This content is adapted from the PursueGOD Video YouTube channel. To get trained as a mentor using the PG resources, check out our Mentor Start Page.
Biblical mentoring (also called “disciple-making”) is personally coming alongside one or more people to help them pursue God. And every Christian is called to do it. Jesus changed the world with a handful of fishermen and ordinary people. He discipled them and then commanded them to do the same thing with others. Today, we call it biblical “mentoring” – but it’s the exact same thing.
Matthew 28:19-20 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
A Mentor Is a Christian Who Helps Someone Else Pursue God
Mentoring happens when one person chooses to enter intentionally into a relationship with one or more people to help them discover and live out the truth and “obey all the commands” of Jesus. Specifically, “PG Mentoring” uses the topics at pursueGOD.org as the baseline tools for truth-sharing, using our simple “FLEX” method: find a topic (F), learn about it on your own (L), and explore it together through conversation (EX). Mentoring can happen in group settings or one-on-one. Parents are mentors to their children. Pastors are mentors to a handful of people in their ministry. Group leaders and team leaders can mentor people who attend their groups. Mentoring is everywhere, and our online tools make it easy for anyone to do it.
Every Christian Can and Should Mentor
Jesus was clear with his followers when he issued the Great Commission in Matthew 28: Every Christian should become a mentor, and it’s really the only way to mature as a Christian. Jesus was a strategist. His strategy for spreading his good news was to make it simple and viral. First, a person trusts Jesus for salvation. Then he or she begins to live in a way that honors God. And right away he or she begins mentoring at least one other person, helping to move the message out to the world. We call it a “full circle” pursuit of God, and anything less is incomplete Christianity.
When you keep it simple, you won’t be too intimidated to share your faith and help others become pursuers of God. Think of who Jesus chose as his first followers: fishermen and tax collectors. He didn’t go to the seminaries to find leaders for his new church. He went to the streets.
Are You Qualified?
Most people don’t think they’re qualified to mentor others. That’s probably not true. Any person who is living the first two steps of Foundations is qualified to go full circle and become a mentor. So ask yourself these questions:
- Have you started a pursuit of God by trusting Jesus for your salvation? If so, you’re halfway there.
- Are you living to honor God? You don’t have to be perfect, but you should be submitted to other mentors or leaders in your own life, avoiding unrepentant sin.
Remember that the greatest thing you can do in your life is to help someone pursue God. Commit to begin mentoring soon.
[Related: Mentor Training (Series)]
Discussion Questions:
- Watch the video together or invite someone to summarize the topic.
- What is your initial reaction to this video? Do you disagree with any of it? What jumped out at you?
- What do you think of when you hear the word “mentoring”? Have you ever had a mentor at school, in sports, or at work? Describe the relationship.
- Who personally helped you to pursue God? How did they do it?
- Read John 1:43. Is it surprising to you that Jesus picked a bunch of fishermen? Explain.
- Talk about the difference between occasional sin (that everyone fights) and unrepentant, habitual sin (that disqualifies a person from mentoring). Do you have any unrepentant sin that you need to deal with?
- Read Matthew 28:19-20. Do you think the disciples felt qualified to become mentors? Do you feel qualified? Why or why not?
- Write a personal action step based on this conversation.
