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Spiritual activities for mentor relationships. Mentoring is modeling. The more spiritual practices and disciplines you can do together with your mentee, the better equipped they will be to walk with Jesus when no one else is around.
Creators and Guests
What is You Can Mentor: A Christian Youth Mentoring Podcast?
You Can Mentor is a network that equips and encourages mentors and mentoring leaders through resources and relationships to love God, love others, and make disciples in their own community. We want to see Christian mentors thrive.
We want to hear from you! Send any mentoring questions to hello@youcanmentor.com, and we'll answer them on our podcast. We want to help you become the best possible mentor you can be. Also, if you are a mentoring organization, church, or non-profit, connect with us to join our mentoring network or to be spotlighted on our show.
Please find out more at www.youcanmentor.com or find us on social media. You will find more resources on our website to help equip and encourage mentors. We have downloadable resources, cohort opportunities, and an opportunity to build relationships with other Christian mentoring leaders.
You can mentor is a podcast about the power of building relationships with kids from hard places in the name of Jesus. Every episode will help you overcome common mentoring obstacles and give you the confidence you need to invest in the lives of others. You can mentor.
Speaker 2:Today's episode is all about spiritual mentoring activities. We hope it encourages you to grow in faith and relationship with God together with your mentee. And if this episode is encouraging to you or your organization, we'd love to hear about it by leaving us a review, rating our podcast, or sharing it with someone you think would benefit from the content. Thanks for listening. Welcome back to the You Can Mentor podcast.
Speaker 2:My name is Steven, and I'm here once again with Beth Winter.
Speaker 3:Woo. So glad to be back, Steven.
Speaker 2:I'm glad. I mean, I've received so many comments from your mom on how well this podcast is going. And so I just wanna say, Susie, if you're out there, we love you.
Speaker 3:Oh, she's out there. She is out there listening right now.
Speaker 2:It's good. Leave a 5 star review, Susie. Well, hey. We are in a series right now. This is the 3rd episode of mentoring activities, things to do with your mentee.
Speaker 3:That's good.
Speaker 2:That was pretty lame. Today's episode is all about spiritual activities for mentor relationships. So we're gonna talk about the benefits, the barriers, and the practicals of spiritual activities for mentor relationships. So our our desire in mentoring is to give an example, to model, to guide a mentee into the fullness of life. And so that's why we're doing this series is all about mentoring activities, whether it be physical, emotional, spiritual, relational, academic, life skills, fill in the blank.
Speaker 2:We want our our boys and girls that we mentor to walk into the fullness of life, and they could not do that without Jesus. Good day, Beth.
Speaker 3:No. And neither could we.
Speaker 2:Good. That's a good word. Good word. And so the benefits of spiritual activities, I mean, cannot be overemphasized, really, if if we're saying that Jesus is the bread of life. He is he's everything to us.
Speaker 2:Like, if if it's not influencing the way we're mentoring, we're we're dropping the ball Yeah. In some way. And so even even just the the idea of mentorship as a theme is like the the Bible's chock full of passing on to the next generation an understanding of the goodness and faithfulness of god and calling them into the inheritance that we've received in him. And so I I wanna even just read a few scriptures real quick just that I think relate to this kind of principle of mentoring. Deuteronomy 6:7 says this.
Speaker 2:It says, impress them the commandments on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Deuteronomy 11/19 says, teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along. It's the same it's the same thing but it's a different part of the Bible. Do you do you recognize what's going on here?
Speaker 3:Extra important. Come on.
Speaker 2:When you so when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. That's I mean, that's pretty much all of your life. Evening, morning, and when you're out there during the day. Don't walk in the road, along the road. That's that's the keyword right there, along the road.
Speaker 3:Yeah. That's good wisdom.
Speaker 2:Psalm 7118. Even when I'm old and gray, do not forsake me, my god, till I declare your power to the next generation, your mighty acts to all who are to come.
Speaker 3:Wow. That's good.
Speaker 2:That that is a powerful word. God, don't don't don't forsake me until I pass on your power to the next generation. Wow. Proverbs 1:5, let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance. So this is even a a a passage for mentees to hear that that to be a mentee is to be wise.
Speaker 2:Proverbs 99, instruct the wise, and they will be wiser still. Teach the righteous, and they will add to their learning. Proverbs 13 20, walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm. And so, again, another admonition to mentees, when you're walking alongside the road, who's the guy you're walking next to? Walk with the wise and become wiser.
Speaker 2:Proverbs 2717, as iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. I I like this image because it's not it's not just sharpening the mentee, it's sharpening the mentor as well. Both pieces of iron are being sharpened, and I I think that's true about mentor relationships that they're mutually transformational.
Speaker 3:Totally.
Speaker 2:Ecclesiastes 4:10, if either of them falls down, one can help the other, but pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. So I I feel like I'm talking a lot, Beth.
