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we are about to take a look at the principle of discipleship and mentoring in
the Prophetic School, I want to take the opportunity now to expand on what has
been presented in our study on Prophetic Training. The reason I am doing this
is because there appears to be a lot of confusion amongst believers concerning
what exactly is meant by mentorship.
Mentorship Not a Scriptural Word
Mentorship is a word that is not found in the Bible. It is
a term that has been developed in the world and because of this, many people
have tended to base their understanding of the subject on some of the
principles that the world teaches. A lot of these principles are basic ideas
that certainly do apply and can be used, but the Scriptural pattern and
methods are not always the same. And so I think that it is good that I expand
a little on the subject and make it clearer.
To come to a better understanding of what is involved, I
want to look at some general ideas first. So I want to begin with the subject
of teaching. Teaching is the imparting of knowledge from one person to
another. And since we all have had our time of going through school education,
we all have some
idea of what it means to be taught. Then also most of us have been to Sunday
school, and have been taught there. And at church there is usually a Bible
Study meeting, where the doctrines of Scripture are taught. In fact the whole
of life seems to be a learning experience, and everywhere you turn, you are
being taught something by someone.
Principles of Teaching
So let's look at what is involved in teaching. Having been
involved in a teaching ministry for a number of years before moving into the
other ministry offices, I learned a lot about what makes a person an effective
teacher. Unfortunately a lot of people who think they have a teaching ministry
fail to see some of these important principles, and become just like all the
other teachers that we have had to suffer through in life. I am sure that each
one of you is able to cast your mind back to those awful days
of sitting in the classroom for hours on end, while some boring school teacher
rambles on and on about nothing. Well I hope the same thing isn't happening
here now with me trying to give you some teaching.
Learning from the Senses
Ok let's go on then and see what teaching involves. If you
think about what happens when we first come into the world, it is interesting
to see how we accumulated knowledge over the years. You started out at birth
with no knowledge whatsoever except what you had already learned in the womb,
and from the influences you sensed in the spirit of your mother before you
were born. The newborn baby starts with a clean slate. And the first
influences that come are the influences from the senses.
From the very moment of birth, you started to accumulate
information from the world around you via the five senses. What you have
learned and can clearly remember are the things that you have seen, heard,
felt, smelled and tasted. Anything else that you have learned had to be rammed
down your
throat with repetition and force to make it stay. And unfortunately this tends
to be the way that a lot of education is presented today. Students are forced
to learn information that does not relate to their senses and the only part
that is involved in the learning process is the physical part of the memory
that is in the brain.
The reason that most of us cannot remember even a fraction of what we learned
in school, is that we never involved our five senses in the learning process.
But you can remember a movie that you watched years ago, even though you may
have only seen it once. You can recognize a smell or taste the moment it comes
to your senses. And you can recognize someone's voice long before you can
remember who they are. You recognize a person's face, even though you have
long forgotten their name. So the first and most valuable lesson in teaching
and learning, is the use of the senses. And any teacher who makes good use of
the senses is going to have a lasting effect on the student. The part of a
preacher’s message that
you will always remember long after you have forgotten the sermon, is the
pictures that he painted during his message.
Teaching Through Modeling
And so we come to the next most important aspect of
teaching, and here is where we start to see some of the principles of
mentorship starting to show. I am talking about a very important thing called
'modeling.' What is modeling? It is when the teacher not only imparts the
knowledge verbally, but acts it out in real life. And the first place we are
all exposed to this is in the home. I am sure you have all heard that old
saying, "Do as I say, don't do as I do." We all tend to be guilty of
it at times as parents. We
want to instruct our children in the right ways, but our actions don't line up
with our words. We do not "practise what we preach."
It is a known fact that generally Pastor's kids are the
most rebellious and disorderly kids around. One would think that having a
father who knows the Word so well, they would grow up perfectly. But this is
not always the case. We will look at this in a lot more detail later when we
consider prophetic families, but for now I just want to emphasize one little
aspect of this. The bottom line is that as a parent, you are teaching your
children in more ways than one. And in the end, they will not become what you
try to teach them. They will become WHAT YOU ARE.
