5 thoughts on “A Generation Without Mentors”

1. This is a defining problem, I believe, of the last two generations. It is something that plauges every aspect of life. Personally, this is a huge deal for me as I’ve been without a mentor for some time now.

2. I recently heard someone say that our generation is not taking advantage of all of the mentoring opportunities around us. This person suggested that rather than searching for one person, aka a mentor, who can guide us through all of life’s challenges, we need to seek out many people. One person is not going to be an expert in marriage AND business AND finance AND ministry, etc. Instead, we need to seek out the marriage ‘mentor’, the leader ‘mentor’, the finance ‘mentor’, etc. And these guys – these mentors – have made themselves available to us, where ever we are. These experts have written books for us to explore, they’ve even provided questions in their text for us to grapple with. If only our generation would take advantage of these ‘relationships’ with these mentors.
   I know I say this to Scott & Rob who are both book-nuts! You guys read a ton. But many in our generation do not read at all. If they are reading it is Harry Potter and Twilight. Not that there is anything wrong with leisure reading, but we are missing out on a great resource by not tapping into the ‘memoirs’ of these mentors.
   My suggestion: Grab a book. Get a couple of peers to read it with you. And start talking. Challenge it. Wrestle with it. Apply it to your context. And, just like that, a new peer-mentoring relationship has begun with an expert right at the center.

3. Before we talk about a generational deficiency, we must first determine why we need to have a mentor. I think it’s to be become better at whatever you love to do. I have several mentors related to my occupation. They teach, advise, correct, and push me. I strive to be more like them.

   So, what’s the role of a spiritual mentor? I guess it’s to teach, advise, correct, and push. The difference, it seems, is that our finite occupational world has some limits and sometimes an end point or pinnacle. That is not the case with our boundless and mysterious spiritual journey where our goal is not to become like our mentor, but our Savior.

   I was born on the front end of Generation X and the problems of mentoring are not generational, but tied to position and our church culture.

   I was choir president in my high school youth group and that afforded me the privilege of being mentored by my church’s music minister; and it was a rich experience that only one of a group of over 120 was able to experience each year. I’m sure there are other cases where an election to a position or volunteering for a ministry leads to a unique opportunity to learn, in a more formalized setting, from those who would be considered ideal mentors. But these are special cases, and not a good model to use if our desire is to foster an environment of honest, raw, transparent relationships – for everyone – with the goal of becoming more like Christ.

   The cultural experience within the churches I’ve attended has been heavy on teaching the mechanics of “spiritual growth” and helping identify right and wrong as a collective body. That’s all well and good, but I’m finding the idea Scott and Maxie have suggested of “living life together” holds tremendous promise for all generations. I’m not quite sure how or if formalized mentoring fits in to that, but in the cases where I have been walking with a few close brothers in times of both difficulty and joy with brutal honesty, God works in very exciting ways.

   What was the question?

4. Mentor…dead end of a living end?
   Mentoring simply put is someone who tells the willing where the land mines are at. I know…again, is it that simple? Let me explain (again I go off the fly off the end of the handle.) Now I wonder where I learned that saying from? To fly off the end of the handle is an explanation of loosing control, but then; that is only part of my loosely focused picture but I’m getting there. For decades I worked my with my father on the family farm learning the business but more importantly the family history which should teach the next generation what not to do. You would hope right? Within these life lessons of faith and wisdom my father tried to put it in the easiest terms which I would put to memory and more importantly put to use. However, and by my own admission; I have not kept completely up to text with the younger generation but to change the original would cause it to loose its impact. So what is the middle ground? I can’t remember who said it once but he gave and explanation on how to get to his home which I use all the time, and it goes; “when you get to the fork in the road just take it.” The endless lines of the willing formed a line to look for a greater meaning. Are all generations equal to the challenge to build the bridge of communication between time and text so we can understand each other? Mentoring is just that…communication of knowledge tempered by the wisdom of time and the willingness to apply the lesson by the student.

   I’ll toss out the first question…who has the question? Or are you willing to be patient as I try to understand? We are the new Rome..which means the games have not changed, just the generation. I am not dead or dying and I’m full of life just as much as the three to five generations behind me…and don’t treat me like a national archive but as a resource just waiting. Okay young people, tag….you’re it.
   Seven

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