Speaker 3:It's okay. This is the word of the Lord. It's never too much.
Speaker 2:Okay. Another one. Matthew 28/19/20. This is this is a huge huge one in in the Bible. Let's say the great commission, which I read a report that said that only about 13% of Christians know what the great commission is.
Speaker 2:Woah. So that's Alarming. That's no. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always to the very end of the age.
Speaker 2:I I love that part that says teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you. That's mentoring right there. Yeah. How do we teach them to obey everything Jesus has commanded and and the assurance that Jesus is with us as we do that? He's with us always.
Speaker 3:That stat you just said, I'm just thinking, is crazy because, like, we talk about vision statements, forerunner a lot, and it's like that's kinda like a vision statement the Lord has given us about raising up the next generation of people who know the lord. And if we don't even know the vision statement, we cannot possibly get to where we need to be. So that's crazy.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yep. Matthew 2819 through 20 people. Let's do it. And and the therefore, why we go?
Speaker 2:Why why why is the therefore there?
Speaker 3:That's a great question, Steven. Jesus says train me?
Speaker 2:Jesus says all authority in heaven and on earth are his. Therefore, go. And so I I just love how this passage is hinged between his authority to do all things and then his promise to be with us always. If he's with us always and has all authority, isn't there power to do Yeah.
Speaker 3:Success? That's good.
Speaker 2:It's like I I always think about the lame man who Jesus says, like, get up and walk.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:It's like, we should read this passage with the same fervor as we hear him say get up and walk. Yeah. It's like there's power to do what he said because he said it.
Speaker 3:Yeah. It's good.
Speaker 2:Philippians 49. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me or seen in me put into practice, and the god of peace will be with you. It's awesome. So Paul Paul is saying, hey. Everything that I know, that I've told you, that I've written down, I've written letters.
Speaker 2:I don't even know what it was like to write letters in Paul's day, much less write letters while you're in prison.
Speaker 3:Yeah. I mean, I guess you don't have anything else to do.
Speaker 2:Put them into practice and the god of peace will be with you. First Thessalonians 28, so we cared for you because we loved you so much. We were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well. And so mentoring is is about sharing the gospel Mhmm. But it's also about sharing our lives as they're influenced by the gospel.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:2nd Timothy 2:2 and this is like every church planter's dream, and the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others. And so, I mean, I think when when we're mentoring kids, it's hard to know necessarily if they are reliable people Mhmm. If that makes sense. And so someone would say, like, oh, don't cast your pearls before swine.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But I feel like one of the things about mentoring, I I think we are creating reliable people. Like, as we mentor
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's not just this act of finding someone who's already been sewn into, but you being the one who sows to make them reliable and so that future in future, they will be the one who's entrusted
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:With much and they will give much as well. Right. So those are some just quick passages for you as it comes to a biblical view to why we believe spiritual mentoring activities are beneficial mainly because we're obeying the Word of God. I think that's a pretty substantial benefit to doing it, just obeying Jesus.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah. I think that's, pretty important, I would say.
Speaker 2:It's it's probably the one thing that's important. So let's break it down, Beth. What what can we gather from all of those scriptures that that I just shared?
Speaker 3:The thing that I'm, like, most reminded of every time I go through scriptures like this is, like, if my transformation of what the Lord's done in my heart ends with me, I am not doing my job in the kingdom. Like, the lord is somebody who is a a farmer. He's bringing harvest, and so it's it's never just about the one seed. The seed multiplies, and it's a whole crop. Like, there's so much more going on than just this selfish, like, look at me.
Speaker 3:It's all about me. I'm good because I have this relationship with Jesus. Jesus then calls me to lay down my life and create fruit for the kingdom. So, like, if it's ending with me, I'm not doing my job, and so that's that's a high call, but that is the call that we're called to. Mhmm.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I I think the thing that stands out to me is I think for for mentors, it's easy to to feel like the the well that I'm drawing from is is my own, and so I'm gonna give everything that I have and and give it to a kid Yeah. As I men men mentor them.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:But what this says is, like, I gotta give everything that I've received. Mhmm. And so it's really not mine.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:And if that well is is the Lord's, there will never be a time that I don't have something to give. Yeah. Like, it's always overflowing. Yeah. And I think that that's freeing for any mentor who's, like, looking for even this podcast, looking for a list of mentoring activities, and you're like, oh, what do I do?
Speaker 2:Like, I don't know what to do. Like, reading the Bible, reading God's word, and recognizing the love of Jesus, the gospel, the ways that he's called us to live, like, that's enough to to influence your mentor relationship is talking about discussing those things and and obeying what Jesus says together.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:And you don't have to do anything else.
