How To Start a Churchwide Men’s Mentoring Movement
For the past 11 months of this blog, we have been talking about the importance of discipleship and—in particular—having a vision and strategy to disciple all the men in your church.
Any experienced leader could tell you it’s not always easy, but it’s worth it. When the church helps men build real relationships with other men who know Christ and provides opportunities for them to grow in their faith together, lives are transformed!
How you accomplish this may vary by church. For example, we’ve talked a lot about the life-changing power of small groups. But another effective way to disciple your men is through one-on-one mentoring.
When we meet with churches and talk with men, we commonly hear a desire and need for spiritual mentoring. Yet, very few are doing it. Why is that?
We believe for most men, the concept of mentoring is incredibly intimidating. The potential mentor may ask himself, “Who am I to lead someone else? Can I take on such a big commitment right now? Do I have the wisdom and teaching skills to mentor? What does it even look like?” There’s a lack of confidence that stems largely from the confusion that surrounds mentoring.
At Man in the Mirror, we recognized this reluctance and saw an opportunity.
Introducing The Christian Man Mentoring Experience
We’ve launched The Christian Man Mentoring Experience to help men form 12-week mentoring relationships to discuss the issues that matter most to them. Using Patrick Morley’s newest book, The Christian Man, along with the corresponding Coaching Guide, we have provided the resources to make it easy for your church to start a one-on-one mentoring program.
Watch this brief, three-minute overview from Man in the Mirror President, Brett Clemmer.
You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. — 2 Timothy 2:1-2
Bringing the Mentoring Experience to Your Church
As a leader, you want to see the men in your church leading powerful, transformed lives. And we want to help!
Here are some suggested steps for launching The Christian Man Mentoring Experience in your church.
- Prayerfully make a list of potential mentors; they should be good listeners and spiritually mature.
- Invite them to an information meeting and share your vision for the mentoring program.
- At the meeting, emphasize how easy it is to take another man through the materials that will be provided. Their most important task will simply be to genuinely care about the man they’re mentoring!
- Ask them for a 12-week commitment, and provide an overview, using Brett Clemmer’s video above.
- Also, share this video with them as a good format to follow for the next 12 weeks.
- Give every man in the church the opportunity to sign up to be mentored and a place to provide his availability.
- Match the men who have agreed to serve as mentors with those who sign up to be mentored, based on availability and personality (if possible).
- Give each pair two copies of both The Christian Man book and the Coaching Guide.
- Check in with the mentors each week to see how it’s going and how the leadership team can be praying for them!
The Big Idea: The Christian Man Mentoring Experience takes the guesswork out of the mentoring process so that your men can focus on what matters most: becoming the man God has created them to be, and helping someone else do the same.
For $129, we provide everything you need to start a mentoring program for 10 mentors and the men they’re mentoring in our Church Bundle. (This $129 introductory price is available for a limited time.)
Learn more about the church bundle and Mentoring Experience here.
Our prayer is that this resource will equip your men with the confidence and tools to help others grow in their faith and apply the Word of God to every area of their lives.
Until we see no man left behind.
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