My Educational Theology 6: Mentoring

I believe that it is consistent with the biblical-historical model that our ministry to students in a Christian high school needs to stress the mentoring of students. The Bible provides many examples of mentoring in the training of young people to do God’s work[1]. Some notable examples of this include Moses and Joshua; Elijah & Elisha; Barnabas and John Mark; and Paul and Timothy & Titus. In each of these stories, men of God took on the cause of a younger man of God and championed his cause, gave him life experience and pointed him to God.


I think that in varying degrees these biblical examples of mentoring provide us with the basis for youth ministry—whether church based or otherwise. The role of the mentor/youth minister is to come along side the parents and to build upon the foundation they’ve laid in the lives of their children. Paul really emphasized this in his writings to Timothy: “I am reminded of your sincere faith that dwelt first in your grandmother…and your mother…and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. Continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed…and how from your childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings….”[2]


When we have a biblical ministry to youth, we need to remember that the primary responsibility of teaching and training is, in fact, the parents. They hold the ultimate responsibility. Because of this, we who are teachers and youth workers should be always cognizant of the parents’ wishes regarding their child’s (or adolescent’s) education—both spiritual and vocational. We are serving these parents at the least and at the most we are partnering with them. As we do so, we need to remember that we are to first honor God in our teaching and part of honoring God is to honor a student’s parents—regardless of how the parents are doing or seem to be doing in the raising of the student. This can be a difficult challenge in the world of mid-adolescents where my ministry is focused. During this stage in a young person’s development, they are essentially practicing being an adult. This means stretching their boundaries and questioning authority. This means examining the issues they assumed were true all their lives to see if what they were taught was in fact real and true. This means testing their faith to see if it is really their faith. When we are partners with parents, we come along side these young people and we reinforce the biblical values and teachings of the home. At the same time we need to make sure that we leave space for difference in biblical and cultural applications that may have been taught at home. We need to be extremely cautious of directly challenging the teachings of parents, but rather encourage students into a dialogue with the Scriptures and their parents. We need to not take over for our students’ parents, but to provide reinforcement of a biblical standard and provide examples of how other Christian adults live out their faith. There are times when the parents are absent or have not taught biblical values. Our role continues to be one of caution in that we need all the more to display biblical standards and teachings in our lifestyles. However, sometimes our biblical lifestyles and teachings may contradict that of the students’ parents. In such a case, we need seek to teach and challenge our students to discover the truth through a dialogue with the Scriptures as guided by the Holy Spirit while still honoring and respecting their parents.


[1] My biblical research on the mentoring comes from an early Youth Ministry Practicum paper entitled What the Bible says about “youth” and “youth ministry”.
[2] 2 Timothy 1:4-5; 3:14-15