Speaker 3:Yeah. It's kinda like what you were saying with the the great commission of we have the power and authority of the Lord to go and make disciples, and so there's almost like we can rest in our position as mentors knowing that this is something God desires, and, like, God's plans will not fail because it's his plan. And so there's almost it it's just so much more joy knowing that when you walk into the mission, there's already power for it to take place, like the plan to take place because the lord's on our side, and we're just vessels for him to do what it is that he wants to do.
Speaker 2:Mhmm.
Speaker 3:So it takes the pressure off of us as mentors.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I think probably one of the the primary roles, I think, spiritual activities have in a mentor relationship are revealing the character and nature of God. Mhmm. And so if you if you know who God is, you'll know who you are. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Both both of us, we worked in college ministry for a while. And in anytime I experienced someone who was having an identity crisis, trying to figure out who they were, it was it was as if they were bypassing a a search and pursuit of who god is. Mhmm. And so when you when you try to figure out who you are apart from who god is, you'll never be able to fit yourself perfectly. Like, you'll always be searching, wanting, and that pursuit will lead you down a lot of traps.
Speaker 2:And so what I would always tell students was that in this season, don't focus your energy on trying to figure out who you are. Yeah. Focus your energy on trying to figure out who God is. Mhmm. And Jesus even says this is eternal life that you would know the one true God and Jesus whom he has sent.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:So when I was in college, I didn't know who I was. I had a lot of junk in high school going on. But when I read that verse, I just began to pray, Jesus, I wanna know you. Mhmm. Jesus, I wanna know you.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Jesus, I wanna know you. And as I began to know him, I began to recognize things about myself, who he had made me to be. And so I think a primary benefit is that, one, spiritual activities lead you to a revelation of the knowledge of God, which was what was lost in the garden Yeah. The knowledge of God and bringing it back to Jesus, who is the fullness of the revelation of the knowledge of God that we can see plainly in a human form and recognizing who he is then informs my own humanity.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:And so for for kids from hard places, identity is a huge a huge area. I don't know how kids from hard places identify themselves other than what people say to them. Yeah. Or when our identity is informed by those around us and not Jesus Mhmm. We can begin to just reflect our environment.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And our environment isn't will will never be god's best for us Mhmm. In this in this world. Mhmm. Regardless if you live in a mansion or you live on the street, you will never be able to reflect what you are truly made for unless you know the living God.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Well, even, like, very simply, something we say to kids a lot is, like, we are trying to be more like Jesus. Like, is that something Jesus would do? But if they don't know the character of Jesus, that means nothing to them. And so, like, even right now, I'm working on writing curriculum for our after school program at 4 Runner, and we spend a full year k through second just teaching the characteristics of God because we believe that, like, if they know from a young age a characteristic of a characteristic of God is that he's trustworthy, that is gonna inform the rest of their life of which, if God is trustworthy, I can trust that he said that I am his son.
Speaker 3:He said that I am his daughter. He said that I am forgiven. And if I know and believe that God is trustworthy, then I can believe this about my identity too. Like, he said that he would provide for me. And so just like characteristics, it it it doesn't form because we were made in the image of God.
Speaker 3:And so this image of God being trustworthy, then we can start to see the reflections of us in our character and what we are aiming for.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. It's like, god god is this standard, and I can see him within the people that are serving me Yeah. And recognize and point back to, oh, that's that. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Rather than looking at that first and trying to discern what's right and what's wrong.
Speaker 3:Yeah. And then it just opens up. Like, if I if I have this role model on a pedestal and this happens all the time with kids where they're like, well, I'm never gonna be as good as my mentor. I'm never gonna be a man like that or a woman like that. Like, I'm always gonna be mess messed up and broken.
Speaker 3:But if they start to understand the reason that that their mentor is this man of god or woman of god is not because of this innate, I'm just better than you. It's because of what God's done, then that opens it up for possibility for them to start to see themselves as the potential that they see in themselves. They can start to think, oh, if my mentor used to be just as broken as I feel right now, and now they're this incredible man of God, like, maybe that is possible for me too. Because if God called me to the same things that he's called my mentor to, then and I know that god is trustworthy, then maybe I can take this step and believe that for myself.
Speaker 2:Yeah. It's really good. This is just a statistic, but I think it's beneficial to know. It says the religiously active and spiritual youth have significantly better mean scores on every one of the studied high risk behavior patterns and thriving indicators than do less religiously active, less spiritual young people.
Speaker 3:And
Speaker 2:so that's indicators of drugs, alcohol abuse, delinquency, antisocial behavior, school problems. And so, I mean, I I don't like focusing on this specifically because I think it can lead to this idea of, well, if you just throw a kid in the church
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And he comes to youth group and he hears the gospel, like, then he's better off. Yeah. But more of how are we creating an environment where a child wants to participate in spiritual activities Mhmm. Is is desiring to know God.