Learning through Imitation
That is because the teaching process involved in modeling
is a lot more powerful than that involved in verbal instruction. The best
teaching method is the one that not only tells the student what to do, but
shows the student also how to do it. He is given an example to follow, a
pattern to apply, a method to act out. And the best place for this to happen
is in the home, where the child starts to imitate the parent. Each little
child grows up wanting to be like Mom or Dad. Paul mentions this in the
following verse
Ephesians 5:1, ‘Be therefore imitators of God, as dear children.’
It is in the nature of children to not only accept what
their parents teach them, but also to try and copy their parents. And so you
see the little girls stealing mommy's makeup and trying to make themselves
pretty. And oh what a chaos and waste it is when they get their hands on it.
And the little boy tries to use his dad's tools to fix things. And once again
the whole family travails in pain. But nobody can stay angry at that kind of
behavior. It is the highest form of praise when your children show that they
want to be just like you.
Excelling Beyond the Teacher
This also demonstrates the most effective form of teaching
and training. And that is when the student is so taken up with the teacher,
that he or she wants to become just like their teacher. And of course the next
step then is to not only be like the parent, but to be even better. The child
wants to make the parent proud, by not only becoming like him, but by far
exceeding the parent. And what parent does not have a heart full of pride to
see their child not only equal their accomplishments but far exceed them?
So we have seen then three different levels of teaching
that take place. In the first, the teacher imparts knowledge to the student.
In the second, the teacher shows the student by modeling, how to apply that
knowledge. And in the third and final method, the teacher is reproduced in the
student. Now here is where confusion begins to exist and where different
levels of training are often confused. And the difference in every case
usually lies more in the student than in the teacher.
What is a Mentor?
When the term 'mentor' is thrown about these days, people
tend to have a different idea in their mind as to what is meant by it. For
some it means a personal tutor or trainer, one who devotes time and effort to
teaching one student alone rather than in a class setting. This means the
student gets more personal attention, and is able to ask questions and get
immediate answers, just to their own questions, without having to wait their
turn along with the rest of the class members. To get this kind of training it
tends to cost a lot of money, because the teacher is hired to give exclusive
time to the one student.
Level One Mentoring
So here we are starting to see a picture develop of what a
lot of people think about when they hear the word mentor. A mentor is seen as
one who devotes exclusive time to one student. But I want you to realize that
all of this is still only at the first and lowest level of training. It is
still only an impartation of knowledge from one person to another. The only
difference is that the knowledge is more concentrated and is given more
directly and in greater measure.
Level Two Mentoring
For some a mentor means a bit more. And so it has become
very much the ‘in thing’ these days to get yourself a personal trainer. If
you want to do physical training and you have the money, you hire yourself a
personal body building instructor, who will put together a set of exercises
and routines
especially for you alone. And that instructor will spend time with you,
showing you how to do them and correcting you when you go wrong. This means
the instructor is not now only imparting knowledge to you, but actually
getting involved more intimately in the training process. The instructor is
not only telling you what to do, but is actually showing you how to do it. In
other words, your teacher is now starting to add some modeling activities to
the training mechanism. You are being given both theoretical and practical
training.
But you are still remaining only a student here. The
teacher is imparting to you a small piece of their knowledge and experience to
help you attain a goal that you yourself have set. You have told your trainer
that you want to attain a certain level of fitness; that you want certain
dimensions; that you want to reduce to a certain weight, or attain a certain
weight. And your trainer has put together a training course especially for
you, to help you reach your goals.
Now for many people this is what they would call a
mentorship relationship. The trainer is not there so much to teach you
everything from scratch, but to help you go from where you are right now, to a
goal that you want to obtain. But I want you to realize that this too is only
the second level of teaching that we have spoken of.
