Mentor Like Jesus: Exploring How He Made DisciplesSample

Multipliers – They Pay It Forward

Jesus mentoring strategy had a required multiplication element, and He was never foggy about it. From His first call to His first mentees, He made clear that His kingdom was about making them “fishers of men,” not just “catching fish.” It was about more than leading the disciples to faith. They had obviously demonstrated their faith by dropping their nets and taking the first step. If Jesus was only looking for them to believe, He could have immediately said, “Ok, ok, it’s clear you guys believe in Me. You’ve shown you’re willing to stop what you’re doing and follow Me. So just go back to work and have a nice day. Your faith has saved you.”

But that wasn’t why He did it. He wanted them to experience the joy of being a part of the redemptive process . . . of becoming “fishers of men.” And they did.

The bookend of Jesus’ earthly mentoring relationship with His mentees ended as it began with the call to “go and make disciples.” A pretty consistent challenge I’d say.

And they did as He asked, traveling thousands of miles, telling the stories of Jesus . . . not so much what He taught but what they saw. Ultimately most of them were killed for saying what they saw their mentor do. That’s commitment.

For Jesus’ disciples, multiplication was just part of what they signed up for . . . it excluded no one. Likewise, never agree to mentor someone unless they agree to mentor someone else down the road.

We can’t force them to follow-through on that commitment, but that’s between them and God anyways. The truth is, most of them will gladly mentor others out of gratitude for what the Lord does for them through the time they spend with you. And many will become lifers . . . after all, it’s hard to stop when you experience the joy of seeing your mentees gain the whole-life maturity Scripture talks about and knowing you played a role in helping them toward that maturity.

Challenge: People become all-in Jesus-followers by spending intentional time with more mature Jesus-followers. It doesn’t take that much time . . . it takes consistent, intentional time. Ask God to put a desire in your heart to mentor others.