Code Red Club

The Value of Mentorship

Hola! Howzit? It’s so great to be able to communicate with young Salvos in this way. I hope this blog will be a hot spot to come and share your ideas, to debate and discuss the issues of our day, and to challenge ourselves to be even better and bolder followers of Christ. I’m happy to be given the chance to put my own thoughts and views out there, and I invite your comments and responses even (especially!) if you don’t agree with me.

For my first blog, I want to talk about something close to my heart…mentorship. In its purest form, mentorship is about somebody with some life experience walking alongside someone with less experience. A mentor is there to provide a listening ear, guidance on life’s toughest questions, and should be able to broaden the young person’s experiences. They are a friend who leads by example.

When I was a teenager, I had a mentor. Her name was Roma, and we met at church. She was about 7 years older than me, newly married to a guy we all thought was gorgeous, and she really made time and space for me in her life. And not for me alone. On a Friday night, my best friend and I would be found hanging out with Roma. What did we do together? Sometimes we made cookies. Sometimes we listened to music. Often we just talked. Roma’s love for God came through in our conversations. It was because of Roma’s example in my life that I decided the first guy I slept with would be my husband on my wedding night. She never suggested to me that I make that kind of commitment; I did it because I watched her, I listened to her and I wanted to follow the example she was setting. I grew up and we both moved away from that small community, but for an important part of my life, Roma was used by God to help mould and shape my character and values.

Traditionally on this continent mentorship happened naturally, as communities took responsibility for their own young people and made sure they knew what they needed to know to contribute meaningfully to their family and community. If you stepped out of line, there would be a long queue of people eagerly waiting to call you (or shaya you!) back to order.

Fast forward to 2009. Things have changed. The lingering effects of apartheid on our souls and psyches, rural to urban migration, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the breakdown of the family, and a general loss of positive values in our society mean that most South African young people don’t have huge networks of loving and supportive adults intent on their success.

As a Christ-follower, I think it’s our responsibility to stand in that gap. We don’t become a mentor because some organisation trains us and makes us one. We become a mentor because a young person looks up to us. They see something in our lives that they connect with. We become a mentor by intentionally spending time with a young person…by showing an interest in their schoolwork, their hobbies, their friends. We are a mentor if a young person feels safe around us, important, loved.

You may already be a mentor to a young person in your church, on your street, in your extended family. I think that if we as a Church really commit to living Christ’s values as we walk a road with a young person, they will be able to grow up whole in spite of really difficult circumstances. I don’t think Roma knows about the significant role she played in my life. But I can be a Roma to someone else.

To get a free Heartlines Mentorship Starterpack with a Guide and DVD, go to www.forgood.co.za and click on “mentoring”. Otherwise, sms the word good to 32197. SMS costs R1.