Men Mentoring Men

"Masculinity...is finally not a thing to be learned, but rather a quality to be tasted or experienced. The masculine within is called forth and blessed by the masculine without." Leanne Payne



Mentoring men is a process in which the man being mentored absorbs masculinity from the one who is the mentor. It is similar to the young boy absorbing his father's masculinity down to the imitation even of his habits and behaviors. True masculinity is caught more than it is taught and the mentoring process involves a mentor walking with the one being mentored on a journey toward maturity.



In mentoring, we are affirming our belief in the incarnational truth that God really indwells the person we are mentoring as well as our selves. We believe that this indwelling God will transform us both from within. The mentor's role is to create an atmosphere in which the reality of the incarnation can be experienced by the one he is mentoring.



Training to be a mentor is not learning a system for understanding the person being mentored, but rather learning to trust God to work through you and guide your understanding about what He wants to accomplish in the person's life. God will draw from all that He has taught you and from all of your life experiences. The more of life you have experienced and the more you have learned, the greater is the reservoir inside of you that god can draw from.



In this seminar MEN MENTORING MEN you will be taught some basic material that has been developed in forty years of counseling/mentoring men. The intent is to enlarge your reservoir, to provide you with information about the issues that men face in our culture so that you will have a better understanding of the problems that the men you are mentoring face every day. This information is presented in a small group experience so that you experience how other men react to and incorporate the material into their lives.



The slogan for the small group experience is: "SCREW NICE1 BE REAL!" If we want the men we are mentoring to be real with us than we need to learn to be real with other men first, so we can model being real with the men we are mentoring.



Mentoring and discipleship in most Christian groups involved passing on a body of information, theological and procedural, to the people being mentored. Conceptual, objective knowledge about Jesus and the Christian life has almost entirely replaced attempts to walk with God, to experience supernatural power in daily living. We have mentored people to be "human doings" instead of human beings. We memorize Scripture and learn theological truth, but we don't experience spiritual reality in the context of a loving relationship with God and with one another.



If this is what you expect MEN MENTORING MEN to be, you will be disappointed. Mentoring incorporates a relationship that is authentic and real. Most men in our culture have not been emotionally connected with anyone, particularly their fathers and in MEN MENTORING MEN we work in and from a strong relational emphasis. We believe that authentic relationships and intimacy make the soil in which the human personality can develop healthy roots and grow to emotional and spiritual maturity.



As you embark on this journey, which is MEN MENTORING MEN, it is our prayer that you will experience more of the reality of the indwelling Christ and the power that He provides for you. We pray that the love of God and His wisdom and power will flow through you into the lives of the men He brings into your life to mentor.



This material was developed and written by Waylon Ward, Executive Director of Mercy Matters. For more information or to contact Waylon log on to http://waylon@mercymatters.com/ or http://mercymatters.org/ for information about Mercy Matters.