The message of the first is that it’s better to give someone a hand up than a handout. Mentoring is excellent at this. Mentoring historically began with and continues to be focused on helping a person develop in a specific area. Most often it’s related to a career-field or a defined skill. The mentor is a guide who brings his career/skill based knowledge and experience to help the mentee. The objective is to help the mentee grow in that area. Both the destination and the agenda is set by the mentee. Conversations are framed around the questions and struggles of the mentee. The mentor only plays defense. In other words, the root of mentoring is focused on just a slice of the mentees life and its entire purpose is to benefit the mentee.

To be clear, mentoring is beneficial in many contexts. I’m not anti-mentoring! Mentoring has great merit! But Jesus did something different. Jesus made disciples.

When Jesus taught about fishing he said, “Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men (Matthew 4:19).” Jesus didn’t come to help them do what they were already doing better, he came to change the very purpose of their lives. Jesus’ essential message is to follow me to become like me, to trade in their purpose for His purpose, to exchange the temporal for the eternal.

Disciple making is very different from mentoring in at least four ways:

1. A disciple making relationship must be holistic. It’s not limited to a slice of life or specific skill but rather seeks to impact every aspect of life. It must be this way because who we are impacts everything – our attitudes, thoughts, words, and actions.

2. The discipler puts herself forward as the model. She echoes what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11:1, “Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ.” She doesn’t say, “Be who I used to be,” or “Do what I used to do,” but rather “Be who I am. Do what I do.” It requires the discipler to be mature enough to live a life worthy of reproduction and humble enough to share where she falls short. This posture is risky because a discipler offers herself and may be rejected. If a mentor’s knowledge or experience is rejected it doesn’t create such personal wounding.

3. Disciple makers play both offense and defense. On the offensive side, they have a destination in mind. They have an agenda that’s known and agreed upon. A disciple maker intentionally looks at the needs of those he disciples and develops a plan to help him grow. Many times the person being discipled doesn’t see or appreciate these needs, but it’s the job of the discipler to help him develop vision. Like a mentor, the disciple maker also plays defense, but he doesn’t let it take over the process. I wrote expansively about offense and defense HERE.