Level Three Mentoring
There remains yet another level of teaching and training
that not many people reach. And it is this last method of training that I
would like to emphasize and expand on in this study. The Apostle Paul spoke of
this quite clearly in the following passage:
1 Corinthians 4:15 For though you have ten thousand instructors in
Christ, yet [you do] not [have] many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have
begotten you through the gospel.
16 Therefore I urge you, be imitators of me.
17 For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved son, and
faithful in the Lord, who will remind you about my ways which are in Christ,
as I teach every where in every church.
Paul did not consider himself a mentor, and never offered
such a service to those whom he worked with closely. Rather he applied a more
sound principle that the Bible calls Discipleship. This is a word that we do
not use much these days, because it is too intense for most people to accept,
and is often considered old fashioned or obsolete. But in Bible times the term
was used freely and understood freely. I think the part that most of us do not
like about this word is the fact that it is based on and contains the 'D'
word, the word ‘discipline’. That is a word most of us like to avoid,
because it has too many negative connotations.
Discipleship - the Scriptural Pattern
But the Scriptural pattern is always the way of
discipleship. We are happy to accept Jesus' words as recorded in Mark 16:15.16
to go into all the world and preach the gospel to all of creation. But
Matthew's version of this tends to be overlooked for some reason. In fact even
the Old King James
version missed some of the basic principles there by translating it as follows
Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and,
lo, I am with you alway, [even] unto the end of the world. Amen.
But if you take a closer look at the Greek text of the New
Testament you find that a very expressive word was used in this passage. The
word translated as 'teach' in the first verse is the Greek word matheteuo,
which has a very distinctive meaning. I am going to quote from The Complete
Word
Study New Testament by Spiros Zodhiates concerning this word, and he says,
"Matheteuo means not only to learn but to become attached to one's
teacher and to become his follower in conduct and doctrine."
The correct translation of this verse should be "go
and make disciples of all the nations." And a disciple according to the
meaning of this word is one who not only accepts the teaching of the teacher,
but also goes on to become everything that the teacher is. There is a lot more
involved here than a transmitting of knowledge. There is a very impartation
from the spirit of the teacher, which results in the student becoming exactly
like him. And once again Paul tells us how this is shown in the lives of
others.
1 Thessalonians 1:5 For our gospel came not to you in word only, but also
in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance; as you know what
kind of person we were among you for your benefit.
6 And you became imitators of us, and of the Lord, having received the word
in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit:
Discipleship Involves Impartation
Paul took young Timothy and imparted to him all that he had
himself both in the way of knowledge, experience and character. He imparted to
him the spiritual gifts that he had. How do we know this? Consider the
following passage
2 Timothy 1:6 Therefore I want to remind you to stir up
the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.
Paul had not only taught Timothy everything that he knew,
but he had also imparted to him the very spiritual gifts that he had. Timothy
had become a mini Paul, so that Paul could confidently send him to churches in
his place. I am sure that if you could have got some cassette recordings of
Paul and
Timothy's preaching those days, you would have been amazed to discover that
Tmothy preached just like Paul. He probably held his mouth the same way when
he spoke, and used some of the same expressions.
Levels of Discipling
But we see also that in writing to the church at Philippi,
Paul said the following
Philippians 4:9 Those things, which you have both
learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace
shall be with you.
Here you can see the different levels of discipleship that
Paul had carried out. Where the Philippian church were concerned, he had not
only taught them verbally but he had also given them a model to follow. And he
held up his own lifestyle and pattern for living for them to follow. But when
it came to Timothy, whom he called his own son in the faith, there was a more
intensive training. There was an impartation of his very soul. Where the
Philippian church were concerned, Paul had given them everything he had
received in salvation. But with Timothy, Paul had given everything he had
received in the way of ministry gifts.
