Mentoring Ministry

The art of mentoring, like all great arts, is a grace to be received, a gift to be given, and a skill that can be learned and practiced. This book explores the practice and grace of that art. The pastors in these pages share their hard-won experience of mentoring and being mentored, their wobbles and successes, insights and wisdom harvested from years in the vineyard.

In this newly revised and expanded edition of a contemporary classic, Edward Sellner mines the deep wisdom of many traditions—from Celtic to Minnesotan, from Joan of Arc to C.S. Lewis—and demonstrates how relationships of mentoring, rooted and grounded in the love of Christ, can forge fast friendship, heal wounds from the past, and bring about the Reign of God. Sellner speaks from firsthand knowledge and experience of mentoring—the practice of direction, counsel, and formation which has enjoyed an enormous resurgence in our time in arenas as disparate as business, the recovery movement, and spiritual direction. This timely book is itself an opportunity to engage with a wise and seasoned elder.

Revised Edition, which includes the role of Philip the Evangelist as a type of mentor (August 2023). 1. Please post an honest review here or elsewhere as it will help encourage others to grab a copy. 2. There is also a free audio book that matches this. Enjoy! 3. If you appreciate it and want to donate to my writing and narration work you can do so in one of three ways: 1. If you're in the USA or UK, try this well-known app: https://cash.app/Fraspay Or 2. Buy the ebook or paperback on Amazon and post a short review as it will increase visibility and hopefully sales too. Or 3. Email me at [email protected] (my publishing email address) and ask how you can send money safely. Thank you. A. Summary and B. Reviews on other platforms. A. Summary Our journeys are unique, and as we get older we should be better able to help shape the following generations using our gifts and experience. Yet many would-be mentors aren't so sure about how to go about this. Past failures, pride, insecurity, lack of confidence and opportunity in a fragmented Western culture that prizes individualism have helped create seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Reliance on programs and the professionalization of ministry have tended to hinder more natural connections between the generations; systems and organizational expertise may have grown, but often at the expense of personal discipleship. Drawing on 30 years of ministry experience in four churches across three countries, my aim is to help you consider how you can better mentor an increasingly isolated generation of older teenagers and young adults – those aged roughly between 18 and 30 years. Please find attached the three tables/illustrations for chapter 4; you can print these off if helpful. By reading this you will: 1. Gain a better understanding of the history of mentoring, and its biblical basis. 2. Better appreciate typical hindrances to effective mentoring. 3. Consider biblical characters who mentored others, and how they point us to Christ. 4. Gain clarity regarding your own unique skills, interests and knowledge. 5. Understand the components essential to a solid mentoring relationship. 6. Recognize how you can start to invest practically in young adults, and put yourself at God's disposal to help them. B. Reviews Amazon #5/5 I am in my 6th decade now, and can affirm that the mentors I had in the true faith and practice were mainly distant or dead Christian authors. I have been throughout the spectrum of Bible-believing congregations from Brethren to home church, Southern Baptist to Church of Nigeria, Community churches to the worldwide Anglican Communion, &c. So, I will be reading the rest of this book with great interest. It appears to be spot on, but physical age has nothing to do with spiritual maturity. There is a great lack of spiritual maturity in our congregations, among the members, regarding our organizational operations, our committees, our elders, our pastors, our outreach to the community, and the flood of worldliness in our language and practices. I'm open to hearing someone experienced explain about how to do this biblically and soundly. So I will be back to continue or amend a review. Shame on all the cowards in my Christian walk who basically abandoned me in their pursuit of worldly affluence, power, foreign missions, etc. The first mission field is the family and local church, IMO. Lord have mercy. Gralan #4/5 I've been a mentoring pastor for 40 years in the States, and have met Fraser personally. I've seen first hand how he lives his life with authentic grace, invitation for organic hospitality with his life and home, and how he very naturally mentors relationally. He has now put in layman's terms, with biblical depth, the historical basis, critical lost art, and helpful steps toward a mentoring lifestyle, whether you are in the church or outside in your neighborhood and workplace. He answers our doubts, questions, and negligent busy-ness to free us to organically shape key lives around us-- and we all have them. Thank you, Fraser for giving us the time to reflect on the shapers evident in our lives, the fundamentals of how to incorporate mentoring, and the awareness to see what we're losing by not being purposeful mentors to a few key people-- that are already waiting to be asked. Pat Harrison #5/5 A practical, hands-on guide to mentoring with lots of opportunity to pause for self-reflection. As someone who personally benefited from the author's guidance and encouragement in becoming a mentor, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Suzy J Scribd # 5/5 Short, sweet and to the point. It’s not exhaustive or a how-to manual on mentoring by any means, but it’s a great reminder that discipleship and mentoring is how we are to do church together. Whether pairing up with those who are younger (as is the primary relationship covered in the book) or simply someone who is younger in the faith as you, we are all to walk together in our goal to be more like Jesus. spencerdanielj #2/5 Needs to be structured Better. Alot of "don't" advice versus do. Bernard Sia

Realize the value and blessings of participating in mentoring relationships during all stages, ages, and seasons of life. Women often don’t think they know enough to be a mentor, or fear rejection if they ask someone to mentor them. Others don’t think they need mentoring. However, throughout the Bible, God calls spiritually younger and older women to learn from and teach one another. Mentoring for All Seasons helps answer questions like these: •What is mentoring? •How do I find a mentor? •Why does God want us to mentor one another? •What are the blessings of mentoring? Through true stories from mentors and mentees in life seasons from tween through death—along with the author’s personal experiences, helpful tips, Scriptures to study together, and biblical mentoring relationship examples—Mentoring for All Seasons encourages women to be intentional about sharing their life experiences and God’s faithfulness with other women.

Offers a solution to a chronic weakness in churches: getting women in all stages of life involved in vital women's ministries. A very practical and comprehensive guide.

Ministry Book of the Year--The Gospel Coalition 2017 Book Awards The critical missing element in Christian mentoring today: the congregation "Bringing up future leaders isn't just the job of the pastor but of the whole congregation. This is an urgently needed book in churches today." --R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Young, emerging leaders of the church, many of whom have gone through leadership training and traditional mentorship programs, still too often find themselves unprepared for the realities of ministry. Many leave the ministry altogether, overwhelmed. Phil Newton reveals a critical gap: single-source mentorship is incomplete. Mentoring must involve the congregation, not just senior pastors, in order to bring forth mature, resilient leaders prepared for all that ministry entails. The solid, practical solutions in The Mentoring Church offer churches of any size both the vision for mentoring future leaders and a workable template to follow. With insightful consideration of theological, historical, and contemporary training models for pastor/church partnerships, Newton is a reliable guide to developing a church culture that equips fully prepared leaders.

Offering the most relevant, effective, and transformative approaches to ministry as it develops a feminist and womanist practical theology, this book brings together the best in feminist and womanist scholarship that deals with the work of ministry in a one-volume format.