Making Disciples: Mentor Guide - Softcover

Willimon

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1501848186 ISBN 13: 9781501848186

Publisher: Abingdon Press, 2018

Synopsis

Discipleship within the context of the United Methodist heritage and tradition.

About this title

About the Author

Will Willimon is a lifelong Methodist. He is Professor of the Practice of Christian Ministry at Duke University Divinity School and retired Bishop of the North Alabama Conference of The United Methodist Church, after serving for twenty years as faculty member and Dean of the Chapel at Duke University. As Bishop, he led North Alabama's 157,000 Methodists and 792 pastors. He has authored roughly a hundred books and is widely recognized as one of Methodism's most insightful, inspiring, and challenging voices.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Making Disciples: Mentor Guide

By William H. Willimon

Abingdon Press

Copyright © 2018 Abingdon Press
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-5018-4818-6

Contents

Introduction, 
Session 1: Getting Acquainted, 
Session 2: God, 
Session 3: Jesus, 
Session 4: Holy Spirit, 
Session 5: Worship, 
Session 6: The Bible, 
Session 7: Saints and Gifts, 
Session 8: Ministry, 
Session 9: Baptism, 
Session 10: Spiritual Life, 
Session 11: Death and Resurrection, 
Session 12: Life in the Church, 
Session 13: The Faith Journey Continues, 
Confirmation Memories, 
Your Luke Journal, 
Your Prayer Journal, 

CHAPTER 1

Session 1: Getting Acquainted

The goal for this first session is to "break the ice" and establish a working relationship between you and your partner. Remember, your relationship is the most important aspect of this program. Relax and be yourself. You are an important contribution!

Mentor's Preparation

If you have not already done so, prepare your faith timeline. Follow the six steps suggested in question 9 on page 30. Your faith timeline will be a reference point for several activities in this course. To initiate the first meeting, complete the following tasks:

1. Write an introductory letter.

Send a letter and picture or a video introducing yourself to the student. The picture or video might show you in a setting that tells something about you — with your family; a favorite activity, hobby, or sport; or what you do at work. Ask the student also to bring you a picture of himself or herself when you meet. The pictures will remind you to pray for each other daily. (You will hear more about this later.) Offer significant factual data about yourself: work, family, places you have lived, hobbies, and why you are willing to serve as a mentor.

2. Schedule your first meeting.

Scheduling the first meeting by phone is OK. Agree on a neutral meeting site — neither your home nor on the student's turf, but somewhere like the church or a fast-food restaurant. Or, you might decide to attend some activity together (like a sporting event or a concert) as a way to break the ice.

3. Prepare a list of questions to ask your confirmand.

Your goal is to be an encourager to your confirmand's faith. Come with a list of questions and be the interviewer: What do you like about school? What don't you like about school? What's your favorite thing to do with your family? What are some of your hopes, dreams, interests, goals? Remember that most of us find it challenging to talk about our faith, so don't be surprised if some of your questions go unanswered. You are at the beginning of a journey.

4. Make a commitment to pray for each other.

When you exchange pictures, declare your intention to hold up each other in prayer. You will find it helpful to keep the picture where it is easily seen in the place where you pray. Daily prayer for your student is foundational to the mentoring experience. Through prayer, you will be reminded that you are mentoring a person through a faith-engendering adventure. Your goal is to become friends in Christ and fellow disciples on a journey toward Jesus. Be sure to ask your student to pray for you also, perhaps sharing how you will proceed in prayer as a way of giving your student some guidance.

Session Starter

In this first meeting, the entire session takes the form of a session starter. You want to communicate that you are a safe, secure person to spend time with and that you are motivated to participate. You are not teaching content; you are beginning to model a process. As you begin this relationship, take time to show encouragement as you participate with this young person in a faith-building experience.

Mentor/Student Time

1. A good way to get to know someone is to ask him or her questions. Share yourself and your experiences as a way of inviting the other person to be open with you also. Use the space provided to record some information about your partner.

• Tell me about your family.

• What was it like growing up in church?

• What are some of your best memories of church?

• What is a sad memory about church or family?

• What is/was school like for you?

• What is one of the best things about your life today?

• What are your hopes for the future?

2. Find out something about each other's faith experience and take notes on responses.

• Have you always been a churchgoer?

• What is important to you about being part of this church?

• When did you first know you were a Christian?

3. Talk about your expectations for this confirmation process.

• What do you hope will happen during this time? Are you excited or nervous?

• What are you worried about regarding this process?

• What is one question about the Christian faith, the church, or the Bible that you hope to have answered during our time together?

