Establishing a Mentoring Culture
Something amazing is happening at the Oak Leaf campus of West Ridge Church. For those of you who may be unaware, Oak Leaf and West Ridge are merging as churches to have a bigger impact in the Northwest Atlanta region. God is up to something because…
- Attendance at the “House of Rock”, home of the Oak Leaf campus in Cartersville, has climbed each of the last five weeks.
- This past Sunday the week-to-week increase was over 20%. (It was packed!)
- On Sunday over 60 people were baptized. (Love that!)
Until we hire the campus pastor who will be leading the Oak Leaf team, I’ve had the opportunity to meet with the staff team every Tuesday afternoon. It’s been very encouraging. Michael has brought together a great team of people to lead and shepherd the ministry.
One of the current focuses is discipling and mentoring lay leaders in the church. All the staff members have a list of five people. They identified folks that either currently or in the future have the potential to pour into other people. These five people weren’t selected because they get a lot done (though I’m sure that’s possible in several cases); they were selected because they have potential influence.
The staff is prioritizing time together with these folks to:
- Share life
- Engage spiritual disciplines
- Mentor in ministry leadership
The Oak Leaf team is trying to be intentional about establishing a culture of mentoring. They’re not just talking about leadership development, they’re engaging the process.
What are some examples of how you and your team are intentionally mentoring other people? Join the conversation by sharing your comment.
For the younger leaders I work with, I like to include them in meetings they shouldn’t typically be in. This challenges them to think more deeply, as well as models for them how their leaders think within our organization.
My wife and I focus our time teaching the practical application of our faith: marriage and parenting instruction.
Having never been a part of a church merge before, I wonder at the problems they would face. What would you call the new church birthed from the merging of the two? Thankfully, there is already a solution for this situation. The Oak Ridge church. One could only assume that at some future date there would be a men’s ministry called the Oak Ridge Boys? Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
We’ve connect 30 young couples with older couples in a mentoring relationship. We also have a group of mature women who are connecting with young girls one to one.
I’ve preached generational transfer and modeled it by having young pastors take the lead.
How did you get that to work? I’ve spent the past four or five years trying to get mentoring relationships built within my church and get resistance from both the older and younger generations. I managed to find a way to get young adults interested in the lives of teenagers, but getting anyone over 35 interested in the lives of anyone under 35 seems impossible. Single, married, couples… it doesn’t matter. I just can’t get any takers.
Like you stated in your book, It’s just about delegating. It’s more about assigning substantial responsibility and watching them grow.
I believe in a bi-focal approach. One, Equipping and two, Developing.
By epuipping, I mean training with respect to what exactly you will have them do. If they are going to teach, then teach them to teach while making sure they maintain their originality. If they are going to sing, let them sing. By equipping, you specialize the training by first identifying their area(s) of strength.
By development (for lack of a better word), I mean an all-round growth in their lives. Not just concerning what exactly they would be doing, but trying to make sure a balance is attained in every facet of their lives. This way we ensure the nature or being is being transformed even as the actions are being perfected.
I am an ardent believer that we should always seek to transform from the inside out. Our nature gives life to our actions. Our be-ing substantiates our do-ing.
So as concerns mentorship, I try to balance nature and action, being and doing. Just a way of making sure there is power and a form of Godliness.
Just my humble opinion!
EXCEL!!!
Our church uses a similar model. Staff gather small groups or huddles, of people with leadership potential. We use 3dm ministry resources. Once the huddle process is complete, members the create their own huddles and receive ongoing coaching.
For us (a church with weekly attendance between 90-100 folks), it started with a men’s small group of 6 – now has 15 and multigenerational (ages 16 to 75) – meets at a local Starbucks. Also have small discipleship groups of 3 men, as well as now some one-on-one discipleship pairs. This is beginning to occur with women as well, in addition to a women’s Bible study group.
One thing we’ve noticed is that new ministries seem to be birthed simply by developing relationships, so as folks get to know each other, they invite each other to the various small groups, particularly with newcomers to the church.
Great stuff, Tony. I like the 3-pronged focus on relationships (doing life), spiritual life (engaging spiritual disciplines), & practical skills (mentoring in ministry leadership).
I’m curious when you say that current leaders are mentoring others by, “engaging spiritual disciplines,” what you specifically mean. Do you mean, in addition to “doing life” together (meals, hanging out, etc.) that current leaders take time to read the bible with the, pray with them, fast with them, etc? Any tips or pointers on how to do that, or what specifically is most helpful for next-tier leaders?