“The older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things—that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to bediscreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.” Titus 2:3-5
Mentoring. It’s what we are called to. We, meaning the church. But could it be that our affinity for attending ‘church’ in big buildings with convenient classrooms has confused what biblical mentoring is at its best?
When I was a young mom, a whirlwind of activity seemed to swirl around the church. The buzz was a beautiful indication that the body of believers meeting there was a lively bunch with a lively faith. And so everything seemed to take place within the four walls of the church.
Almost everything that was considered a ministry of the church took place within the church.
But mentoring doesn’t always take place in a church classroom with a book in hand. Sometimes it happens best on a trip to the mall together, when you’re having coffee at Starbucks or a walk on the beach together.
Mentors don’t always teach their most important lessons from a book or in the context of a classroom but the lessons they impart while they are doing life together will be the ones that are remembered most.
And mentors aren’t always 25 years older than a mentee. Sometimes they’re just older in experience and older in their walk with the Lord.
I had my children at a young age, so most of the women my age had children who were much younger than mine. I was older. Not in years but in experience. Mentors aren’t always a lot older, they are just women who have already been where a mentee is.
As a ministry focused on putting tools in the hands of mentors and providing resources to help foster those life-changing Titus 2 relationships, The M.O.M. Initiative knows the importance of having a good book to use as a catalyst for conveying valuable lessons that can help young moms be the best moms possible. We also understand that there is no substitute for the Word of God.
But what a mentee learns from a book is often validated by what she learns by a mentor’s life.
- When mentors teach young moms the need to love their children well, it’s important that she show her what that looks like in real life.
- When mentors teach young moms that a momma’s prayers matter, she needs to demonstrate what a mom’s prayer life should look like.
- When mentors teach young moms that God can be trusted in difficult times, she needs to show how she trusts God in difficult times.
- When mentors teach that conveying character and life skills to her kids is important, she needs to show her what that means and how she can do it.
- When mentors teach young moms that it’s important to be good managers of their homes, then she needs to help her see what that really means.
- When mentors teach young moms that she will truly survive the endless piles of laundry, the mountain of dishes in the sink and the constant squabbling between brothers and sisters, then she needs to walk through those moments with her and not only show her it will be okay, but show her how to overcome those things.
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