In the past few weeks I have had two great conversations with other leaders about the practice of mentoring. As I hung up from one of those phone conversations, I happened to pick up Mark Searby’s new book, The Resilient Pastor (Resource Publications, 2015). Mark is a friend who teaches at Beeson Divinity School; he has worked with leaders in congregations for many years. So it didn’t surprise me to find a chapter on “mentoring relationships” in the book. Searby offers great insights into mentoring, saying that leaders need to recognize the importance of a “mentoring constellation.” A mentoring constellation reflects four intentional kinds of relationships that surround a healthy leader.

First, the leader should have a mentor—someone respected for spiritual maturity and wisdom. Second, the leader is to nurture a relationship with what Searby calls a protégé or a mentee. Serving as a mentor to someone younger is a significant investment in the future of God’s agenda in the world. Third, Searby suggests that a leader develops an ally, a peer mentor within the congregation with whom the leader meets regularly to process what God is doing within the congregation. Fourth, Searby proposes that a leader has a “confidant,” a peer mentor and trusted friend who is outside the congregation.

Imagining these four kinds of relationships creates a healthy web of relational engagement—receiving, giving, and sharing with other leaders. These relationships are voluntary but intentional, built out of mutual trust and mutual commitments to be faithful disciples. Searby proposes five crucial components which are important in being a mentor, a mentee, an ally, or a confidant: compatibility, commitment to a meaningful relationship, responsiveness, accountability, and empowerment.

When I think of my mentors, of those who serve as trusted friends, and of those who invite me to be their mentor, I am amazed by the way God uses this web of relationships to shape my life and participate in his work in the world.

How about you? Who are the mentors in your life? Who are your peer leaders—confidants and allies? And, thinking of the next generation—who are you mentoring for the sake of the kingdom?

May God bless your practice of mentoring!