission need. It’s always humbling to see God do work in people’s hearts that can only be a product of His Spirit at work.

       Pray the church in Asia is characterized by a generous generation of leaders who models what it looks like to walk with Jesus deeply, resist temptation, and be fruitful in ministry in ways that pour deeply into the generations coming behind them.  It’s needed!

        If this got you thinking about offering yourself as a mentor or seeking a mentor during this season of your life and faith journey, don’t wait! Pray and push through the awkwardness towards greater life on life impact!