I am continuing to enjoy reading "Authentic Spiritual Mentoring"
Larry Kreider makes a very persuasive case for mentoring relationships in our lives. He backs up the case with lots of solid biblical evidence.
Kreider also focuses on the life of Jesus .He points out that He had an inner circle of friends,with whom he spent quality time.
Beyond the three Jesus mentored the twelve, and beyond them Jesus was also in relationship with the seventy two.
Jesus spent the majority of His time nurturing and preparing a few people to fulfil Gods purpose for their lives and to build His Kingdom.
He taught, prayed, modeled,not in a lecture theatre but in every day life situations whether fishing ,eating or walking together .Once he had done that He released and empowered those people to serve, and they in their turn preached the gospel,healed the sick,and met the needs of the poor.
I have long believed it is all about relationships! It really is! However, those relationships must have purpose and intention to draw people to Christ and then to make them mature disciples
Kreider mentions the Shakers an offshoot of the Quakers who shook in worship(shakers)and worshipped with ritualistic dance.In many ways they were fine people but they believed in celibacy above marriage ,produced no heirs and not enough converts and died out rapidly. Today they are remembered for their furniture
What is our legacy for future generations?
I was challenged by these words on page 37 of the book
" Church leaders have become so focused on programmes and committees that they have no time to train spiritual children to become future spiritual parents.This is a blight on the church,stunting future generations of leaders"
Time, perhaps to refocus on discipling and mentoring!
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