Radical Mentoring is an awesome complement to a church with high small group participation. The reality of weekly/biweekly small groups is a relatively low level of commitment and transparency. There are exceptions of course, but that’s the norm, and that’s ok. But mentoring groups are meant to be a more intentional environment for diving deeper. And the result is that mentees then hopefully take what they’ve learned and raise the level of vulnerability and intentionality in their small groups. It’s a win-win.
One of our partner churches uses this paradigm:
101: Events – periodic events (i.e., men’s hike, women’s gathering, etc.) aimed to inspire people and encourage them to take a next step and serve or get into a group.
201: Small Groups – weekly small groups aimed to help people “learn about God, pray, eat, laugh, and share life” with others in the church community
301: Mentoring Groups – high commitment groups that meet for 3 hours, once a month, for 9 months, aimed to “yield a deeper walk with God and a biblical perspective on many aspects of life” under the guidance of older, wiser co-mentors.
