Think about a time when someone was incredibly important to your faith journey. What was it about who they were that mattered? What did they bring to you? How did they engage with you? Where did they enable you to grow? What did they do, or say that opened up faith differently for you?
We all have people who have been at different time a mentor to us in our faith. Someone we’ve been able to raise questions with. Someone we’ve been able to test out our ideas of God and how we show God’s love to others in the world. Someone who can remind us that there is something more.
Mentors are important people in the journey of faith living. They encourage us, challenge us, and quite often are also praying for us. Would you be where you are today without their input? I suspect possibly not. Or perhaps if one person hadn’t done that work for you, another did at another time.
One of the privileges I’ve had over time and in many different places, has been the opportunity to intentionally be a mentor with someone as they grew in their faith. I saw them come to life in new ways and explore God through different lenses. I heard them ask questions they might not have asked before, or come to new insights in ways that were deeply transformative. Some of them were young people, some of them closer to my own age at the time. To share in the journey with another was an incredible gift to my own faith journey. I learnt a lot alongside those I was mentoring.
Mentoring can be informal as well as formal and intentional. It can be spontaneous as well as scheduled. But it will always challenge and grow people. One on one sharing of faith creates a dynamic that is different to any other opportunity.
Some questions to think about and work with as a challenge in your own journey: Who is mentoring you? Who are the ones who are raising questions of faith with you? Who are the ones who you can explore faith with? Who are the ones who challenge you?
Who then are the ones that you are praying for? Who are you gently challenging, encouraging, supporting as they grow in their faith?
Who is your mentor, and who are you mentoring? They might not even be connected to a faith community, but a fellow disciple of Christ anyway.
If you would like Denise to visit your congregation, to listen and share around leadership formation, contact us via the Presbytery Office 6331 9784 or Denise 0427 647 395 or denise.savage@ victas.uca.org.au