Mentoring can be challenging. There’s no way around it. It’s messy, and there’s no way to guarantee that entrusting certain responsibilities to someone else will turn out well.
But that’s exactly what leaders must do if we want to develop other leaders. If this makes you uncomfortable, remember that at one point in your life as a leader, you were the one trying and sometimes failing.
Barnabas and Paul modeled this idea of empowering mentorship throughout Acts. Through Barnabas, we see a leader who mentored by empowering Paul and doing ministry alongside him. It was relationally-based development, not just verbalized leadership lessons from one to another. As we talk about Barnabas’ mentoring model, I want to explain three key practices:
- Refuse the fear
- Believe the best
- Share the platform