By Jenn Graffius
Here I am.
Three of the most life-altering words the people of God can utter. These words echo throughout scripture and Christian history from the lips of women and men whom God has called to pioneer new trails for God’s people. I think of Abraham and Sarah leaving everything they knew for a place that God would show them. I think of Moses standing in front of the burning bush on the mountain wasteland being called to lead God’s people out of slavery in Egypt. Samuel comes to mind as he finally recognizes that it’s God’s voice he’s hearing calling out to him. Isaiah, in reply to the question, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” says, “Here I am. Send me.” There’s Mary at the annunciation. Then there are our own stories of recognizing God’s voice calling and the moments when all we knew to do was utter the words, “Here I am.”
Scripture is full of accounts of regular human beings hearing God’s call. In each of these stories, they didn’t know where they were going, but they knew that the God they were following is faithful. These, and so many others from scripture, are our cloud of witnesses. We, too, are called to faithfully follow God in all that we do and to serve God with all that we have. There are, however, some who are called to a very particular service in God’s kingdom—the call to vocational ministry. They are called to pastor people through worship ministry, preaching, pastoral care, youth ministry, children’s ministry, and so many other roles within the church.
I remember a conversation I had as my own journey into ministry began, “So, tell me again what you’re doing...” my friend said to me as we drove to lunch on a hot summer day in California. It was our goodbye lunch. I had been accepted into the Masters of Divinity program at Princeton Seminary, and I was preparing to venture to the East Coast to begin this journey. “I am getting a Masters of Divinity at Princeton Seminary,” I told her. “That’s awesome, Jenn. But you’re not going to get ordained, are you?“ my well-meaning friend asked me.
I will never forget my response that day. I crinkled my nose at the very thought of ordination, and I said, “No way. That’s not why I am doing an MDiv. I just want to be a theologically educated volunteer in my church.” But in my heart, I knew that I couldn’t definitively answer that question. I knew that I was embarking on a journey that was leading me, well, leading me somewhere. I just wasn’t sure where. I didn’t know how to explain that to most of my friends.
What I did not realize was how much I was going to need wise counselors, friends on the same journey, listening companions to join me on the journey and to help me discern where God was leading me. I have been amazed as I have said yes to God’s call in my own life. There were times when I wondered if I was even allowed to hear God’s call, let alone say yes to it. But, today I know for myself and can, without a doubt, say to others that God calls people. Women, men, young, old—God calls us. And because of the love, support, and wisdom I have experienced in my own life, I have the privilege of clearing a path for even more people to say yes to ordained ministry.
As we offer ourselves to God, saying, “Here I am,” God’s response to us is, “Yes. And Here I AM.”
Will Willimon explains, “Ministry in the name of Jesus is too demanding for a solo performance.”1 He continues, “It is foolhardy for anyone to attempt to be a mission leader in the name of Christ without the supervision, accountability, support, advice, humor, and receptivity that characterize good mentoring.”2 People need good mentors, and the church needs ministers who have received good mentoring. Good mentoring produces good mentors. There is growing evidence that suggests that individuals who have been in a previous mentoring relationship, whether as a mentor or mentee, are more willing to mentor others.
The History of the Mentor
So, where do we get the term mentor come from anyway? This term dates back to Greek mythology. The story of Mentor appears in Homer’s The Odyssey from around 800 BC. Mentor was the faithful companion of Odysseus, the King of Ithaca. Odysseus was heading out to the Trojan Wars, and before he left, he instructed Mentor to stay in Ithaca to be fully in charge of the royal household. Part of these duties included raising King Odysseus’ son, Telemachus. Mentor was charged with the responsibility of preparing Telemachus to take over the throne when the time came. Mentor’s role was parental in nature. He was a teacher and approachable counselor. Mentor was a role model for Telemachus. He challenged him, encouraged him, and helped him develop the skills he needed as Telemachus matured. There were times in Greek mythology where Athene, the Goddess of Wisdom, would assume the form of Mentor. Mentor’s role was to journey with Telemachus as he grew from boyhood to the throne.
