I’ve once again come to a point in my life where I find myself in need of a coach or mentor. Technically, I need a “mentor” immediately for my distance courses for seminary but that’s not what I am getting at here. I’m looking at the future and realizing there are kingdom opportunities in front of me that I want to dive into but don’t know how to proceed in a way that will be effective and efficient. I’ve been in similar situations before. As a young youth minister I was over my head in a mega church with high expectations and very little clue as to how to proceed. When I moved overseas I was facing a new culture and huge potential for reaching students who had never heard the gospel and I had little idea as to how to get to where I wanted to see things develop. In both of those situations God provided people who could give me guidance and support. I am praying once again for the same.
In my second month of full time youth ministry, as a 22 year old greener than Shrek, I was fortunate to have two people I could turn to. One Friday night I was stood at the church facing an empty school bus and a little more than half a dozen high school students who had turned up for the hayride event my predecessor had planned as the October outing. Knowing I could not put so few students on a bus that held 52 and make something wonderful of it, I went into the office picked up the phone and got advice. Tom was a colleague on staff and a former Young Life Area director. He was more than happy to advise me in situations like this. I explained the situation and he gave me clear direction. Send the bus driver home, climb into some cars, go bowling and out for pizza. Forget the failure of the planned event and make the most of the relational opportunity. Have a fun evening with those who showed up and forget about those who did not. He was right. The evening turned out great. Had I not made that call, I might have cut my losses and sent kids home – which would have sent the wrong message to those who showed up, namely that they did not matter. We had a great time. I also had another mentor at that church, one who reached out and took me under his wing. He was a YFC director who attended our church. Gordon took me to lunch quarterly for 9 years and coached me in so many ways. He asked tough questions and got me thinking about how to move forward in ministry.
When I got to England and worked for a much smaller church where we had several thousand students attending schools in walking distance, the outreach potential was huge. I had several people who took the time to meet with me, ask key questions, and provide guidance so that I could pursue the vision God had given me to reach the community. In the five years we were there, we started several new ministries and proclaimed the gospel to hundreds of students on a regular basis. In a post Christian culture that was hostile to the gospel, I can’t tell you there were massive numbers of converts but we saw real lives being transformed by the gospel. Some were skeptics who came to faith. Others were lost souls who learned of God’s love for them. And in the midst of all that, we strengthened the faith of students in our church such that many of them are building the kingdom across the UK today. None of that happened because of me. It was always because God provided spiritually mature guidance and support for us to press on with the task of making His truth known.
Now here is my current situation. I believe that God wants me to help older generations reaching younger generations. This means helping smaller churches engage in youth ministry without starting “youth programs”. It means helping churches that could have college ministries to start engaging with a nearby campus. It also means training ordinary people in congregations to stimulate spiritual growth in their churches in a way that would transform the very ethos of the church. The opportunities I see in our diocese (my ministry patch) are equally present in the province (nationally) and possibly beyond through strategic mission partnerships in other places around the globe. My challenge is to find someone who can be the coach I need to push me and guide me to use my time and gifts effectively. At the moment I am at a loss as to how to proceed effectively.
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