Mentoring
As I’ve been reflecting on my trip to the Dominican Republic, I’ve been thinking a lot about mentorship.
This was a theme we looked at throughout the week as we observed pastors in the area. Each pastor we visited had an “apprentice”. I don’t know about you but in the United States, I don’t hear this word to often so it immediately struck me. Our trip leader explained that most every pastor has an apprentice. This is somebody who they are raising up to take the church if they move on. I asked how common this was and they said it’s actually more of a concern if you don’t have an apprentice. It is so built into the nature of church planting down there to be leading the next generation. What our group talked about and what we observed is that (although, of course, formal trading was part of apprenticeship) the majority of it was simply doing life together. The pastor would go to visit a family, and they would simply bring the apprentice along. The apprentice got to observe and see how the pastor did life.
This brought a lot of great conversations amongst our group. What is mentorship? What does it look like to be a mentor? Can you mentor somebody younger than you? How do you do it?
We talked about how true mentorship and apostleship is more than just getting coffee once a month and sending inspirational quotes (ouch). But in a sense is even easier. It is doing life together.
To look at what the Bible says about mentorship our group specifically looked at Barnabas and Paul. I don’t know about you- but for some reason I had mixed up Barnabas with some other people in the Bible. We find Barnabas throughout the New Testament, but predominantly in the book of Acts. Barnabas, whose name means “Son of Encouragement,” played a pivotal role in Paul’s ministry. Although we don’t know too much about Barnabas, we are told he is “a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord”. I love that we don’t get more qualifications than that. We don’t hear that “he has a seminary degree” or is “well spoken” or even well respected. We simply know he is full of the Holy Spirit and faith . We see their mentorship throughout Acts. It begins when the apostles don’t necessarily see potential in Paul, but Barnabas chooses to do ministry with him..
Invitation and bringing Paul in:
Barnabas introduced Paul to the apostles in Jerusalem, advocating for him and testifying to his transformation from a persecutor of Christians to a devoted follower (Acts 9:26-27).
Barnabas brings Paul in as he invites him to teach new believers in Antioch (Acts 11:25-26)
As Regent University describes, “Paul did not immediately begin his work as an apostle after Barnabas vouched for him before the disciples in Jerusalem. Paul had to leave Jerusalem because the Greek speaking Jews in Damascus sought to kill him because of his bold proclamation of Christ (Acts 9:28-29). The believers sent Paul away to Tarsus for safe-keeping. After a period of about three years (Galatians 1:17-18) Barnabas went to Tarsus to seek Paul’s assistance in teaching the believers at Antioch. (Acts 11:25- 26). During their year together in Antioch, they were able to teach a great many people during their stay (Acts 11:26). While in Antioch the elders took up a special offering to help the believers in Judea affected by the great famine prophesied by Agabaus (Acts 11:28). Barnabas and Paul were selected to take the offering to the believers in Judea.”
Guidance and Development:
As we discussed above, we know that “for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.” (Acts 11:26). Mentoring Paul wasn’t just a one time meeting. It took time for Paul to observe and work with Barnabas. They did ministry together, and if you are in ministry you know what just one year can hold!
Barnabas helped shepherd’s Paul’s development into an influential leader
Disagreement:
Later, they had a sharp disagreement over whether to do ministry with John Mark (Acts 15:36-40). They end up actually separating over the role Mark should play when they decided to return to the places where they had preached the gospel (Acts 15:36). Barnabas wanted to take Mark on the journey, but Paul was convinced this was not a good idea because Mark had abandoned them during their first journey (Regent).
Ever have staffing issues or disagreements? This doesn’t mean we have to give up on each other, but it can be okay to do ministry in a different way.
Reconciliation and Relevance:
Despite their later disagreement over John Mark, Barnabas and Paul eventually reconciled. In his letter to Timothy, Paul acknowledge Mark’s usefulness (2 Timothy 4:11b).
I think it is important to note that both Barnabas and Paul had meaningful ministries after their split:
Barnabas:
Destination: He sailed for Cyprus, his homeland (Acts 15:39).
Companion: Barnabas took John Mark with him (Acts 15:39).
Legacy: Barnabas continued his ministry, investing in Mark’s growth and development.
Reconciliation: Later, Paul acknowledged Mark’s usefulness (2 Timothy 4:11b).