While the term mentor emerges from Greek mythology, we also see evidence of mentoring relationships long before 800 BC. Biblical figures such as Moses and Joshua and Elijah and Elisha are clearly in mentoring relationships. These are relationships where a wise guide is walking alongside a young protégé, guiding them into the next steps of their life…and of their calls. The term protégé emerged from the protective aspect of the role of Mentor. Protégé is from the French word protéger which means to protect. Throughout the centuries, protection and development have been at the core of what has been meant by mentoring.
Mentoring for Transformation vs. Duplication
Mentoring is a process of helping a person to see the gifts, the talents, the potential that are already within them. But sometimes that potential is difficult to see right away. We have an (often unspoken) pre-determined criteria for what a person with potential gifts for ministry looks like. We say yes to mentoring those who meet these standards. We invest in those who seem to be what we are looking for. This is mentoring for duplication and does not establish mentoring frameworks within the church and Christian higher education that empower all people to reach their full potential.
Transformational mentoring, which leads to flourishing in ministry, begins with a shift in the mentors’ lenses for identifying potential leaders. This process is wrapped up in spiritual discernment, wisdom, grace, and the desire to usher in transformation rather than duplication. Pre-determined ideas (prejudices, perhaps?) of who should be selected for leadership training have long been part of the human story. The scriptures show us that even a great prophet of Israel did not see “potential” upon first glance.
The people of Israel desperately wanted a king to rule over them because that is what they saw as the standard for powerful people (1 Sam 8:5). A king is what they got. King Saul looked the part. In his appearance and in the way he carried himself, he communicated leadership. The people of Israel were certain that he would fulfill the role. However, within eight chapters of the book of 1 Samuel (1 Sam 8-16), it becomes clear that Saul was far from the great king Israel had hoped for. He was moody and unpredictable and not inclined to follow God’s instructions. God rejected Saul, and sent Samuel out again to anoint the next king of Israel. This journey led him to the sons of Jesse.
Jesse’s sons lined up in front of Samuel. One by one, Samuel looked at each of the sons, wondering which one will be the next king. Would it be Eliab, Abinadab, or Shammah? Would it be the tall one or the one who appeared to be the strongest? After all, a king had to look a certain way in order to command respect and for people to follow him. But as the sons stood before Samuel, the word of the LORD came to Samuel saying, “Have no regard for his appearance or stature, because I haven’t selected him. God doesn’t look at things like humans do. Humans see only what is visible to the eyes, but the LORD sees into the heart” (1 Sam 16:7).
When Samuel reached the end of the line of the sons, he had not yet heard a confirmation from the Lord. So, he asked, “Is that all of your boys?” Jesse answered, “There is still the youngest one, but he’s out keeping the sheep” (1 Sam 16:11). The youngest one was not even a contender for the position of king in the minds of Samuel or Jesse or the brothers or anybody else there that day. This was the young kid with no experience other than the daily task of an ignoble vocation—tending to the sheep. He did not look the way that a king was supposed to look. They called for David, he was likely covered in the dirt and muck from the fields, red from the sun beating down on him.
Though he did not appear at all to be “kingly”, when he stood in front of Samuel, the LORD said, “That’s the one. Go anoint him” (1 Sam 16: 12). God chose a shepherd from the fields to rule as king over Israel. “The anointed one is qualified by his “right heart.” That was what God was looking for.
We have pre-determined criteria for what makes a great leader. These biases are shaped by our upbringing, by our theological positions, and by our experiences to name a few. But we see in scripture a call to see things through a new lens. We are invited into a new kingdom where God calls those who may have been written-off as not good enough. Transformation allows God’s work to create something new while duplication seeks to shape a person into a mold that already exists—even if that mold does not fit.
