Recently at a YOU Lead women’s leadership training, we had a panel of leaders answering questions submitted by attendees. Several past and upcoming posts address those and try to help answer them.
Today’s question: How do you “mentor” doing life when you get the “life” (time and energy) sucked out of you. Are there boundaries?
In all of life and ministry there are healthy boundaries. Mentoring is no different. So, what if we look at mentoring as doing life with other women along the way? (You might also take a look at Chuck Lawless’ Bible study, Mentor: How Along-the-Way Discipleship Will Change Your Life.)
Here are some tips:
· Log the places you go on any given day and note what women you run into on an ongoing basis.
· Evaluate where you might add just a little extra time to get to know one or two of these women.
· Next time you see them, make an intentional effort to ask them about their work, family, church, interests.
· Do this several times. If they mention a concern, let them know you will be praying for them. Be sure to ask how it’s going next time you see them.
· If God leads, take time to have coffee or lunch with them. Or ask them over to your home for a visit.
· Allow God to direct you to who and to how He wants you to invest in the lives of women.
· Now, teach the women in your church how natural, easy, and yet impactful this type of mentoring can be.
For a more indepth and ongoing type ministry, check out Janet Thompson’s Woman to Woman Mentoring or read her overview chapter in Transformed Lives. Since mentoring women is a mandate from God (Titus 2:3-5) and not optional, we must find ways of connecting women of all generations as we navigate all of life.
Resources:
Women Reaching Women
Transformed Lives
Woman to Woman Mentoring
A Garden Path to Mentoring
Mentor: How Along-the-Way Discipleship Will Change Your Life, Chuck Lawless
