VI) MENTORING

Luke 6:13 tells us that Jesus “called unto Him His disciples: and of them He chose twelve, whom also He named apostles”. Jesus had many disciples. On one occasion He sent out seventy disciples in pairs to go into the towns and villages ahead of Him. But of those who were His disciples He chose twelve to be apostles. Jesus chose twelve men who would be closest to Him and who would see and hear things from Him that others did not see or hear. These were men whom Jesus was going to mentor and upon whom He would give the responsibility to continue to propagate the gospel.

Jesus invested Himself into these men. One of them would eventually betray Him, but even this was predicted and expected as Jesus fulfilled His role as the Messiah and the sin sacrifice for humanity. The lesson here is that even Jesus recognized the need to mentor others who would continue the work here on earth after He had ascended to the right hand of the Father.

Great leaders look beyond the moment and have the future in mind with every decision. This means that the leadership of the tomorrow must be mentored today. We must be able to identify those men and women who have the gifts and talents necessary to fill future leadership roles and to continue to take the organization forward.

When Jesus chose the twelve apostles, He chose a diverse group of men. He chose a zealot, a tax collector, and fishermen. He chose men whose temperaments were diverse as well. From the outspoken Peter, to the reserved and somewhat negative Thomas, to the Sons of Thunder, Jesus selected men with unique perspectives, talents and personalities.

Diversity in our leadership team is a positive thing. It requires skill on the part of the leader to help the team mesh together and to appreciate one another’s strengths, but the variety bring the possibility of more than one perspective to any given challenge.

Jesus kept these men close to Him. They were privy to miracles that others never saw. They heard teaching that others never heard. Jesus was investing Himself into these men and He expected them to take the church forward. He empowered them with the Holy Spirit and He sent them out to expand the reach of the gospel.

In this process, there were moments of failure on the part of these men. We know of Judas’ failure, but Peter, Thomas, James and John all had their moments as well. Jesus, however, anticipated that they would stumble and was ready to pick them back up and help them learn from their mistakes. That’s what great leaders do. If we are simply going to kick them to the curb every time they trip, then we will never develop tomorrow’s leaders. Our job is to help them learn from their failures and encourage them to do better the next time.

Insecure and weak leaders are afraid to develop or mentor tomorrow’s leaders. They are afraid that these leaders will one day take their place. That’s the point of mentoring. If we have done our job as a leader and a mentor, then when we are away or when we step down, there will be someone ready and prepared to take the organization forward. And that is the mark of a great leader, namely, that the organization outlives the founder or the current leader. If the church dies with the pastor, then the pastor has failed to do his or her job as mentor of leaders.

Look around you and identify men and women who have the potential to be great leaders. Then begin to teach them and equip them to fill leadership roles in the organization. In this way the reach of the organization is expanded beyond one man or woman and growth can occur.