4. Together, choose a time when you will pray for each other. Use the pictures you have exchanged to help you remember.

5. Bring your Bible to church each Sunday during the confirmation process. When Scripture is read during worship, look up the passage and follow along in your Bible. List any questions you have about these passages and note your observations. Through journaling and taking notes, you will venture into Scripture together.

Close your time together by saying individual short prayers, asking God to be with you in this confirmation process and thanking God for your partner.

Your Luke Journal

Have you ever kept a journal? A journal is a place to record one's experiences while on a journey. Think, for example, of the world's great explorers and their writings. Without a record of their journeys, important details and discoveries of their trips would have been lost or forgotten. The same thing is true for you.

A Christian reads, ponders, and is shaped by Scripture. Throughout the coming weeks as you meet together, you will read the entire Gospel of Luke. Together, decide what your reading schedule will be (for example, one chapter every day) so that both of you are reading at the same pace.

As you read each chapter, record your comments, reactions, and questions in "Your Luke Journal" on pages 59-64. Then, take time at the beginning of each session to check in with each other and talk about your ideas. Discussion of your journal entries can be a great way to have meaningful conversations with each other.

CHAPTER 2

Session 2: God

This session helps you look at one of the three persons of the Trinity: God the Creator. Father may be our most familiar image of God. In the following sessions, you will have an opportunity to explore this and other names of God as mentor and confirmand study theology together.

Mentor's Preparation

In our understanding of Scripture, most of us need some help from our friends, particularly those scholars and interpreters who have spent their lives studying the Bible. Bring to this session a Bible commentary focusing on Luke, along with a Bible dictionary. (You may find it helpful to bring these each week as you reflect on your reading of the Gospel of Luke.) A Bible commentary provides helpful background information and additional insights into biblical texts. A Bible dictionary contains definitions of biblical words that may be unfamiliar.

A Christian is someone who worships, converses with, and joyfully serves God. Yet the identity and the expectations of God are not self-evident. Christianity is a revealed religion: We are dependent on God to reveal God's nature and will to us. The primary way God has self-revealed God's self to us is through the Bible.

Theology is made up of our words about God and God's words to us. The Trinity: Christians are monotheists. (We believe there is one God.) Christians are also Trinitarians. (We believe that the one God is known to us in three "persons" — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.) Thus, we believe that the one God is completely unified but also wonderfully diverse, experienced in three distinct yet united ways.

Let's face it, many people find it tough to talk about God. In this session, you might have to reach deep within yourself to reflect on the issues that are raised. Seldom in life are we encouraged to engage in God talk, but you are being asked to do so as we begin our discussion about God.

By the way, lest this task sound daunting, let's remember that all of us do theology, even when we don't know we are being theologians. Everybody asks questions like, "What's the meaning of it all?" Or, "What's the life worth living?" Or, "Is God loving?" And, perhaps most important of all, "Does God care about me?"

In the presence of another mentor, or in a quiet room somewhere, reflect on these questions as a means of preparing yourself to study a lesson about God. Keep notes of your reflections.

1. Where and when do you go to experience God? Is there a place in your home? Or, is there a beautiful place you have seen and can return to in your mind's eye? Do you find God most present to you during happy times in your life or during sad times? Or, is it perhaps in your church? on Sunday mornings in congregational worship? When do you most often feel near to God?

2. How do you know when you have experienced God? What does it feel like to you? What does this indicate to you about what God is like?

3. John 4:24 tells us that God is spirit, and we cannot see spirit. God cannot be seen, yet God is real and the invisible God has been made visible in Jesus Christ. What helps you believe that God created the world? What symbols convey the presence of God to you? What images come to your mind when you think of God?

Session Starter

When you are with your student and preparing to study the material together, consider posing these questions: If we were to pray to God, what names might we use to address God? What would we say to God in our prayer? What beliefs about God are made clearer to us in our names for God and in our conversation with God? Listen attentively to how your student expresses faith in God.

Mentor/Student Time

1. Check in with each other to see how the reading of the Gospel of Luke is progressing. Review notes in "Your Luke Journal" (pages 59-64). If either of you has questions, talk about them. What is your biggest challenge in reading Luke's witness to Jesus? You may find it useful to consult a Bible dictionary or a Bible commentary for help in answering some of your questions. However, it isn't necessary to answer all questions, week by week. You may address some and agree to think about others, or you may ask for assistance from another mentor pairing or group or your pastor. Talk about whether you are comfortable with the reading pace you have established and make adjustments if necessary.