Speaker 3:And I
Speaker 2:think that's the environment that we're wanting to create, not just checking the box.
Speaker 3:All that stuff. And I feel like average, you don't really have to do that much to create that environment for a kid. Because if you just sit and talk to kids for a while, they have questions about God. They have big thoughts about God. I'll be walking by classrooms all the time, and I'll be hearing kids talk about what they think heaven looks like or, you know, arguing with each other about what the angels look like or what color is Jesus.
Speaker 3:You know, they they have thoughts about God. And so I think there's maybe some trepidation that mentors feel sometimes of just assuming, my kid doesn't wanna talk about this stuff. But God made us curious. He designed us that way. And kids have curiosity about God and they have thoughts about God.
Speaker 3:We don't need to underestimate that or assume that they are not interested in learning or sitting down and talking about bible stories or learning how to pray. I would say so many of our of of these kids, they would jump at the opportunity to learn how to lead in something in leading in such this this huge overarching, like, big deal, which is spirituality, is an honor, and it's something that so many I've just seen so many kids want. They desire that. There is just this hunger to know more about God and to learn how to lead in those conversations.
Speaker 2:It's really good. And I I think spirituality, like, obviously, that's a very, like, ghosty word.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:But I think, like, a spiritual life really embraces the imagination of a child Mhmm. In in ways that I think the physical world doesn't. And I I don't wanna make it just into, like, all of these really ethereal conversations of, like, oh, what do you think heaven's like?
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I I mean, I think that walking a child and having them having them communicate what they think, what they feel, what they're seeing in the Bible, or just in their dreams and and things like that. Those conversations can be really helpful to inform kind of their curiosity of the truth. Mhmm. We can fail to recognize that children are made for relationship with God. Mhmm.
Speaker 2:And so when we come into a mentor relationship we're not starting from ground 0. These kids were made for relationship with God. It makes perfect sense Mhmm. That they hunger and thirst for a knowledge of him.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And if we will just give them tastes, give them little little pieces, little visions of of what the kingdom of God is like, what Jesus is like, they will gladly come to him.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:Like, obviously, there is an enemy who does not want the children to come to Jesus. Yeah. But we know that Jesus says, let the children come to me. Mhmm. And and so I think that that should inform our faith within all of these conversations.
Speaker 2:Not that our role is, like, the most ultimate significant part of this whole deal, but we have the opportunity to have faith that god wants to meet with these kids that we're mentoring.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Okay. Barriers. Barriers to spiritual activities in mentor relationships. Obviously, you're gonna deal with immaturity
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:Attention spans. Yep. Like, if if you start preaching about 3 minutes in, you'll recognize that you've lost the room. Mhmm. And by the room, I mean your mentee's attention.
Speaker 2:Yep. And so just recognize what is the attention span of your your mentee. And it's not to discourage you from being on a soapbox and talking, but just recognize, is this really is he interested?
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:Is he listening? And and don't just force them to listen, if that makes sense.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Which I think is hard sometimes. As adults, we forget what it was like to be a kid, and I think it's easy to be like, this is so important. I need you to listen, and we're gonna sit here until, you hear me on this and go into this long lecture. But, we have to remember, and we say this a lot here, we have to give milk, not solid food because these are babies in their spiritual walk.
Speaker 3:The Lord did that for us when, like, he didn't give us the crazy, like, heavy stuff right out the gate when we were learning how to have a relationship with him. And so we should have the same grace for our kids and grace same understanding for our kids. So I just think that it's important to and it's okay. Like, if we think that God can't move in a 30 second spiel about his love, like, if we think that he will not move unless we spend 30 minutes, I think we have a wrong view of God's power.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And I I think a lot of adults have mentored other adults
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:Or peers or people that are just a a little younger than them. And so they may have an expectation that it's similar to that discipleship relationship I had in college with a freshman. And it it it's kind of like so the apostle Paul, when he talks about planting churches, he's like, I made it, like, my my life's goal to not build on anyone else's foundation
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:To plant churches where no churches were, and and not to just invest where other people have invested. And and I think what we're talking about when we're mentoring a kid from a hard place, more than likely, no one has built a foundation of faith
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:In this child's life. And and so for us to just recognize, like, what we're signing up for is not the discipleship relationship with a a kid who grew up in the church and has been mentored before and has a lot of stuff going for them already because of all the all the sewing that has been into their life. We may be sewing for the first time Mhmm. Into a child, and that informs the way we we treat it.
Speaker 3:Right. Yeah. It's like learning a a different language. Like, I get on Duolingo sometimes to just try and learn another language. I get on these hype, like, kicks where I'm like, I'm gonna learn Nigerian today.
Speaker 2:Really?
