Promise #2: Mentoring
Thursday, March 1, 2012 at 7:34PM By Kyle Phillips
Part two of a series on the seven promises of a promise keeper
The second promise of a Promise Keeper is a man and his mentor.
Mentoring is an important part of the Christian faith because it builds up the body of Christ for current and future generations. Without mentoring future generations can not learn and grow from the experience of others.
Dr. Howard Hendricks of Dallas Seminary wrote in the Seven Promises book that there are three reasons we should be concerned about mentoring. First, he says, men need to be concerned because there is a severe shortage of leaders. Hendricks says we need leaders in our churches and in our homes.
“The American family is unraveling like a cheap sweater,“ he writes. “No nation has ever survived the disintegration of its home life. Once the home goes, it’s just a question of time before it all goes.”
The second reason Hendricks cites for needing mentoring is because of the perceived need for mentors. What does he mean by that?
“There’s a severe deficiency in our culture and it’s seen in a large number of areas,” he writes. “The first is the absence of fathers.”
“I’m not talking only about physically absent; I’m talking about fathers who are emotionally and spiritually absent. The result is that the average boy grows up and doesn’t have a clue what a good father looks like,” he writes.
Next, Hendricks says mentoring is important because of the rape of existing leadership. Hendricks says there are two cultural phenomena that rob society of leadership. First, the so-called “generation gap” between young and old is nothing but a lie, he says. Young people need old people and old people need young people in the body of Christ!
The idea of retirement also robs us of leadership. This concept, he says, is cultural, not biblical, and robs older men of living for a purpose.
Hendricks concludes by telling men that they need three individuals in their lives: a Paul, a Barnabas and a Timothy.
Men need a “Paul”, an older man who has experienced success and failures and is willing to share those things with you.
Men need a “Barnabas”, a soul brother who loves you but is not impressed by you and can hold you accountable.
Lastly, men need a “Timothy” in their lives... a younger man whose life you are helping to build through your own life experience.
Hendricks concludes by writing “I can assure you after much experience that you haven’t lived as a Christian until you have been mentored. And you haven’t known fulfillment until you have been involved in the process of mentoring.”
Kyle Phillips is co-founder of Real Men Ministries.