For some of these blogs, I have decided to take one of the questions from the self-care inventory and reflect on it. I hope to jump between categories so that I can create a dialogue about some of the critical questions around self-care that come up on the inventory. I try to look at it once a week, but there is a lot there and sometimes I know I won’t stop to really think about a question. The question this week is a simple one, ‘do I have a mentor?”
Everyone in ministry should at all times have a mentor. Its that simple. While our need for a mentor is greater earlier in our career and while we are younger, the need does not go away. Ministry leaders (or any leaders) who desire to practice good or even great self-care should have a mentor. A mentor is one who encourages, challenges, and teaches you. It does not have to be someone older, but it should be someone who is at least as wise as you if not wiser. The relationship does not have to be formal or hierarchical. Your mentor should not be a part of the ministry you serve and how often and by what means you connect is up to you. To not have a mentor assumes that you have learned all that you have learned and that you do not need a relationship in which someone pours into you. If all you do is give to others and you do not have someone (or multiple someone’s) that includes a mentor to pour into you, you are sunk.