One of the best ways to help another person develop is by mentoring them. I learned this early in my ministry when a pastor began to invest his time in my life.  

The simplest definition of mentoring is one person investing in the life and future of another. I believe this is something that everyone can do. 

Think about it: what have you learned that you can pass along to others? 

The idea of mentoring is sharing your knowledge, resources and time with another person to see them grow and become capable of doing the same. 

It sounds simple, but maybe you’ve never experienced being mentored or considered what that would look like in real life.  

Let’s look at the model of Jesus calling His disciples and see how this gives us a simple plan for mentoring/making disciples.  

When we look at Jesus’s example, there are three things we can point out. The first is that Jesus was intentional.  

In Matthew 4:19, he said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Jesus selected these men and invited them to spend time with him, to walk with him. 

Jesus prayerfully selected the men he would spend time with and invest his life in. Everyone agrees that time is valuable, and we want to be selective about the people we invest our time in.  

This leads us to the second thing: Jesus made it clear that he would be teaching them something. Why is this important to notice?  

When Jesus said, “I will make you,” he was saying that there are some things that you are going to learn. This means that part of their agreement to follow him was a willingness to be taught. When you choose someone to mentor, be sure they understand that you expect them to be teachable.  

Lastly, Jesus was specific. He told them that the goal of their spending time together was to learn how to be fishers of men.  

People like to know what they’re agreeing to before they say yes. Take time and think about what the commitment you’re asking for would look like. Making the commitment clear on the front end prevents confusion later on.  

I hope you find this helpful. If you’re mentoring someone already, great. If not, let me challenge you to pray today for God to show you someone you can start to pour your life into and invest in their future growth.  

I will be praying for you, and as always, if there is any way I can help you, feel free to contact me at davidl@brnunited.org.