Mentor Like Jesus: Exploring How He Made DisciplesSample

Teaching by Doing

Here’s where mentoring is unique. A teacher can teach what he could never do himself. A coach usually coaches what he could do long ago . . . in athletics it’s usually long, long ago.

But mentoring involves teaching as you do something. Mentoring occurs as you’re doing life together . . . being in the moment . . . interactive. It’s happening right now for both the mentor and the mentee.

Remember the powerful moment when Jesus stood, removed His outer garment, wrapped a towel around His waist, and washed His disciples’ feet? In that culture washing feet was the lowest, nastiest job. But Jesus did it to model serving in a radical, emotional, physical way.

Afterward, He added meaning to His act, explaining how love is about serving:

Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. (John 13:14-17)

Or think about how Jesus taught acceptance by accepting people. He accepted the most unacceptable people in His world. He would dine in the homes of tax collectors and others who were “sinners” in the eyes of the Jewish leaders. Then he would go to the home of a Pharisee and dine. One day He was with the outsider of outsiders, and the next He was sitting with the utmost insider.

We all do better when someone is watching. As you embrace this mentoring challenge, you’ll realize that you’re teaching by doing, that you’re doing life all the time and that your mentees are watching. Our mentees learn how to love their spouses by how we love our spouses . . . how to love their kids by how we love ours.

We teach them how to love and serve the church by how we love and serve our churches. And ultimately, we teach them how to be mentors . . . to disciple others as we’ve discipled them.

Challenge: As we get older and wiser, we devalue what we learn along the way. We think our “life lessons” would be useless to younger ones. Nothing could be further from the truth. Right now, ask God bring to mind someone to take with you the next time you do ministry. You have hidden treasure that could make a huge difference in the life of a mentee.