Since moving into the Orr residence, they have welcomed me with open arms, letting me into their daily lives, letting me see their strengths, their weaknesses, and allowing me to become their pseudo son. When I came here, I came with the knowledge of what North American mentorship looks like, what I did and didn't like about it, and honestly expected nothing more than that while living in Uganda.
I was wrong.
From what I'd experienced, the most genuine mentorship existed in the form of scheduled meetings, where good and godly conversations would ensue, and I would learn a lot, and I would find accountability through these godly individuals. This was great - especially when my mentors never seemed to be running down the same checklist every time, as if our meetings were more of a task than a natural conversation/activity occurring.
But is it true mentorship when you have to put the label of mentorship on it? I have always been discontented with the North American view of mentorship. It feels too mechanical, too impersonal. Is mentorship relegated to weekly/monthly checklist checkup meetings where only specific topics are discussed (particularly the taboo topics)? Is this the type of mentorship the Bible records? Or is mentorship something much greater?
Joshua was Moses' assistant (Exodus 24:13), someone who carried out Moses' commands (Exodus 17:10), someone who was given authority from Moses (Numbers 27:20), someone who was Moses' successor (Numbers 27:12-23).
12 sinners were Jesus' disciples, apostles, and followers (Mark 3:16-19), people who carried out Jesus' commands (Mark 6:7-13), people who were given authority from Jesus (Matthew 10:1), people who were Jesus' successors (Acts 1:8).
Timothy was Paul's missionary partner, protégé, and pseudo son (Acts 16:3-4, Philippians 1:1, 2 Timothy 1:2), someone who carried out Paul's commands (Acts 17:15 & 18:5), someone who was given authority from Paul (2 Timothy 4:2, 5), someone who was Paul's successor (1 Timothy 1:3).
I think it's easy to see a trend here. The mentor chose a mentee, and the mentee followed the mentor; the mentor gave tasks for the mentee to complete, and the mentee accomplished those tasks; the mentor gave the mentee authority to complete those tasks, and the mentee used that authority to finish those tasks; and the mentor eventually left the mentee in charge of his ministry, and the mentee was the mentor's successor.
This mentorship involved more than just conversations.
I'm not too sure about Joshua, but I do know that both the disciples and Timothy left their homes, their jobs - their life - to follow and live alongside someone, from whom they learned through good godly conversations. The disciples, Timothy, and Joshua all followed their respective leaders, whether he was the leader of Israel, the Rabbi who redeemed mankind, or the church planting missionary. The followers were able to see their strengths (all) and their weaknesses (except for Jesus). They were involved in their leaders' daily life. They planned and organized events together, they performed tasks together, they dined together, they prayed together, they taught together.
In short, they were given daily transfusions of their leaders' DNA. By observing their leaders' lives and by being a part of their lives, they were able to gain knowledge, wisdom, insight, understanding, discipline, correction, passion, and character. Through osmosis, they were given daily doses of their mentors' DNA to transform and conform their followers into more of who they were, without making them lose their own identity and individuality in the Body of Christ.
Sounds a lot like Romans 8:29, doesn't it?
In this verse, Paul states that we are being conformed into the image of Christ. How does this happen other than by learning from Him, by observing what He did while He was here on earth, by being disciplined and corrected by Him, by gaining His passions and godly character - by living with Him. Every. Single. Day. We cannot be conformed to the image of Christ and have His DNA transfused into who we are without being in close proximity with Him and by imitating Him (Ephesians 5:1). The same is true of any earthly mentor.
This is the type of mentorship I have experienced since coming to Uganda. This is the model of mentorship the Bible describes. This is what I rarely find in North America.
I do not want to dismiss any time that any of my mentors have taught me or helped to shape me in different ways over the years. In fact, I wish to thank them for their time, energy, and effort they have taken out of their lives to pour into me their knowledge, wisdom, correction, and training. I look forward to meeting with them again and learning from them in any way possible.
What I do want to say is that through living in the daily life of the Orr residence, I have learned more through watching and engaging with Mark and Cherilyn than I ever have through a conversation at a coffee shop. I have been able to see their strengths and their weaknesses, their passions and their dislikes. I have been disciplined and corrected by them. I have been trained by them through formal meetings and informal conversations in passing. I have been infused with their DNA.
The closest idea in North America I can find to the model of mentorship I find in the Bible is an internship, which generally lasts no longer than a year. I understand that the North American lifestyle and culture makes it very difficult to pick up our livelihoods to go live with someone else. And perhaps that is just not a plausible idea. (Contextualization is very important, lest I forget.) However, I think it is important for us to realize how far away from the biblical model of mentorship we have come and find solutions to a more biblical approach - one that Jesus Himself modelled - to mentorship. What those solutions are, I don't have the answers to; but if we are to see a move back to a more biblically supported way of mentorship, instead of continuing with our old methods of scheduled meetings and conversations, perhaps we should give more thought into how we can shape and contextualize the biblical model of mentorship into our North American culture.