Younger readers won’t recall the lone ranger, a cowboy hero of the 50s, although they may be aware of the Johnny Depp film due this July.
It always amused me in that he had a partner called Tonto, thus rendering the description ‘lone’ somewhat inaccurate.
Howdi partner?
However, lone ranger has become a term which describes many people in ministry. They operate on their own and choose to do so, but some are lonely and would love a chance to work with someone. But I want to raise the issue of a mentor with whom you can have a conversation about your ministry or your own struggles and joys. Many people do not have a means of reflecting on what they are doing and never review how they are growing in their Christian walk. I would suggest that anyone (full-time or volunteer) who is engaging with young people will face issues that challenge them at many levels. They may well get to a point where they cannot see the way forward — that is not a good place to be.
More experience
It may be difficult to find anybody who can help, but where you look is important. Ideally it should be someone outside your area of ministry (and probably not a member of your church, if possible) with more experience of Christian discipleship than you (maybe not in youth ministry). It has to be someone of the same gender who can give you a regular time once a month or maybe less frequently if that suits you.
Your mentor is free to ask you anything about what you do and you should be free to ask him or her for some help in a difficult area. A mentor should be free to ask any ‘hard’ questions about what you do and why to help you reflect on your current practice and discipleship.
Accountability
Why is it helpful? Nobody has the complete book on wisdom. Somebody with more experience has probably been in your situation before and knows strategies you have yet to see. Your mentor may well be someone who has experienced the emotional highs and lows of ministry and has some experience on how to deal with that. Also it’s good to have someone to whom you can be accountable to save from wandering into habits which might do you and your ministry some damage.
So why not pray that you might be able to find someone who can draw alongside you and support you? Lone ranger — no. It’s good to talk.
Dave Fenton is the Training Director of Root 66, which runs training courses for youth ministries across the UK.
