Your Guide to DiscipleshipExemplo

Where Are Your Timothys?

We often think of mentoring as a top-down arrangement. We think discipleship is basically saying: “Listen to me, watch me, and do what I do.” To make matters worse, some leaders who are bossy, self-absorbed, or heavy-handed end up hurting those they mentor.

We should scrap that horribly flawed model and recognize that Jesus calls mentors to serve their disciples. If we take a humbler approach to mentorship, we might actually learn something from younger people while we model Christlike character and teach valuable skills.

The apostle Paul learned this lesson. Early in his ministry he and his colleague Barnabas parted ways because Paul didn’t want to travel with John, called Mark. (See Acts 15:36–39.) Paul was upset that Mark had abandoned his missionary team. So he wrote Mark off.

Thankfully this strategic relationship was restored. Many missionary journeys later, Paul wrote to Timothy: “Pick up Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service” (2 Tim. 4:11). Mark was quite useful because he wrote the Gospel of Mark, which he based on Peter’s oral testimony.

As a result of that mentoring—and Peter’s fatherly influence—Mark became a spiritual giant. (See 1 Peter 5:13.) The same will happen today when we invest in the Marks and Timothys of our generation.

One of the most beautiful pictures of mentoring is found in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, in which Paul brags about his disciple Timothy. He says:

For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church. —1 Corinthians 4:17.

Your goal as a mentor is to get underneath your disciples to push them higher. Let your ceiling become their floor. Give them everything you have and more. Encourage them to go farther than you ever did.

Prayer for Discipleship:

Lord, forgive me for thinking I can handle the challenges of the Christian life on my own. I know You want to bring special people into my life to help me grow. Send the Pauls and Barnabases who can encourage and equip me. I need both mentors and close friends to support me. And then allow me to be a Paul to the Timothys who need my influence. Amen.