Thank you for choosing to be part of our mentoring initiative . this is something that we in the YSG are very excited about .
Introduce the YSG team, Kirsty, Bill , Irene, and Myself are all available to talk help any of you in any way with your mentoring
there is a great African proverb that says "it takes a village to raise a family" I think this is true, and I believe that local churches have a very unique strength that they are filled with folk from every generation. I also believe that church functions best when there is authentic and regular interaction between all the generations.
The youth focused evening service that we hold has many positives but one of the negatives of having this separate service is that we have become somewhat generationally segregated. In my time here as Youth coordinator I hope to alleviate this problem and this mentoring programme is an excellent start.
Has anyone here had a mentor who would say that it has been a helpful force in their life?
Certainly I can say for myself that the mentoring I have received over the years has been invaluable - but I'm going to pass over to Wayne Abel to share about his experience of being mentored by one man over the last 15 Years.
Mentoring is one person lighting the path of another because he or she has been down that road before. Life is often sweet but it is also often very hard . We all know that life throws things at us that we are not ready for, things that often our peers cannot give us better insights on but an older mentor can.
Mentoring is an intentional relationship , a dynamic one to one interaction that encourages, inspires and enables. Mentoring is part of the discipleship process, mentors encourage mentorees to know more about God and follow him.
There are lots of words that are banded interchangeably with mentoring and I think that the word is discipleship is the most accurate in our setting. Mentors I would like you to see your mentoring as part of the multifaceted approach that this church takes in discipling people to become followers of Christ and disciple makers of others for Christ. This is our ultimate goal here HPC. And the key question I would like all of you to be regularly asking about your mentoring relationships is "how is this relationship helping us to grow as disciples of Christ and to
Mentors, some of you might be feeling like you aren't qualified to disciple - that's what Kevin went to bible college for all those years right? Well Kevin is certainly our key teacher , but again I stress the multifaceted approach that we need to take in discipleship. Mentors you need to know that you have been chosen because you display a great level of maturity in the practical ways that you live out your Christian faith, and we are excited about letting you share your life with the mentorees you have been assigned with .
So lets move towards the practical , we are going to give you some great resources before you leave today to help you but here are some helpful building blocks
Timeframes
We don't want this programme to be burden so both mentor and mentoree need to set a realistic time frame to meet. I would suggest a time frame of meeting either once a fortnight or once a month - and I suggest that you allow about 1 and a half hours for your time together
The next this is that you should establish some helpful ground rules.
Firstly give your mentoring a trail period perhaps 4 -5 sessions and then come together and honestly evaluate it. At this point you can decide to continue the mentoring relationship if you think it is going well or terminate it on good terms and come back to us for another mentor/ mentoree.
Have an understanding of confidentially , that nothing in the times will be shared without permission. That confidentiality will only be broken if someone is in danger of being harmed then mentors must speak with either Cherie or another member of the YSG
The first thing you all need to do in this mentoring relationship is get to know each other a little more and begin to build trust.
Here a good way of starting that process
For your first session meet at the montors house and let the mentor tell the key aspects of your life story
For the second session meet at the mentoree's house and let them tell their life story. This will give you a both a good base of understanding on which to build the rest of your mentoring relationship
From there I think that a good mentoring relationship is based on good questions and then good interaction with those questions.
Mentors I suggest that you ask questions around these 4 areas
Family
School/work
Spiritual life
Ministry
Relationships with friends and boyfriends/girlfriends if appropriate
A structure for your mentoring session
Buzz time
Prayer time
Work time - an in depth time of asking the questions - checking on and setting goals - discussing pertinent issues,
Prayer time
End time - set the next date - mentors suggest extra reading or a person to contact , mentorees think of some questions/issues that you would like to discuss at your next session.