Speaker 3:Yes. I do. And I do it for, like, a week. But the but the point of this is, like, the very first things you're learning of, like, another language, especially when it's not a Romance language and it's a totally different phonetical sound, is, like, the basics of the sounds. And so the basics of Christianity for, like, a kid who has no prior knowledge, like, doesn't even know maybe the basic Bible stories of, like, Noah.
Speaker 3:We have to, like, remember, like, how much that is to take in and just be really compassionate to understanding where that kid is at and just do our best to put ourselves back in their shoes. Like, I grew up in a Christian home, and so from from the day I was brought home, I've I'm hearing about the Lord. But for a kid who maybe is 12 years old now and has never heard anything about the Bible, this is so wild and so new. Just every single thing about Jesus, about the Bible is absolutely countercultural and crazy to to take in and ingest. And so there has to be, just it's okay that it's gonna be a slow, like, slow drip, slow process of of building, and that's okay.
Speaker 2:No. Other barriers to spiritual activities and mentor relationships are just there is this sense of delayed gratification of, like, the things that we learn with God seem like the benefits aren't aren't necessarily right in front of us.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:Now they are sometimes. I I feel like you can see breakthrough in a moment, like, praying for something and seeing it seeing it come to pass. But I think a lot of the spiritual growth like, it takes years for you to recognize how much the Lord has changed you. Yeah. And, like, looking back looking back on who I was in college, I would tell college friends, hey.
Speaker 2:I'm not who I was.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:But I know when I was in college, I would see friends in high school and I'd be like, hey. I'm not who I was. And and I think for for us, that's a barrier is that spiritual activities can be put off because we don't see the the benefit right in front of us. It's like doing your quiet time is not always fun. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Like, it never it's it's not always like, oh, I really enjoyed and now that's sad that we could read the word of God and not enjoy it, but that's just
Speaker 3:It's true.
Speaker 2:It's practical. But does that mean that I shouldn't do it? No. And and I think that that's that's a barrier, but it's also a training within something that's really really good for kids to hear Mhmm. Is that sometimes the things that you don't have instant gratification are the best things for you.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And doing the hard thing isn't necessarily the right thing, but a lot of the times, doing the doing the hard thing, like, will pay off.
Speaker 3:Mhmm. Yeah. That's really good. That's something that is also just, I think, harder with this specific generation to grasp than maybe, obviously, like, a 100 years ago, but just maybe think even of, like, we're talking this week about prayer with a lot of our kids. And I walked by a classroom this week, and I heard a kid saying to his coach, I stopped praying because I would pray, and God wouldn't answer my prayer, and I look like a fool, like, talking to no one and just asking for things that are never happening.
Speaker 3:And that's really hard to hear your kids say, But I think that's a really good opportunity to talk to a kid about, like, I've even felt like that before, and that there is this, like, hard wrestling of the already but not yet things in scripture of the lord will provide my every need, has provided my every need, but it doesn't always look like how I think it's gonna look like. And for kids from hard places, I think that can be even more difficult to wrestle with and understand about God. Like, how can God be good when I have all of this need? And you said that he's listening to me, but I still don't have food on the table when I go home tonight or whatever. This some of these prayers are big, like, way bigger than I'm just scared to take this test tomorrow.
Speaker 3:And so I think some some of the barriers specifically with kids from hard places when it comes to talking about God is it is hard for them to reconcile God being the source, God being loving when it feels like he's not listening to you. And so I think that's just a unique situation that maybe, like, growing up, I didn't personally wrestle with quite as much. And we just have to understand, like, when we talk to our kids about about God, that might be the thought that's going through their head is, like, I you have no idea what you're talking about because you said God is loving. But if he was loving, why would he let me go through this thing? That's really hard.
Speaker 3:So I think that's definitely a barrier some of our kids are going through.
Speaker 2:And and to hear that kids are processing the same things we are
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Is, I think, challenging. It's like, am I a child? Like, for for the way I'm approaching my relation I'm mad too, God. Like and I think that that's that's a that's a beautiful moment to, like, experience a shared a shared wrestling Mhmm. With with the Lord.
Speaker 2:And Yeah. It's it's a level playing field that
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:We're not just up here super spiritual, always getting prayers answered, and you just haven't figured it out yet.
Speaker 3:Yes. And I think that is good to even address. Like, I think some mentors might feel fear going to these big spiritual topics because they might be like, what if my kid asked me a question I have no idea how to answer? That happened in a classroom even yesterday. I walked by and a kid a kindergartner asked a question that a coach was like, Beth, you got what you got an answer on this one?
Speaker 3:Which was the question was, why did Jesus need friends? Great question. But I think it's good even for a kid to see, like, that you don't have all the answers. And so I would say, like, don't be afraid to engage hard conversations with a kid and not have the answer for them. Because at the end of the day, like, our whole job as mentors is to introduce them to the one who has the answers, not to be the one who has the answers.
