John Knox had two mentors. One is unknown to the history of the Church. One is a legend who has a theological system is named after him. This blog post will interact with Knox’s “unknown” mentor.

George Wishart

As stated above, this guy is unknown in the halls of church history, but he was defined by two things: A love for the gospel and a fearless attitude. It was at the feet of Wishart that Knox heard the gospel and the forgiveness that is found only in Christ alone. Wishart preached even when God’s enemy, Cardinal David Beaton, zeroed in on him. This Cardinal was “a tyrant and inquisitor, sumptuous and ruthless, with his guard and his ladies and his seven bastard children.”

One disturbing example will suffice:

“On January 26, 1544, Beaton ordered four men hanged for breaking Lent and refusing to pray to the saints. Not satisfied, he arrested one of the men’s wives, a young mother, for the crime of praying in Christ’s name instead of Mary’s during her labor pains. Beaton’s henchman seized the woman newborn infant and condemned the mother to public drowning.”

So you can imagine that as Wishart’s popularity spread, Beaton’s jealousy was kindled. Finally, after spreading rumors that the controversial preacher was plotting his assassination, Beaton captured and chained Wishart to be burned at the stake.

Knox’s mentor finished well. He said to his executioner,

“For this cause I was sent that I should suffer fire for Christ’s sake. I fear not this fire. And I pray that you may not fear them that slay the body, but have no power to slay the soul.”

The death of his mentor ignited his passion for the gospel and for his native Scotland.

Maybe you are thinking, “I am not the mentor-type.” Well, if you are follower of Christ, then you are. Or another way to say it, “You are commanded to be.”

Matthew 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…”

9 keys for being a good mentor:

Follow up.

Indifference has no place in a mentoring/discipleship relationship. Mentorees often become distracted or overly zealous and are in need of a follow-up poke. The form of this “poke” is usually irrelevant (whether phone call, text, e-mail or drive-by), but a great mentor knows when and how to give a timely poke.

Remember every mentoree is different.

When I was a youth pastor, I remember a young man who was a joy to mentor. He was passionate and attentive. I was like a real-life Sponge Bob (without the annoying laugh) who absorbed all my advice and viewed me with unjustified adoration.

Reality check: NOT ALL MENTOREES ARE THIS WAY!

Most mentorees desire growth but need to be pushed and sometimes even coddled. The wisdom of God is needed to know when to throw down the “tough love” card or “hold their hand” through another providential challenge. The point is this: Don’t try to force a square peg into a round hole. Pray for the wisdom to find a square hole. Even the square hole requires greater effort and creativity from the mentor.

Be patient.

Great mentors remember that they themselves are journeying to maturity. Therefore, just as God is ‘compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love’ (Ps. 103:8) with us, so we must show this type of patience and long-suffering with those God calls us to guide.

Informal mentoring is better.

I was once told that “the best mentor is the mentor who can mentor without the individual knowing they are being mentored”. Now I believe this advice is mostly unrealistic, but I agree with the main concept: Informal mentoring is more realistic and can produce more authentic moments (from both the mentor and the mentoree) than formal discipleship.

For example, weekly meetings often produce consistency, but they also program both parties to bring their “A” game each session. Anyone, by the own strength, can “will” themselves for two hours to keep their emotions in check. But hiding your habit of “cursing” while hanging out with twin 2 year-olds all day is a different environment entirely. This is not meant to discredit the effectiveness of some formal modes of discipleship, but the more informal you are, the most authentic you become.

Be available.

Answer your texts. Respond to your e-mails. Call your mentoree back, even if it is only to say, “I can’t talk, but I will at a later time.” Certainly, this takes effort and sacrifice, but our Savior laid down His life for ours, how could we not make time to return a phone call?

Know when to say “no”.

The goal of mentoring is holistic maturity. For some, maturity is the faith to say “yes”. For others, maturity is having the gumption to say “no”. Still, for another group maturity is discerning when to say “yes” and when to say “no”. When you say “no” to a mentoree, you teach them the discipline of prioritizing, which is necessary for any degree of spiritual development. Speak the truth. And speak it in love.

Invite them into your life.

Jesus walked with his disciples for 3+ years. How amazing it must have been to observe the God-man’s morning routine and how He interacted with the unlovely of the world! In other words, the disciples were the recipients of the most authentic type of mentoring, the dormitory model (as I call it).

But is this a realistic model for mentoring in the 21^st century? Well, yes and no. Though a consistent “Francis Schaeffer model” is probably unrealistic, I believe providing authentic windows for the mentoree is possible. For example, invite the mentoree to observe family worship time or game night. Ask him/her to think with you on a family conflict or work issue. Go out on a double date with him and his wife/girlfriend. Again, providing authentic windows is uncommon and uncomfortable in evangelicalism today, but the Great commission was never meant to be as simple as passing out a tract.

Pray daily for your mentoree.

This is self-evident to most mentors, but how quickly we default back to self-sufficiency and our own wisdom.

Don’t replace the local church

It is possible for the mentor to replace the nurturing function of the local church. How? Because a great mentor is available for counsel. A great mentor will be at your side at the hospital. A great mentor will answer your phone call at 2 am. These are necessary qualities for all mentors. But a great mentor will not allow themselves to become a crutch or a listening ear to the complaints expressed by the mentoree. A great mentor will be the loudest cheerleader for the local church. And finally, a great mentor will encourage the mentoree to reach out, mentor others in the church and seek counsel from other older men/women in the Christian faith.