Romans 12 provides for us some insight into what transformation should look like. Romans is a letter written to the Christians in Rome in 58 C.E., a time where some suspect that there was some tension between the Gentile Christians and the Jewish Christians. The first eleven chapters of Romans make a case for God’s righteous redemption of a fallen creation, and chapter twelve begins an ethical section of the epistle. Paul establishes the groundwork to make these ethical statements in the first eleven chapters. Therefore, he can urge the people to present themselves as living sacrifices to God on the basis of God’s righteousness, not their own goodness.
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable worship.” (Rom 12:1) Paul makes this bold statement after having established a case for the triumph of God’s grace in the first eleven chapters of Romans. Romans 12 is an application of that great grace, which allows for transformation.
Romans 12:1-2 contrasts being conformed with being transformed. He uses language to describe conformity as “to be shaped by and live after the pattern of.”3 While he explains that to be transformed is to be changed in form entirely. He describes transformation as an inward change in fundamental character or condition. Everything is different in transformation.4
Romans 12 offers us a new framework for mentoring. Often one’s perception of what mentoring looks and sounds like is: find someone who is doing something that you see yourself doing and become more like them. We see this model in the corporate world and in the church. We encourage people to find a mentor whose “pattern” is like the one they want to fit into. The mentor, then, becomes what Lois Zachary describes as the “sage on the stage.”5 This is a conforming model of mentoring. It is a model of duplication that leads to repetition of the same patterns. To be conformed is to try to squeeze one into a pre-established mold in order to make that person take on the shape of the pattern.
Mentoring with transformation in mind is mentoring people to become that which we may not be able to see or know yet. They may take on a new shape and look differently from their mentor. This is accomplished by the mentor’s role taking less of a “sage on the stage” role and becoming more of a “guide on the side.” In order for transformation to occur, it must be understood that the mentee will not passively sit at the feet of the mentor and receive knowledge.6 Rather it is a partnership where the mentor facilitates the opportunity for transformation. Transformational mentoring leads to flourishing. It allows an individual to fully live into being the person God has created them to be without the pressure of being duplicated into an imposed pattern.
Conforming
- Squeeze into a mold
- Outward presentation
- “Copy what I do and become like me”
- Sage on the Stage
- Let me tell you what I think.
- A good leader looks like this…
Transforming
- Become something new
- Deep inward work
- “Who is God calling you to be?”
- Guide on the Side
- What do we hear God saying about this?
- These qualities and characteristics that you possess will help you lead in this way…
God’s grace transforms us. However, this transformation does not begin outwardly. It begins with a renewing of our minds. It alters our perspective and changes our view. We begin to live outside of the mold society (and the church) may try to lay out for us, and we see things through God’s eyes. Another way of reading verse two is, “Do not let yourselves be shaped by what everyone else does, but rather let yourselves be transformed by a whole new way of thinking, so you can discern what conforms to God’s will, namely what is truly good and pleasing, and perfect.”7
In the journey into transformation, mentors walk with their mentees as they begin to identify the theology that has deeply formed them as they have grown up in the faith into new seasons where they are theologically formed by their learning and experiences. All of this walking and journeying with people is not simply aimless wandering. It is an intentional journey where both the mentor and mentee are paying attention to God’s movement in the life of a person.
For one to flourish in ministry, they must be invited into a process that allows for transformation to occur. Mentoring with duplication in mind will continue to produce cookie-cutter designed ministers who eventually burn out. Transformational mentoring discards the mold and allows God’s presence and power to shape a person, thus creating something new, beautiful, healthy, and thriving.
Biography of Author
Jenn oversees Vocāre, a 5-Year B.A. to M.A. in Pastoral Studies, and ministry-focused mentoring for undergraduates and Vocāre seminarians. She also works with CVM women-in-ministry initiatives, and she is the chaplain to Azusa Pacific Seminary students. Jenn is an ordained minister, an alum of APU (B.A. ’00), and an adjunct faculty member in the APU School of Theology’s Department of Practical Theology. She has pastoral leadership experience in church ministry and campus ministry, including seminary chaplaincy. Jenn recently earned a Doctor of Ministry and wrote a dissertation titled “Transformational Mentoring for Ministry.” She is a frequent guest preacher and retreat speaker.