Speaker 3:And so I think it's good for a kid to see, like, if I was mentoring a kid, and and I was like, you know, I really don't know the answer to that question. It's really hard. I'm wrestling with that with that myself, but I trust the Lord anyway. And so, like, let's pray about this together and just see what the Lord has to say to us about it and pursue it from that avenue of seeking the Lord together for answers versus being, like, either, I don't know. Hope you figure it out.
Speaker 3:Or just making something up to save face. Like, neither of those is needed. Mhmm. It's okay to not have the answers and to just demonstrate for your kid what it looks like to have faith in God even in the mystery.
Speaker 2:Yeah. It's really good, Beth. A a few other barriers I can think of. In the US, 2 out of every 3 single parent households are not connected to a local faith community. And so that's it's not just the church, but just any faith community in general.
Speaker 2:And so if only a third of single parent households are a part of a faith community, I think that shows a significant barrier to spiritual growth because you just have that that much less opportunity, bible study, small group, Sunday worship. Mhmm. Like, those those moments in the week are kind of like pillars and rhythms that that allow a child to create in themselves a rhythm of pursuing God. And without those touch points, I think it can be really difficult for for a child to recognize later in life Yeah. The value of those things.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:And so and yeah. And so 2 out of every 3 single parent households are not a part of the faith community in the US. Mhmm. And so that that is a significant barrier Yeah. To spiritual growth.
Speaker 2:But it's also a huge opportunity for the church Mhmm. To pursue Yes. Those single parent households.
Speaker 3:Amen. Rise up. Come on, church.
Speaker 2:Okay. So let's talk some practicals.
Speaker 3:Oh, my favorite thing.
Speaker 2:Do you really like practicals?
Speaker 3:Yes. I do.
Speaker 2:I feel like you would like the barriers.
Speaker 3:What is that supposed to mean, Steve?
Speaker 2:Like, you you wanna break walls down. You wanna
Speaker 3:Okay. Okay. I thought we were calling into the fact that positivity is in my bottom 3, and maybe barriers is more seeing the problem versus the opportunity.
Speaker 2:Barriers are places of injustice that a mentor throws down.
Speaker 3:Alright. I'm in on that. But I do like practical.
Speaker 2:Yeah. That's fine. You can do that. Okay. Practicals.
Speaker 2:So if you're in a mentor relationship, what do I do to develop my mentee's faith? How can I help them to learn to love and follow Jesus? What activities can I implement that would help them? I I think number 1, which this this is gonna sound so basic, spend time with god together.
Speaker 3:It's basic, but, like, aren't you glad God didn't make it more complicated than that? Like, if you look at, you know, like, Leviticus and all the things they had to go through to to, like, meet with the Lord, aren't we glad we're beyond that?
Speaker 2:Amen. Don't you don't have to go to a mountain. You don't have to set up a tent. You don't have to sacrifice a lamb.
Speaker 3:No special ritual.
Speaker 2:Mm-mm. Praise God. You could just walk along the road and talk about God, which and and maybe this is true for you. I don't know if it's it's true for well, I can't say I don't know if this is true for you, but how many times has someone in your life done a quiet time with you?
Speaker 3:Very I don't know if I can think of the time.
Speaker 2:Isn't that isn't that weird?
Speaker 3:Yeah. Which might explain why that's probably my weakest. Wow. A lot of self realization happening right now.
Speaker 2:But, like, how many times have you been told how important that is?
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And how many people have actually showed you how to do it? Or and and not to say that you don't know how to do it.
Speaker 3:But I mean, maybe I need to hear that word. It's okay.
Speaker 2:Well, but I think that's just something that's telling is that Yeah. I think a lot of these conversations are about, like, we need to do these things. But the problem is that we never do them together. And so all all we think of is this list of all these things that we gotta figure out on our own. Mhmm.
Speaker 2:And, like, the more we can make this something that we're inviting people into than just telling them to do, I think, the better. So I'm I mean, a theme throughout all of this stuff is together. Spend time with God together. And so that that may be say your your mentee is a high school student. Call a meeting.
Speaker 2:Say, hey, we're gonna get together at 6 AM, and we're just gonna read the Bible next to each other. Like, we're not gonna talk. We're just gonna connect with God, and maybe we can talk about what we read afterwards. But for 30 minutes, we're just gonna sit and read the Bible. Yes.
Speaker 2:That's weird. Yes. It's awkward. Yes. Jesus says, go into your closet, and I'm sitting in the living room.
Speaker 2:Who cares? The point is showing someone the practice so that they could do it on their own. And the fact that you invited someone in may actually teach them something about how to do a quiet time. Mhmm. That's also with worship.
Speaker 2:That's also with prayer. Yeah. Like, don't don't hear me wrong. Like, when Jesus says, when you pray, go into your closet and your father who sees a seeker will reward you. Do that.