Jesus' Use of Mentorship
So when we get down to basics, you will see that
discipleship too has various levels of involvement. And in conclusion I want
to look at the life and ministry of Jesus and the disciples that he made when
He walked the earth. You can clearly identify in Jesus' ministry the three
levels of mentorship or discipleship that we spoke about earlier. The lowest
level was that found amongst the crowds who followed after Jesus and pledged
their faith in Him. They were known as disciples, but they never did get to
know Jesus in any kind of intimate way.
Then there were the seventy whom Jesus sent out to preach
the gospel and to perform miracles. These were given more personal attention
and were given greater power and authority than the crowds. But they still
were not part of that small group that Jesus poured the most into.
And there were of course the twelve, whom Jesus gave the
most personal attention to. They not only heard Him preach, but actually lived
with Him and went everywhere that He went. These were a unique group who
indeed were the most qualified to take upon themselves the term 'disciple.'
And because they were so close to Him they went one step further, to become
Apostles. Jesus gave everything that He had to the 12. He imparted to them
everything that the Father had given to Him. And then they were in a position
to go on and become even more. So He encouraged them to not only become like
He was,
but to progress even further. He told them the following before He left
John 14:12 Most assuredly, I say to you, He that believes
in me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater [works] than these
shall he do; because I go to my Father.
The Ultimate Goal of Discipleship
This is the ultimate goal of all discipleship or
mentorship. To impart all you have to others, and then to encourage them to go
on from there and to become even more than you are. Anybody who would be a
trainer or master of others must have the same mind that was in Christ. And if
you are not prepared to impart to others all that you have, and are not
prepared to encourage your disciples to go on and exceed you, then you are not
qualified to take the position of mentor or master or trainer. By the same
token, if you are desiring someone to mentor you, then you had better be
prepared to go a lot further than just being a student and one who learns from
your mentor. You had better be prepared to follow it through all the way to
the end. You had better be prepared to pay the price and take the risk of
losing your own identity to become all that your trainer is. For only then
will you be able to rise up not only to the level of the one who has trained
you, but even higher, so that you can repeat the process and train others in
the same way.
How to Obtain a Mentor
The major problem that most people face these days is
finding a suitable mentor, or one who is prepared to disciple them and make
them into what they desire to be. It seems to be the common experience of so
many in the Body of Christ, that leaders tend to jealously guard what God has
given to them. It is as though when God raises someone up and gives them a
greater level of authority and power, they try to keep it to themselves, lest
someone steal it from them. And often preachers will only give a small portion
of their knowledge to those under them in the Lord, so that nobody amongst the
subordinates can rise up into a position that might threaten their leadership.
Failure in the Leadership
This is a sad state of affairs, but unfortunately is
prevalent in the Body of Christ. People are often seen as simply dumb sheep
and they are kept that way so that the shepherds can continue to maintain
their position of prominence and power. And when a person desires to aspire to
the level of the man of God they admire, they are often pushed back instead of
being encouraged to go forward. As a result the student might give up hope and
not make any progress forward. Or, in an attempt to grow, the student tries to
outdo the leader, and so produces a situation of conflict that breaks all hope
of fellowship and training.
Failure in the Would be Disciple
Then there is another area of failure, and this is more on
the part of the would be disciple. We tend to all grow up in an environment
that encourages us to be winners, or to promote ourselves. So you get all
zealous for the Lord, and in order to gain acceptance you try to be what you
are not. You try to act in ways that are unbecoming and do not line up with
your spiritual experience and authority. And you think that by doing this you
will gain the approval of the authority that you are looking up to. But
instead you are seen as an arrogant know it all who is totally unteachable. I
can assure you that no leader is going to be inspired to draw you under his
wing for further training and mentorship.
Become a Follower First
A disciple is one who will follow and soak up everything
that the mentor has to give. So if you desire to be mentored by someone, the
first thing you need to learn is to become a follower. You must have a
teachable spirit and be eager to learn. You must be prepared to receive
teaching and training, without any preconceived notions or standards that you
want to impose. You are coming as a clean slate, ready to be written on.