2. Draw a picture or a symbol that depicts your earliest memory of God.

3. Draw something to show how you imagine God to be now.

4. Look at the two drawings or symbols. What do they represent? How are they different? How has your understanding of God changed through the years?

5. A creed is a brief, traditional, widely affirmed statement of our faith. Read the following creeds together. You will note that all of these creeds have a Trinitarian form, moving from a statement of faith, "I believe in God," to affirmations about God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The creeds will guide us in our theological reflection upon God. Circle the words or phrases in the creeds that you find interesting.

From the Apostles' Creed (Traditional Version)

I believe in God the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth.

From the Nicene Creed

We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.

6. Which of the references to God in the creeds do you find most relevant to your life at this time? Why?

7. Name any new ideas about God that are reflected in these creeds.

8. When have you felt that God was with you in a particularly real and vivid way? Have you ever felt like God has left you alone? Talk about when and where that feeling has occurred in your life.

9. Together, read aloud Psalm 33. List below the words or phrases that describe God or God's actions. According to this writer, what is God like? Do you see God in this way? Why, or why not? Is there any one word or phrase that stands out as you read and reflect?

10. Together, read aloud Genesis 1:27-31. According to this Scripture, we are created in the image of God. What do you think it means to be created in the image of God?

Close your session with prayer using some of the images of God you have talked about during this session. Thank God for this time together and ask God's blessing for each other in the coming week. Conclude by praying together the Lord's Prayer. This is the prayer that Jesus gave his disciples when they asked, "Lord, teach us to pray." Choose one of the following versions on this page.

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the
glory, forever. Amen.
(From the Ritual of the Former Methodist
Church)

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom and the power and the
glory,
forever. Amen.
(From the Ritual of the Former Evangelical United
Brethren Church)

CHAPTER 3

Session 3: Jesus

This session guides you in sharing what you believe about Jesus, the second person of the Trinity. It also looks at the presence of Jesus in worship, especially in the Service of the Lord's Supper (Eucharist or Holy Communion). You and your partner will attend a Communion service together as part of this session.

Mentor's Preparation

For question 7 under "Mentor/Student Time," bring a copy of the bulletin or worship guide from the Communion service you attended.

What is your mental picture of Jesus? Describe that picture using words, or if sketching is a gift of yours, draw your image of Jesus. Look around your church at the pictures and windows, noting all the different images of Jesus in your church. Which one is your favorite?

Session Starter

If you have carpentry skills, consider researching the size of the cross on which Jesus died and build one with your student(s). What would it be like to touch or carry a large cross? What would you learn about Jesus and your relationship with Jesus?

Mentor/Student Time

1. How is your reading of Luke going? Take a look at "Your Luke Journal" on pages 59-64. What have you learned about Jesus from reading the Gospel of Luke? Makes notes below. If either of you has questions, take time to share them.

2. Together, read aloud what each of the following creeds says about Jesus. Circle the words or phrases that stand out in your mind as interesting, unusual, or unclear. Note the things Jesus did or said that are mentioned in the creeds. Compare what you have learned about Jesus from reading Luke's Gospel with what is said (or not said!) in the creeds.

From the Apostles' Creed (Traditional Version)

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord:
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontious Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried;*
the third day he rose from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

From the Nicene Creed

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father;
through him all things were made.

For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary
and became truly human.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.

3. For exactly one minute, list every word you can think of to describe Christ.

4. As one of you reads aloud Philippians 2:1-11, the other should list the words Paul uses to describe Jesus.

5. Attend a service where Holy Communion is being celebrated. What images of Christ were incorporated in the service? Where did you notice these images (hymns, symbolic actions, objects in the church, sermon, and so on)?

6. Talk about the Communion service you attended. How did the service focus on Christ? What was your favorite part of the service?

7. Look over the worship guide from the Communion service you attended and note some of the parts in the service that addressed the following topics:

God's goodness
Christ's Sacrifice
Christ's work in cross and resurrection
Sin and forgiveness
God's grace
Christ's presence with us

8. John 3:16 is a well-known Bible verse. Why do you think so many people know this verse? What does the verse mean to you?

Close your session with prayer using some of the images of Jesus that you have talked about in this session. Thank God for this time together, and ask God's blessing for each other in the coming week. Expect Jesus to show up in your lives in the days ahead, even as he appeared to people as recorded in Luke's Gospel. Conclude by praying the Lord's Prayer together.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Making Disciples: Mentor Guide by William H. Willimon. Copyright © 2018 Abingdon Press. Excerpted by permission of Abingdon Press.
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Edition details

• Publisher: Abingdon Press
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1501848186
• ISBN 13: 9781501848186
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 72