Paul:
Choice: Paul selected Silas as his new companion (Acts 15:40).
Journey: Together with Silas, Paul embarked on a second missionary journey.
Expansion: Their mission extended to Macedonia and Greece (Acts 15:36; Acts 16:9-10).
Letters: Paul continued writing epistles and planting churches.
Final notes on Mentorship:
Life togetherFor a long time I was really intimidating on mentoring. How do you do it? Should there be a specific curriculum? But I loved looking at mentorship in the Bible, and although I’m sure they had very intentional conversations, mentorship was more so in doing life together. I hope that you can begin asking questions about who is “watching you” and who are you mentoring? I have some discussion questions below, but I hope this can push you to think about who has been a mentor in your life.
SeasonalityI think the split of Paul and Barnabas reminds us that there is seasonality of mentorship. Leaders and teams naturally grow and adapt. If there is a mentorship or friendship that may seem to be stretched, it may be time to move on! We see in Scripture that mentors continue mentoring. If one relationship may be ending, it is okay. It may have been for a season! God is faithful in every season we encounter.
Be a mentor, have a mentorIt is really difficult to pour out if you are not being poured into. If you are mentoring others I would encourage you to make sure you are being poured into. Find someone who is a little further in their walk with Jesus and learn from them! You can ask them to be your mentor, or just find ways to do life with them and observe!
Overall I really love the mentoring relationship between Barnabas and Paul, because we see the impact Godly mentoring can make. I don’t know about you, but I hear about Paul all the time, yet Barnabas gets very little credit. I think the difficult yet beautiful thing about mentoring is that you are planting seeds, and you never know how God will use your conversations and connection.
Some other mentors in the bible:
Jethro + MosesJethro was Moses’s father in law, and mentored Moses.
Moses then mentored Joshua and the elders of Israel. And Joshua mentored other leader’s in the army.
Davidavid became Israel's greatest king. David mentored his army commanders and government officials to establish the united nation of Israel. David also mentored Solomon. Solomon mentored the Queen of Sheba, who returned to her people with his wisdom in the form of Proverbs that applied God's laws.
Eli + SamuelEli mentored Samuel. Samuel mentored Saul and David. Ahithophel and Nathan the prophet also mentored David.
Elijah + ElishaElijah mentored Elisha. Elisha mentored king Jehoash and others.
Daniel + NebuchadnezzarThis one may seem less traditional, but if you look at scripture there are number of people who walked along side someone who was not part of the faith and mentored them. We see Daniel walking through life with Nebuchanezzar and talking with him about things like dreams and plans.
Mordecai + EstherIf you look at the book of Esther you see how Mordecai mentored Esther. He provided wisdom, and walked with her through the difficult situations she faced. He provided his thoughts, but more than that, he was looking out for her and was there for her.
Esther then mentored King Artaxerxes, which changed the trajectory of her people.
Priscilla and Aquila + ApollosTheir mentorship helped improve the ministry of Apollos.
JesusThis is one of the most interesting forms of mentorship, and I may actually dive into this in another blog post. But, none the less I hope you can see how Jesus mentored his twelve disciples. The apostles mentored hundreds of other leaders, including Paul. Paul mentored Titus, Timothy, and many others. Timothy mentored "faithful men" such as Epaphras. Epaphras and the other faithful men mentored others also, which led to a chain reaction that resulted in dozens of new churches in Asia. Ultimately, this specific mentoring chain is the beginning point of our churches today!
Discussion questions
1. Can you identify a someone who has been a mentor in your life? How did they mentor you? Was it a formal process?
2. Who have you mentored?
3. Who could you invite into a mentoring relationship (if you don’t already have one)?
4. If you are mentoring, where do you hope to see your mentee grow and what do you hope to demonstrate for them?
5. If you are a mentee, how can you be a better mentee when thinking about mentorship!
6. Thinking about positive mentors in your life, how can you shape your life to be better mentor?
In mentoring, these are some of the books I’ve read with students or conversation starters!
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Works cited + other great resources: https://www.lifeway.com/en/articles/biblical-model-of-mentoring
https://www.regent.edu/journal/journal-of-biblical-perspectives-in-leadership/mentoring-stages-in-the-relationship-between-barnabas-and-paul/
