Mentoring

As you'll have seen in the bulletin and heard announced on Sunday, there's a Mentoring information and training evening this coming Tuesday from 6:30-8:30pm. The idea is to try and help people to catch the vision of mentoring teenagers in the church and, hopefully, to recruit some new people to get involved. Attending this meeting wont commit you to anything but if you'd like to come along it would be good if you could let me know (jonathan@hilton church.org.uk) as we're having dinner together. I thing we do to disciple our young people. Studies have shown that teenagers who stick with faith "Had a half-dozen 'mentors' present during their growing up years." Barabara Staggers, who works counsels teenagers in much more traumatic situations than any I know of here, has written, "With all the kids I know who make it, there's one thing they all have in common: individual contact with a adult who cared and kept hanging in there." You could be that adult for a teenager in the church here, and you might never realise the difference you make. But you don't need to hear how important mentoring is from me. The real difference is when you hear it from one of our young people themselves. So here you go:

Gosia Grant...
"Mentoring has become a very important part of my Christian life. While it is great to share in fellowship with other young people and with our youth leaders, the mentoring programme benefits us in different ways. Being able to get to know an adult in the church better, to share with, have fun with and set an example in faith for me is a huge encouragement. In general, my mentoring group will meet once a month with our mentor and share a meal, pray, study the Bible, just talk or play a game. I think that it is great to have help and advice in the difficulties and dramas that teenage life presents from someone that has already been through it all. To have an adult in the church as not only a mentor but a friend is really awesome. It breaks down boundaries between the age groups in the church and helps us, as young people, to be able to grow up into Christian life with the help of an understanding friend. I think that mentoring is also a positive experience for the mentor as well as the mentees. While our mentor is there as a teacher for us some of the time, we also learn together or from each other. We all pray for each other and share what is going on in our lives. This creates a bond which I know will last long after we have finished with the mentoring programme. In a nutshell, mentoring is an awesome way to get to know the youth in our church and help them grow in Christ. I definitely recommend it to anyone wanting to get involved."

Eilidh MacPherson...
"To me, mentoring means a lot. Just knowing there's another Christian there that cares about you and wants to hear about what's going on in your life - but wont judge - is great. The two mentors that I have are brilliant. We meet up every so often and go out for a meal or eat at their house, hang out, chat and do whatever they have planned. It's good fun and we all get on great.
The thing that I find I get most out of mentoring is the prayer. At the end of every meeting we ask each other what we need prayers for and we take time to pray for one another. Also, on exam dates or when we're going through hard times, we can text our mentor and ask them to pray for us.
I would advise anyone to take up doing mentoring because as well as getting the support and advice of an older Christian, it's also great fun just having a night in with friends, chatting and just being yourself."

Sound like something you could do to minister to our young people?