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#353, sent to over 25,000 wm leaders & friends
Greetings!
This week we continue our Women's Ministry 101
series and take a closer look at Mentoring Ministries.
We share some great ideas and resources to help you in
establishing or enriching your mentoring ministry. We also
have a leadership tip for mentoring leaders and ask
for your ideas on developing an event theme.
We hope that you enjoy this week's issue ... please don't
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"Christian mentoring is a dynamic, intentional
relationship of trust in which one person enables
another to maximize the grace of God in their life and
service. Followers of Jesus know that we are called to
mentoring. The basic requirement is a living
relationship with God and an ability to listen and
respond sensitively. If this is true of you, you can be
God's agent in enriching another person's life.” Carson Pue of Arrow Leadership Ministries
I love that quote! Mentoring is one of my favorite
things to do. Probably because it is typically a two-way
street; I get as much out of it as I give. Some of the
most hilarious moments I have ever had, have been in the
context of a mentoring relationship. So, I am a huge
advocate for mentoring and have been encouraged to see
mentoring ministries become a vital part of women's
ministries.
In all honesty, a mentoring ministry can be a blessing
and sometimes a challenging addition to a women's
ministry program. As in any ministry, prayer and
motivation are key. Pray about beginning a mentoring
ministry and be sure that it is God’s leading. Write
down several reasons why you think this ministry will
benefit the women in your church. Here are some ideas to
get you started:
Relationship building – women who might never have
otherwise connected form great friendships.
Knitting hearts together – anytime women grow
together in the Lord it will benefit the church body
as a whole.
someone to be accountable with is a great way to
do so.
Encouragement – words are a powerful tool to build
up the self esteem and life of another woman.
Enriched lives – when Christ is the focus of a
relationship, everyone benefits.
Whether you have a mentoring ministry or are
considering starting one it is important to remember
that every ministry faces success or failure and what
works in one church may not work in another. Here are
some challenges you may face in a mentoring ministry:
Difficulty in matching mentors and mentees.
Inconsistency in the relationships.
Inability to “keep the ball rolling” as the
program grows.
Interest dwindles and participants drop out.
So how can you avoid or even correct these mentoring
ministry hic-cups? With great planning and lots of
prayer! Consider these ideas as you plan:
Matching - Prayer, prayer, prayer. I know, I say it
all the time, but it really is key in making any
ministry decision. Also, look for common issues and
interests in the lives of the mentor and mentee.
Highlight key words and then use these help match the
women.
Inconsistency - This is typically a training issue. Meet
with your mentors before the program begins and give
them guidelines and expectations for the time they spend
with their mentee. One church I know requires that the
women speak with their mentees on the phone once a week
and meet once a month to review a study that both women
are working through. Let the mentors know what is
expected and each relationship will have a good
foundation to build on.
Growing - One way to keep the program growing is to
always have trained mentors ready and willing to take on
a mentee. Most successful mentoring ministries have a
set cycle of how long the relationship will last
(usually one year) and a program of studies that are
worked through during that time. If women are still
looking for more after the first cycle, consider having
a second year/term/cycle, where the mentee is matched
with a new mentor.
Keeping it going - Prayer, prayer, prayer. (Isn’t this
where we began?!) Also, the success of the ministry and
the enthusiasm of the participants will go a long way to
continue the growth of your program. One last thing,
look for ways to tweak things to keep it interesting and
a little different.
This idea originally ran in Issue #215 in May of
2005.
wmLeadership Tip: Walk & Talk Objective: To minister to my leadership team one
on one
It had been on my heart to have more personal time with
the women in leadership. Since we all had busy schedules
one more meeting did not sound appealing. Inspired by
the Holy Spirit, I remembered one of the women had asked
us to go walking sometime, we began walking for 1 hour 1
day a week and from that I now walk with 3 different
women 3 mornings a week. Our relationship has grown
since I am mentoring each lady and of course the
benefits physically is an answer to prayer. This works
out beautifully for all of us; it really is not
something else on us since we enjoy the time together.
It is only 1 hour a week together! I also meet them at
their homes and we walk in their neighborhood.
Submitted by: Donna Lancaster
Church: Next Step International Fellowship
Church Size: Below 250
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Brainstorming at its best! We were sent in this fun
little theme for an event and thought it would be even
more fun to see what you creative women would do with
it.
So, below is the theme, scripture reference, and
decorating ideas. Put together a few ideas telling how
you would take this theme and turn it into an event.
Would you make it a Ladies Night Out, a retreat, or
other event? How would you expand on it to fit the type
of event? What other great ideas does it stimulate?
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