Ministry Monday: Get Yourself a Mentor

Welcome to the very first Ministry Monday here at Farr Functional Fitness!

If you have been reading our blog for a while or if you follow our Facebook or Pinterest pages you will know that Farr Fitness is a Christian gym ministry. Farr Fitness is run entirely out of our home. We have taken the lower story of our home and dedicated it to Christian ministry. As I said in the Ministry Monday Introduction, the "gym" portion of our ministry is just a means of getting people in the door so that we can love on them the way Christ has loved on us. Yes, we memorize Bible verses. Yes, we pray. Yes, we fellowship together as the body of Christ. Because at the end of the day we want people to see the light of Christ shinning through our lives and actions, the burpees are just a bonus. With that being said, lets jump in to today's Ministry Monday!

Today I want to talk to you about mentorship. 

To begin we need to first address what a mentor is, since it is a word that is thrown around often in today's society. Google defines a mentor as, 

... a person or friend who guides a less experienced person by building trust and modeling positive behaviors. An effective mentor understands that his or her role is to be dependable, engaged, authentic, and tuned into the needs of the mentee.

For once, I agree with google! I think that this is a great definition. But enough with the vocabulary lesson, what does mentoring have to do with ministry?

I believe that you cannot be in Christian ministry without mentorship. Sure you can try, but you will quickly fail. The Christian walk is incredibly difficult, especially in today's society. Even Paul, author of 14 books in the New Testament and arguably one of the greatest men of faith in Christian history,   had a mentor. His name was Barnabas and you can read more about their mentor relationship in Acts 9:26-30. 

So what does this have to do with us?
Hebrews 13:7 says, "Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith." So, it seems to me that we are told to follow in the path of those who have been here before us. 

Ministry isn't new. It has been done before. 

Maybe you are doing ministry in a new and different way (like having a garage gym ministry for military service-members and their families) but ultimately the goal is the same. It doesn't matter if you are trying to build wells in Africa or teaching the squat clean at Fort Bragg, the goal is to bring people to Christ and help them reach spiritual maturity. 

(Want to know more about spiritual maturity? Check out what the Navigators say here.)

So reach out. 

If you are ready to do ministry, reach out to someone that you respect and ask them how they do it. Learn from them. Put yourself under their authority. Learn from their wisdom and their mistakes. Listen to their critique and criticism with humility and grace. We have enough to fight in our society and culture without trying to reinvent the wheel while trying to serve Christ. 

We have been given Titus 2 men and women that can help us in our journey, we just need to be brave enough to ask. But be ready to go in search of them. Great mentors are not walking around looking for mentees. Great mentors are often incredibly busy... DOING WHAT GOD CALLED THEM TO DO! 

So go ask.

Find a wise woman in your church and ask if you can come clean house with her and discuss how to improve your ministry. Go with the guy who is rebuilding his elderly neighbor's fence and offer your free labor as you ask him about balancing ministry and family. 

Get out there, get in the game. Time is wasting and you don't have to waste anymore of it trying to redo what has already been done. Find your mentors and get to know them, build the relationships.

We are called to be fishers of men, so get fishing.