Speaker 2:Do it all the time. But you can also invite someone else in, and Jesus will honor the fact that you're trying to model Yeah. How to connect with him. Like, he'll he'll give you a pass if you're not in the closet at one time. I promise.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Well and, like, you don't have to have this exceptional plan every time. I think it's like we can just make it so simple of buy a devotional book or just pick a passage, go through it together. It doesn't have to be this life transforming, amazing analogy situation every single time. Like, we can just keep it simple.
Speaker 2:Yeah. That's good. And and with that, there are a ton of apps to help you read the bible with your mentee. One, I would just say is the Bible app. Mhmm.
Speaker 2:Wow. What what a perfectly named application. But you could you could go in, find a gospel, and make a plan to read that together and talk about it on on your phone. Like and I think that's a great just very practical thing to do is commit with your mentee to reading reading a gospel account, reading the book of Mark. That's the one I would recommend just because it's awesome.
Speaker 2:Like, there's so many crazy things that happen in Mark. It's like the action gospel, which I think just kinda communicates the power the power of Jesus in in ways that the other the other gospels are maybe more historical or more, I don't know, the the book of John is out there that you can hold that offer for later on. But, no, you can read it. What whatever. You can read any part of the Bible you want.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Is that is that fair? The whole Bible Yeah. Children can read. Right?
Speaker 3:Yes. Put it in, like, a translation that isn't ESV probably, but, you know, make it make it language they understand.
Speaker 2:Here's another practical. Create a prayer list. Things that you and your mentee are praying for and commit to praying for them consistently. I think something my pastor taught me is that having a prayer list is not cheating. Mhmm.
Speaker 2:Which it can feel like cheating because it's not like the things that are coming to my mind out of nowhere where it feels really spiritual, like, oh, wow. God's highlighting this. Mhmm. He he's just kinda like, if God highlighted something, write it down so you can keep praying it. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Don't don't try and, like, force yourself to remember all of these things. Just write them down. It's very smart. Yeah. So, if there's if there's any prayer or thing that you guys are desiring to see happen in your personal lives, in each other's lives, in in your future, write write something down with faith that that you guys can ask god for consistently and and see what he does.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And since you've written it down, once you see once you see it answered, I think you have that much more Yeah. Ability to celebrate and rejoice in in the god the things god is answering.
Speaker 3:Yeah. I I would even invite you to, like, teach them how to hear from the Lord and how to pay attention to what the Lord puts on their hearts by you doing that and inviting them to pray with those things pray on those things with you. Like, there was a time when I was mentoring college kids, and the Lord put praying for the nations on my heart. And I was mentoring all these college kids, and I was like, okay. Well, I would like to start praying for this.
Speaker 3:I need accountability to start praying for this, so I'm just gonna invite everyone to come pray for the nations with me. It wasn't something necessarily that was originally on the heart of anybody I was mentoring, but because I shared it with them and just invited them to come learn how to pray for the nations with me, that became something that every Wednesday we sat in the basement. We prayed for an hour for the nations. I had no idea what I was doing. I bought a book.
Speaker 3:We just went through the book, had prayer points, and we did this together. And so in a way, that was like me modeling how to just respond to what the Lord was putting on my heart, invite someone else into it. And then I was amazed at, like, what the Lord did in the hearts of the people I invited in through what he revealed in their own hearts for this prayer purpose. So teach them how to listen to what the Lord's putting on your heart by modeling that for them.
Speaker 2:It's really good, Beth. Another attend church together. Obviously, during a pandemic, this may be difficult, but maybe attending church online could be an opportunity in this season. Yeah. Like, what would that look like for your mentee to attend church online with you during during this season?
Speaker 2:Would that be beneficial for your relationship? Would that encourage his walk with God? I I think it would.
Speaker 3:I think it would. And you could, like, roll up in your pajamas, eat donuts during church, make some breakfast, make it a whole thing. I think that's really fun.
Speaker 2:I feel like if you did that, they'd never want to go to church once it's the real thing. So hold off on Hey.
Speaker 3:Maybe we need to change church. All I'm saying.
Speaker 2:Come on, Beth. Pajamas and donuts. Bye. Yeah. I mean, let's do it.
Speaker 2:Here's a fun one. Share the gospel together. Woah. Woah. Is that did that just scare someone?
Speaker 3:Yeah. Someone just turned the podcast off. Pretty sure. They're like, oh, not for me.
Speaker 2:So I I think I think what's funny, there's there's, like, all all of these things you hear within the church where people are, like, God has not given our youth ministry, the the junior holy spirit, and and all this stuff. But do we incorporate children as much into all of the life of the church as that statement kind of communicates, if that makes sense. And so if Jesus has called us to announce his kingdom, like, as one of our primary priorities and, like, callings in life is to herald the good news. Should that be something that we teach and model for our boys? And I I mean, obviously, I'm not recommending you stop on the side of the road and share the gospel with a a stranger, like, as, like, a first go at this.
