Pass it on over again

NORSK

Quite early in this series on “Mentoring”, I wrote a reflection stating that the mission of a mentor is to pass on his own experience. Of course the title of the posting was ‘Pass it on!’, and Timothy received the same charge from Paul:

Take the things you heard me say in front of many other witnesses and pass them on to faithful people who are also capable of teaching others.
2 Tim 2:2

This kind of reproduction is the principle of all life. Churches, which lose a generation, struggle to “pass on” the life. Often the best they can hope for is to reach people of their own age. It is interesting to observe the clear instruction Timothy received with regard to “selection”. What he had to pass on, had to be given to people who were

• faithful
• capable of teaching

I have some good friends who see this as their mission: To identify those who are faithful and capable of teaching. From there on they invest time and energy in these disciples. Jesus did that. There is much to suggest that Paul was not always successful with the selection of the disciples he mentored. Several of them "left" him (1). For some this also meant turning away from the faith (2).

A few days ago, we launched our mission strategy (3). One of our focus areas is 'train the trainers'. This principle finds biblical support in the letters to Timothy! 

'Manna' for today:

Train the trainers!

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(1) 2 Tim 1:15
(2) 2 Tim 4:10
(3) You can watch the launching of our mission strategy plan HERE