Subscribe to the Network“Non-mentor Mentorship”
Chuck on May 12th, 2010
In The Slow Fade we discuss something we call, “Non-mentor Mentorship.” I recently did a seminar in Atlanta on this concept. In that seminar I described 3 major shifts a Non-mentor Mentor makes from the traditional idea of “mentoring.” How do you compare?
- From Information to Imparting Wisdom. The shift is moving away from our tendency to view mentorship as giving information and moving toward a focus on living out the information we already know.
- From Fixing to Mutual Fascination. The shift here is moving away from viewing a college age person as someone who needs to be “fixed” – or as a project that we need to move toward completion – and moving toward a relationship where the mentor and mentee are simply fascinated with what God is doing in one another’s lives.
- From Teaching to Mutual Transformation. The shift here is moving away from the mentor simply making sure their conclusions (or the church they attend) are being known by the mentee and moving toward a relationship where both are being transformed by the way God is using each in the other’s life. It’s a movement from conversation focused on conclusions to walking together in/through daily life as followers of Jesus.
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Thanks for the post, Chuck. This is the meat of what I do as a college minister, and the discovery together of walking alongside students in mentoring relationships has taught me much. The view of the mentoring relationship being a mutual experience comes, it seems to me, from the mentor having the beattitudes that allow for such a relationship to occur.
Timotheos. I agree. I have learned a ton from and in my relationships with younger people. Something we often miss!