Mentor. Its one of the words of our age. Mentoring surfaces in management training seminars, leadership development courses, business books and periodicals, and there is even an academic journal dedicated to it ('The Mentor' http://www.psu.edu/dus/mentor/ ) . It is 'out there', and it is inside Christendom and inside Evangelicalism as well. But what is it ?
Within Christian circles, some would say its a relationship that is primarily about accountability. Suggesting that a relationship between peers or near peers is agreed where one holds the other to certain standards, and together they work on the 'getting there' required to meet the standard. Others have suggested that its focus is mainly on skills transfer or the development of existing skills or giftings. Thus in their conception, the more experienced assists the less experienced until the later reaches a certain standard of performance. But are those examples of Mentoring ? They certainly meet the dictionary definition (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=mentor) of a 'wise counsellor' assisting another, so I suppose they're adequate conceptions. But I think they don't go quite far enough.
I think the New Testament provides a more thorough and a more powerful pattern than our modern Mentor concept, useful though it is. Consider the relationship between St Paul and Timothy. Timothy was what we would call Paul's protoge; already a believer, he was 'discovered' by Paul as he passed through ancient Lystra, and accompanied Paul on his second major missionary journey (as recounted by St Luke in Acts 16ff). He was present with Paul at the founding of several churches, including Corinth and Philippi, and was sent back to the later as Paul's combined messenger and ambassador during one of Paul's imprisonments (perhaps in Rome ~61AD), and finally at the end of Paul's life, he was entrusted with the care of the important but troubled church at Ephesus.
Writing to the believers at Philippi, Paul makes some illuminating comments about Timothy at the mid-point of their relationship. "I have no one [else] like him", "as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel", and commenting on Timothy's abilities he says "[he] takes a genuine interest in your welfare", and "you know that Timothy has proved himself". He describes Timothy as being like a son, working with the great Apostle. That would suggest Timothy learned in a familial relationship made possible by their receipt of adoption into the same family (the family of God), but worked out in the unique dynamics of elder to younger while both are engaged in a common task, that of the work of the gospel. It sounds a little like an apprenticeship, but it has the elements of son, father and brother, and little of the master craftsman and his ignorant apprentice. And whereas the son to father description suggest an adult child relationship, this is an adult adult relationship. It is the adult familial context for learning that is the unique element of this New Testament 'Mentoring' that Timothy receives.
Paul has worked with Timothy, he has seen his progress, he has been there to guide and correct, and he knows the heart of the man and his worth. At the same time the Apostle is also a brother and fellow saint, and a fellow sinner. Timothy has been able to see Paul in triumph and adversity, in prayer, and in despair, in prison, and at liberty, preaching to thousands perhaps, and reduced to talking to his jailer. And Timothy has learned alongside Paul what it means to follow Christ and be conformed to his image, even of His sufferings. And that is something not learned from books, or lectures, its learned from life lived with Christ followers, followers like Paul, or Silas, or Barnabus, or Peter or the other men an women who invite us to learn from them in the pages of the New testament.
So, get yourself a Mentor by all means, but make sure it is a New Testament one.