Letting go of Preconceived Ideas
Of course this is not very often the case. Usually every
disciple comes to be trained with a lot of things already written on their
slate. They have accumulated a lot of spiritual knowledge along the way and
already formed a lot of conclusions and standards of their own. And now they
come to be mentored by someone who might see things very differently. So you
need to choose you mentor very carefully. He might have a completely different
outlook to you on spiritual matters and on doctrine. And you could find that
the price you will have to pay to receive mentoring is too great. There might
be too much to give up.
Being Prepared to Learn
It is no good coming to be mentored without being prepared
to be taught. You do not come as a disciple to teach your master. You assume
that the master has greater knowledge than you, and you come prepared to be
taught. If this is not your attitude then the master is not going to be
prepared to pour
anything into you. It is true that no one person has all the answers, and
there will be times you might not fully agree with all that your mentor has to
say. But unless you are prepared to prayerfully consider what is taught, you
will not be able to benefit from the relationship.
Being Prepared to Change
This is the most difficult thing of all. We all have in us
some degree of Resistance to Change. And it is very hard to let go of things
that you have stood for, and even fought for in the past. It is humiliating
and brings insecurity, because those things have been your foundation. And now
your mentor begins to systematically tear apart the foundation that you have
stood on for so long. This is not an easy thing to accept, but it is sure to
happen.
The only way that you are going to become like your mentor,
is to start thinking like him or her in some way. And this could involve a
very deep re-examining of the things you have believed in the past. If you are
not prepared to face this possibility, then do not even consider entering into
a mentorship relationship.
Giving Honor to Another
The disciple is to give special honor to the master. As far
as believers are concerned, this involves a lot more than that, because
ultimately our honor goes to the Lord alone. Yet we must give recognition to
those whom the Lord uses to bring us into that place of closer fellowship and
involvement. Paul puts it this way:
1 Thessalonians 5:12 And we encourage you, brothers, to recognize those
which labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you;
13 And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. [And] be at
peace among yourselves.
Have you ever seen a child who is not proud to be the son
of the father whom he loves. Hey kids even begin to argue amongst themselves,
"My Dad's bigger than your dad." And there is a loyalty amongst
children to parents when there is that relationship of love and respect.
Children should feel responsible to take care of their parents, and to make
sure that they are given the honor that is due to them. And the greatest honor
that a child can give is to display to the world, what the parent has built
into them.
Notice what they said about the early disciples:
The Acts 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and
John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they
marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.
You see it showed. And Jesus even gave His disciples a new
commandment so that people could tell that they were His disciples.
John 13:34 A new commandment I give to you, That you love one another; as
I have loved you, so you also love one another.
35 By this shall all [men] know that you are my disciples, if you have love
one for another.
If you want to become a disciple and have someone mentor
you in the Lord, then you must be prepared to give honor to that one in the
Lord, and you will do this by not only receiving what you are taught, but also
by putting it into practice. And then you would demonstrate this respect
further by doing your best to promote your spiritual father or mentor in every
way possible.
Of course a true mentor would never require this nor expect
it, so that is why I am mentioning it here. But the Scriptures are clear on
honoring your natural father and mother, and it should be obvious that a
degree of honor should also be given to a spiritual father or mother. This can
even extend to temporal care, and Paul deals with this in detail
1 Corinthians 9:14 Even so the Lord has ordained that those who preach
the gospel should live off the gospel.
15 But I have used none of these things: neither have I written these
things, that it should be so done to me: for [it were] better for me to die,
than that any man should make my boast empty.
1 Timothy 5:17 Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double
honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.
18 For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out
the corn. And, The labourer [is] worthy of his reward.
Responding to the Call
The disciple does not call the master, but the master calls
the disciple. So as you have made yourself available for mentorship and
clearly demonstrated both your desire and your willingness to be trained,
there will come the time when your mentor chooses you and invites you into
that mentoring relationship. And when this happens, all you need to do is to
respond. If you do not respond positively, then you will find yourself out in
the cold, and the opportunity that was offered you might be withdrawn and
never
offered again.
