Building Relationships and Mentoring

We are called to build a network of relationships so we can build one another up in the faith through friendship and mentoring! (Fishers of men) Most people are intimidated by discipleship out of ignorance, fear, unawareness, or just not wanting to be bothered out of their “comfort zone.” The term, discipleship, has been viewed as something only for the spiritually mature, or just for certain people, such as Sunday school teachers and Bible study leaders. What we need to see is Barnabus and Paul, and, later, Paul and Timothy, where the elder, more experienced Christian takes the inexperienced Christian under his wing, and helps him to become a better, deeper, more effective Christian for God’s glory. Keep in mind that Paul was highly educated and an experienced leader, and although Barnabus may have not been educated formally as Paul was, or at Paul’s level in the world, Barnabus was Paul’s superior in the experience and knowledge of the Word. Friendship, knowledge, experience combined into mentoring, and the quality of the relationship are the keys for this spiritual growth to have happened. Discipleship equals friendship with a Christ-centered focus. However, it is very important that we make disciples in His image, not ours! (Taken from article What is Discipleship? by Richard J Keicer)

When we looked at the health of Brookwood one of the things many people mentioned was that they did not feel like they had close relationships with others that attend church here. Our goal was to help in this area and one of the ways to do that was to create growth groups. The Growth Group is designed to allow a small intimate group of people to grow closer to God and each other. The main goal of the Growth Group is to build relationships. Those relationships allow us to be open and honest, or transparent with each other, in turn allowing us to grow closer to God.

Find out what Growth Groups have formed out of your lifegroup and start building relationships for God.