Speaker 2:So please hear me when I say it. I would I would love for you to share the gospel with someone they know or someone you know and do it as an opportunity to model for them what it looks like to share the gospel. And that could even be just practicing together Mhmm. And sharing the gospel to one another. But the more you can help him recognize that sharing this is is something he's been called to, I think the better off he will be.
Speaker 3:Yeah. That even could tie in not that sharing the gospel is play, but, like, role playing out a situation with them of how to share the gospel with somebody, like, at their school, like, setting up a conversation where it's, like, let's say that you're in class, and somebody is really struggling, and they're, like, you always seem to be okay. What is your deal? And, like, what's what's a way that you could introduce them to Jesus in that moment? Mhmm.
Speaker 3:Actually, like, role playing that situation out.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. Which is valuable. Like, I recommend role playing Yeah. Before you go out into the real world and and and try and do this stuff.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. I mean, even if you're an adult. Yeah. You should practice with someone before you go do it. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I feel like I can I can sense you, listener, sitting there just saying, hey, man? My spiritual gift is hospitality. I just love baking muffins for people that I love. And I just wanna encourage you, live out your gift.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:While at the same time, the great commission is not go therefore and do everything you're comfortable with.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:It is go and make disciples. It is teach them to obey everything that Jesus has commanded, which is funny because he says that he says go and make disciples, and then he says teach them to obey everything I've commanded, which he just commanded you to go and make disciples. So uh-oh.
Speaker 3:Yeah. But
Speaker 2:he has all authority in
Speaker 3:him on earth. Maybe the kid you're discipling, maybe his spiritual gift is evangelism. Oh, no. Even if yours is hospitality, someone's gotta teach him
Speaker 2:Come on.
Speaker 3:How to evangelize.
Speaker 2:It's really good. It's very good. Oh, this one's fun. And and probably, I mean, probably one of the easiest things to do. Do a character study of a bible character.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. And so really when you when you look at the bible, all of the characters conveniently can point back to Jesus in some way. And so I guess they probably planned it that way. Some something about the Old Testament, you know, like Noah and this flood, and, like, there's only one way they're gonna make it. And maybe that points to Jesus being the one true way.
Speaker 2:You know, Moses, you know, delivering the people from, you know, bondage and slavery, maybe that points to Jesus and, you know, like, him delivering us from sin.
Speaker 3:Whoever was the author of that book really tied it all together so nicely.
Speaker 2:Yeah. King David, I mean, he was kinda like a man after God's own heart. He became a king, and Jesus is like the King of kings. I mean
Speaker 3:Esther risking her life for her people, laying her life down.
Speaker 2:Wow. Come on. Come on, women.
Speaker 3:Yeah. I gotta throw the women in there.
Speaker 2:Yeah. But but, anyways, pick a character in the Bible and do a study together of that character. I think I think kids can be very fascinated with with story. And and so if you just pick a character and then you could identify here are the things that are really important about this person's story, and relate it back in some way to what that means for you today. Because every character in the Bible is is there to show you something about God and something about you.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. And so when you read a Bible story, maybe you could have the kid retell the story in his own words, and and then work to find out, okay, what does God want us to know about him? What does God want us to know about us? And I think that's a good practice
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:When when approaching the Bible.
Speaker 3:Yeah. That's good. Simple.
Speaker 2:Any other practicals?
Speaker 3:I would just maybe look at what you do in your own time, how you spend time with the Lord, and just invite them into that with you. Like, this could be a good opportunity to realize you don't have things that you're doing that are intentional and add those and invite your mentee in. But it also maybe you don't need to go, like, add this whole extra thing in, but just invite your kid into what you're already doing. So helping them learn more about you, more about God through inviting them into what you're already doing with the Lord.
Speaker 2:So you're saying the temptation would be, oh, snap. You just listed out all these practicals, and I don't do any of this stuff. And so
Speaker 3:And so going overboard with just trying to add all of this stuff in, but looking at what am I doing already that I can teach my kid how to do with me, and then maybe adding, like, one thing at a time, but not feel the need to do everything all at once.
Speaker 2:Yeah. That's really good, Beth. Well, mentors, be encouraged. You were made for this. You literally were made for this.
Speaker 2:Like, I'm not just saying that. You were made for relationship with God. You were made to make disciples. You were made to teach others how to pursue and love Jesus and know him. So be blessed in that and walk out in what you were made to do.
Speaker 2:Thanks for listening. Next week, we're gonna talk about relational mentoring activities. Don't miss it. Beth, any reason they should come back?
Speaker 3:I think Steven had a really good joke that he was gonna start out with next week. So I don't miss that.
Speaker 2:Pressure. Pressure. Well, thanks for listening, Susie.