{"id":2827,"date":"2024-12-25T03:07:09","date_gmt":"2024-12-25T03:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biblicalmentoring.org\/?page_id=2827"},"modified":"2025-09-08T16:58:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T16:58:06","slug":"mentoring-tip-1","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/biblicalmentoring.org\/index.php\/mentoring-tip-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Mentoring Tip 1"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Tip 1:\u00a0 What is Biblical Mentoring?<\/strong><br \/>\nBy Gary Brittain, 241224<\/p>\n<p>As one of Ron\u2019s mentors, let me answer that question. Throughout his ministry, Ron offered small groups with success depending on many factors \u2013 some of which were out of his control.\u00a0\u00a0 He spent many years training student and adult leaders of the various ministries including Christian Medical &amp; Dental Associations (cmda.org) and the Navigators (navigators.org).\u00a0 Most of the training and coaching of ministry leaders was offered by phone calls.\u00a0 He did offer Leadership Training in weekend retreats but much more was done by phone calls.\u00a0 We all believe that a face-to-face meeting is ideal but not always possible.<\/p>\n<p>When launching Biblical Mentoring (BM) as a discipleship training ministry, Ron introduced a model that employs weekly 30-minute phone calls. Grounded in Ephesians 4\u2019s call to equip the Saints (believers) for greater works of service, we can assume that includes the challenging work (privilege) of disciple-making.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that what Jesus commissioned us all to do \u2013 to GO and Make \/ train disciple-makers?<\/p>\n<p>BM effectively addresses the four obstacles to discipleship identified by Barna in the article link below.\u00a0 These obstacles are the lack of: \u00a0<strong>time, commitment, comfort, and awareness.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Key Distinctives of BiblicalMentoring.org (BM):<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Flexible Format for the Busy Person with Limited <em>TIME<\/em>:<\/strong> Unlike most discipleship small groups, BiblicalMentoring is highly adaptable and offered within personal networks and in confidence. It works with or without Zoom video calls, though we prefer non video one-to-one calls, especially with mentees (trainees) we know personally. We will often do the initial call with a Zoom video call to get introduced or re-introduced. A mentor\u2019s mentor (coach) may assist in the initial call. The \u201csuccess\u201d of what we achieve does not depend on numbers.\u00a0 The phone training sessions (calls) can be achieved anywhere at anytime.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Multiplication of Disciple-Makers in a way that encourages <em>COMMITMENT<\/em><\/strong>: \u00a0BM equips mentees to become disciple-makers.\u00a0 This is the true measure of effective training. \u00a0Through role-swapping during training, participants gain the valuable and necessary confidence, skills, and experience to serve as disciple-makers. The mentor transitions to a coaching role, offering oversight, encouragement, and unity on a monthly basis.\u00a0 Training equips Saints (believers per Ephesians 4) for lifelong relational discipleship.\u00a0 Some of us will mentor \/ train multiple mentees. \u00a0Ron, for example, currently mentors 15 mentees in training. \u00a0Most of these participate in weekly sessions while a few have monthly sessions. \u00a0His goal is that each participant in training will eventually start mentoring\/training another person, on and on. At that point, Ron becomes that person&#8217;s coach. \u00a0 What we offer is conducive to what some call Vocational Discipleship Training.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Relational Focus to offer <em>COMFORT<\/em><\/strong>: BM emphasizes new or existing long-term relationships between mentors and mentees. The life-to-life in a one-to-one format gets more and more comfortable as trust is built over time.\u00a0 Out initial set of verses (Topical Memory System of the Navigators) requires 60 memory verses \/weeks of mentoring \/ training sessions.\u00a0 BM is not reliant on the local church\u2019s small group offerings, which often focuses on training of facilitators rather than disciple-makers.\u00a0 The goal seems to focus on what it takes to continue offering a group meeting to make disciples \u2013 NOT disciple-makers.\u00a0 We emphasize from beginning to end that the Holy Spirit is the teacher and both individuals are students (disciples in training).\u00a0 We emphasize also that no one can teach what they haven\u2019t experienced personally.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>No Curriculum Dependency that requires extra reading and promotion for <em>AWARENESS<\/em><\/strong>: Traditional small groups typically use curricula, often topical and limited in consistent Bible reading, interpretation, application, or memory work. BM, in contrast, fosters regular engagement with Scripture as God\u2019s Word of Truth.\u00a0 Evangelistically, the Gospel is shared or reviewed weekly, helping believers to grow in their faith and for non-believers to understand Jesus as one\u2019s Savior and Lord.\u00a0 Sanctification is a life-long process. Participants either want to learn the Bible or they do not \u2013 at that time.\u00a0\u00a0 As a laymen-led ministry, there is no need to broadcast a meeting or event that requires time and effort to attend.\u00a0 There is no need to promote the value of a speaker or teacher or special curriculum to many potential attendees to hopefully get a few to attend.\u00a0 As life happens, many groups get smaller and smaller if commitment is not required.\u00a0 The BM mentor simply needs to recruit one person at a time, usually someone he or she already knows to build awareness of our training.\u00a0 Some mentees take more time to train which has promoted offering of about ten sets of Memory Verses.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Visit <strong>BiblicalMentoring.org<\/strong> to begin your journey toward becoming a disciple-making disciple.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Reference<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.barna.com\/trends\/discipleship-barriers\/?vgo_ee=WY8HPcXUqzNn6iYdbIaS02lVuU8biD21PcrxwtBww4EH4Oj3bgS5EA%3D%3D%3AAu8I5wcuyBJ9muLniqnMJfpsk9zLSiO6\"><em>4 Barriers to Discipleship Community in Churches \u2013 Barna Group<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tip 1:\u00a0 What is Biblical Mentoring? By Gary Brittain, 241224 As one of Ron\u2019s mentors, let me answer that question. Throughout his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/page_fullwidth.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2827","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmentoring.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmentoring.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmentoring.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmentoring.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmentoring.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2827"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmentoring.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2879,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmentoring.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2827\/revisions\/2879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmentoring.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}