Let me open the door, switch on the light and quickly walk
you through this book and, as we go, make some
explanations so you get an overview of what it contains.
THE FLOOR PLAN
A brief look at the Contents page helps get this book into
perspective. This overview gives some idea of my core
commitments in writing this book. I have sought to achieve the
following:
• To show that mentoring is not an optional extra, if followers of
Christ are to mature and fulfil God’s purpose for them.
• To encourage every follower of Christ to take an interest in
another’s personal and spiritual growth (to ‘watch over one
another in love’). Mentoring others is not reserved for the giants
of the faith!
• To emphasise that the foundation for effective Christian
mentoring is a vital, growing relationship with Jesus Christ.
• To give a clear understanding of the various dimensions of
mentoring and what is involved.
• To explain that mentoring can be done with varying degrees of
intensity from a close friendship to a professional relationship,
occasional wise words of encouragement and guidance to wellstructured, regular meetings.
• To lay a sound biblical and theological basis for mentoring.
• To provide some practical guidelines for both mentors and
mentorees.
INTRODUCTION
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• To emphasise that mentoring is essentially experience-based
learning to which reflection is central.
• To help especially leaders see the broad possibilities for
mentoring. To provide case studies of some options and enable
them to develop mentoring networks in their churches or
organisations.
• To present Jesus Christ as our prime mentoring model.
WHO THIS BOOK IS FOR
I have written this book for a broad cross-section of readers,
including:
• Potential mentors/mentorees, who want to know how to go
about it and how to begin.
• Mentors who want to improve their performance by honing their
skills and discovering new ideas.
• Team leaders who want to build their teams through mentoring.
• Supervisors in bible and theological college supervised field
education programs, who want to maximise their mentoring.
• Church and para-church leaders who want to implement their
own mentoring networks.
• Trainers who want a sound educational resource to equip
mentors.
• Friends who want their friendships to be more effective in
helping each other grow personally and spiritually.
WHAT THIS BOOK CAN DO FOR YOU
It will:
• help you catch a vision of mentoring
• encourage you to begin
• provide practical know-how
• help you experience the potential of reflection for learning from
the experiences through which God has taken you
• enable you to find a mentor or a mentoree
• equip you to build effective teams
• open your eyes to how churches and Christian organisations can
be transformed through organised mentoring.
INTRODUCTION
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HOW THE STUDY/TRAINING DIMENSION WORKS
THE STUDY GUIDES: Most sections of this book have study guides.
• The personal reflection. This segment is central to facilitating
self-understanding and insight. The outcome for a mentored
person is not only to become a Christ-centred disciple, but a
reflective Christ-centred disciple. It can be used on your own to
help make more of your reading of the text. If you are using it
with others, you will need to make notes.
• Group work can be done with one other person or a small group
of ideally six or eight people. Your reading of the text and
personal reflection provides the basis of the group work. There
will be little, if any, lecturing. If other groups are involved, there
will be times for groups to share their findings with each other