Mentoring and Development of People we Serve

2010 leaders mentor people to the point of trusting them with treasures. Scripture is clear that we are to trust the Lord completely simply because He is God. Most Christians say they trust God completely, but really don’t. We grow in faith and trust as we grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.

As we mature, we place more and more trust in the Lord. But the Father is also trusting us with treasures of the Kingdom, including His people.

As leaders we will leave a legacy of men and women who have been influenced by our leadership. As we mentor and develop people around us we must do so with an objective of ultimately trusting them enough to delegate responsibility and authority.

Paul wrote to Timothy, one whom he mentored as a father would mentor a son, ‘the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will be qualified to teach others.’(2 Tim. 2:2).

He told Titus, another recipient of Paul’s mentoring, ‘I left you in Crete so that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.’ Paul was confident that these two young men were trustworthy with responsibility and authority. They were trustworthy leaders who could lead and teach others to lead. He had invested years of a father’s heart into them bearing the fruit of trust in their faithfulness and leadership ability.

Our Father God is the ultimate mentor as He not only equips us to be leaders through the transforming power of Jesus Christ, but He has delegated authority and responsibility to be leaders on earth until the return of Jesus. He entrusted His church to us! Be encouraged that you, a leader, can invest in others to the point of trusting them with treasures of the Kingdom.

How Does a Leader Become Mature?

Every leader has a choice in the midst of a trial. He or she can ‘boing’! (which is a term I like to use to describe reacting like a coiled spring: emotionally reacting and responding in the flesh). Or the leader can walk through that trial by faith and not by sight.

In Ephesians 4:12,13, Paul told the church in Ephesus that the 5-fold ministry gifts were to ‘prepare God’s people’ so that they would ‘become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.’ Great, but how does a leader become mature?

There are many aspects to growing and maturing as a leader but there is one core tenant that is foundational to developing true, mature leadership. It is the process of walking through trials and troubles of life. Trials and perseverance are necessary, but inconvenient partners in growing into the maturity of Christ.

We mature and grow in leadership stability and stature as we persevere in faith and harness our emotions walking through the trials of life. Every trial, no matter how great or small, is a test of your perseverance. Every leader has a choice in the midst of a trial. He or she can ‘boing’! (which is a term I like to use to describe reacting like a coiled spring: emotionally reacting and responding in the flesh). Or, he or she can deny there is a trial, i.e. they walk in false faith--simply denying that the trial exists but calling it faith.

Or, the leader can walk through that trial fully knowing and understanding the possible negative outcomes. As he or she walks through it with that knowledge, he or she walks by faith and not by sight.

Leaders who walk in understanding persevere-- refusing to be in denial and refusing to ‘boing’ off into an emotional roller coaster. They may experience suffering in the process but it doesn’t throw them off track. These leaders grow in maturity and into the fullness of Christ. Romans 5:3 says we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom He has given us.

The leader who perseveres will NOT be disappointed and becomes a man or woman of maturity!