How to start a mentoring program at church

Identify who you will recruit as mentors. Determine the type of mentoring relationships e. Determine the focus of the mentoring relationships. Academic School to career Positive youth development Determine where the mentoring sessions will occur.

Determine how often mentors and mentees will meet and the desired length of the mentoring matches. Determine desired outcomes. Determine if the program will stand alone or collaborate with other programs. Identify key stakeholders and generate buy-in. Plan how the program will be evaluated. Develop policies and procedures to support the program. Establish a case management protocol to ensure communication with mentors and mentees. Plan how the program will be managed e.

Identify a management team. Ensure clear roles. Establish policies and procedures. Implement ongoing training. Develop a financial plan e. Download Mentor Tool. These helpful questions used in mentor interviews lead to an assessment of whether the applicant is a good fit to mentor within the Flourish journey. We pray these resources will enhance your journey!

We pray your hands remain open as God leads you to establish the program that is right for your unique church and relationships. Do you have a story of how mentorship has impacted your life that you want to share with other like-minded women? Start a Mentoring Journey in Your Church Use the resources below to equip yourself as a leader of mentoring in the local Church.

Mentoring Being a mentor is modeling and teaching other Christians the precepts of the Bible and Christian life This is mainly doing life as well as prayer, doctrine, Christian living, and worship. It is the practicing of what Romans calls mutual faith, which means encouragement, support, and our spiritual gifts, all working as a team to inspire, encourage, and instruct one another Eph.

This is the strength of the church; without it, we will fail personally and as a church. Mentoring has two main aspects: one, it is learning, and then, it is being a coach to the learner. It is the one-on-one personal instruction of the Christian life by word and example to another.

It is being willing and able to learn from someone else who has more knowledge and experience than me. It is working and walking alongside someone, inviting him or her to learn from your learning and life example while you are engaging in a discipleship process. Beware of the failure to hear the call of our Lord because of the noise of our will; this brings consequences in life, mainly, missing so much of what we could have had while others go without because we did not put in.

In some environments, just getting groups of younger and older men or women in the same room consistently is enough to encourage intentional and authentic relationships. And, as you may have guessed, we encourage younger men to meet with older men and younger women with older women. Some large churches take the next step and match mentorship pairings—using an interview process to connect mentors to mentees that might not otherwise be acquainted.

Keep in mind: This approach requires a bit more administrative work to maintain and steward well, but it may allow you to serve your congregation with much more precision based on personality and gifting.

Leadership teams should also strive to serve as a resource for the mentors, caring for the mentors as they care for the mentees. Craft this ministry according to the strengths of your church—something you can do well, something that you can scale as necessary. In either scenario, the onus of the responsibility in these mentorship relationships both practically and spiritually will fall to the mentors.

Coach your mentors to fight for authenticity and spiritual focus. When the spiritual is given priority first, the everyday things of life will naturally come in.