John, a young pastor fresh out of seminary in his first pastorate, desired to impact the world and was passionate about being a good shepherd to his flock. Because of working many hours and being away from his family too many nights, he finds himself losing his vision and becoming resentful of some of his church members; the ministry is losing some of its luster. Why didn’t someone tell him that it could turn out this way? He wishes he had someone to talk to, someone who could provide good advice and not condemn him for his new perspective.

Where does John find such a person? Whatever happened to the idea of the older pastor mentoring the younger pastor? Better still, what happened to mature believers helping new, struggling believers? Can a mentor help? What does a mentor do? Webster defines mentoring as “serving as a trusted guide or counselor.” When one begins a spiritual mentoring relationship, they begin the process of becoming a trusted guide. John needs a mentor!

Where do trusted guides who help us in our Christian walk come from? Where are they? Jesus commissioned the church 2000 years ago to provide trusted guides or mentors for the Body of Christ. The question is “How successful have we been in providing godly, mature believers to help younger believers grow in their Christian lives?” MENTORS ARE MADE, NOT BORN! Jesus’ plan all along was for the Pauls to develop the Timothys to become Pauls and so on and so on. It is hard work and it takes time – but it is worth it in the end.

God commands His people to make disciples.

In Matthew 28:18-20, known as the premier Great Commission passage, we are commanded to make disciples. Whether you call it making disciples or mentoring, the result is the same. After reading the following commentary by Dr. William E. Bell, answer the question: “Am I responsible to become a godly mentor so I can mentor others?”

This is Matthew’s account of The Great Commission (cf. Mark 16:15-18; Luke 24:46-48). Note that verse 19 begins with “therefore,” referring us to v. 18 where Jesus says: “All authority has been given unto me in heaven and on the earth…therefore…” It is this authority which underlies and validates the commission which follows. Without this authority, no such mandate would be possible. The imperative “make disciples” (mathetuo) is the principal verb in the commission, and the aorist tense emphasizes urgency. The aorist participle “Go” (poreuthentes, “when you have gone”), is a corollary concept and indicates the expected obedience of the disciple. “Go and make disciples” is a good rendering. The going is to be intentional – for the purpose of making disciples. “Disciple” is a synonym for Christian or believer, as shown in Acts 11:26, where Luke says that “…the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.”

The Great Commission, however does not end with winning people to Christ. Two additional participles follow, instructing us (1) to baptize the converts, as an outward symbol of their identification with Christ in his death, burial and resurrection – resulting in their walk in “newness of life” (Romans 6:4); and (2) to teach the converts to be obedient to the Word of God. This teaching is again to be intentional and intensive. For too long, churches have assumed that this training process will happen automatically as new Christians participate in the activities of the church. That this infrequently occurs is obvious by the spiritual immaturity found in so many evangelical churches today. These converts, when trained, are themselves to “go and disciple” and thus continue the process of spiritual multiplication (cf. II Timothy 2:2).

The math is staggering!

If one Christian mentored another believer for one year and the next year they each mentored one believer, then four believers would be equipped to mentor. This is spiritual multiplication. If this process doubled each year, with none dropping out, what could happen in 40 years? The result is simple; one billion believers would become equipped, reproducing Christians. Now to personalize this, please look at the following chart. If you began the spiritual multiplication process today, how many people could be influenced through your life?

Find your age in the first column. The second column reveals how many people could be impacted through your life if you continue the spiritual multiplication process until age 70. This chart is somewhat idealistic but illustrates what could happen if we took spiritual mentoring and spiritual multiplication seriously.