Mentorship steps

Mentorship Hopes and Goals:

  • College Students will have a better understanding of the Gospel and it's implications in their lives.
  • Students will learn how to study Scripture and the importance of being in the Word.
  • Students will understand the importance of being involved in a church community.
  • Students will get to walk alongside someone who is older and learn from them.

What do I do before I start to mentor someone?

  • Participate in Mentorship training and read / review the training materials

Mentorship Steps: (Once you have been paired with a student)

Step 1- Determine where the student is spiritually:  Are they interested in learning more about the Gospel but they are not Christian?  Are they a new believer who doesn't know how to study Scripture?  Did they grow up in church but have no idea how to study the Bible?  Here are steps to help you determine where a student is:

  • Walk them through the Bridge Illustration (Handout and Training Video) and share the Gospel with them.  Use this as an opportunity to clearly explain the Gospel.  At the end, ask what they think about the Gospel and where they are in regards to believing in Jesus Christ.  You can use their answer to determine where you need to start.  Even if the student you are meeting with grew up in church, we cannot assume that they understand the Gospel... so always start here!

Step 2 - Determine Goals and Discuss Expectations: When will you spend time together and how long will those meetings be?  What will your time together look like?  Set a time limit, at first.  For example, determine that you will meet for a semester and then evaluate after that if you want to continue meeting.

  • Formal Meetings: when you sit down to discuss something specific (Bible study, discuss a book, etc)
  • Informal Meetings: when you invite the student into your life to spend time with you.  Informal mentorship is an essential opportunity to let a student see how you live your life.  This allows you to pour into a student without having to alter your schedule.  You invite them in to spend time with you and your family, to run errands, to help you with a task or a project, etc. 

Step 3 - Decide what you want to do when you meet:  Here is a list of tools that we have found to be helpful when meeting with students:

  • A New / Young Believer: Growing In Christ - If you are meeting with a new believer, we recommend starting with the Growing in Christ booklet.  This is a 13-week study on Assurance and Lessons on Christian Living.
  • Discipleship Guide - The UNT BSM developed this 12-week study to help a student build a foundation of Biblical truth.  We start here with almost every student!  Each week covers a different topic and provides Scripture and helpful discussion questions.

Once you have completed one or both of the previously listed resources, here's what we recommend:

  • Study the book of John using GULSA (GULSA Handout - scroll down to the resource section for examples for John 1, 2 and 3).  We have found that at least 95 % of college students (even those who grew up in church) are not familiar with the Bible and do not know how to study Scripture.  GULSA is a Bible study method that is easily taught and teaches important principles that can be used every time someone studies the Bible.  Please watch the training video and here are some examples to review to help familiarize yourself with this method.  The UNT BSM uses this method for all of our BSM Bible studies. We have found it to be extremely helpful to work through books of the Bible.

Step 4 - After you have spent time investing in a student, encourage them to start mentoring someone else within the church or a younger student on campus.