Mentoring:
Practical Suggestions for How To Do It!
Following our article in the May edition of Link last year, we thought
it was time to remind Leaders of the value of mentoring their young
people, so that young people can grow in all aspects of their life.
Whilst this may seem daunting and an added burden to an already busy
week, we hope you can see how rewarding this is and how it might make
such a difference in the lives of your young people, who may turn out
to be your future Leaders! In many ways mentoring is easier than it
sounds and you may find out that you are already doing some of it!
In this article we want to make some practical suggestions that you
might find useful in your Group. Some of the suggestions made may not
be practical for all Groups and some may need to be adapted. However,
we hope that you will consider the suggestions made and see how they
might be useful to you rather than just dismissing them. Mentoring young
people effectively will take time and you need to be prepared for this.
Developing our young people in Crusaders in a holistic way is important
and time invested now may mean that you have extra Leaders for your
Group in the future. Leaders who have a long term vision will see the
importance and necessity of mentoring.
So how about trying one of these suggestions in your Group?
1. Taking young people away for a weekend
Have you considered taking your young people away for a weekend or a
week? Groups with older teenagers have found this a valuable time in
getting to know and develop their young people. Including times for
team building and developing leadership skills will help in the mentoring
process, as the young people can try new things in a secure environment.
After each activity there needs to be time for a debrief which will
help young people recognise their strengths and weaknesses. If you would
like help in this, many Field Workers and experienced Leaders are available
to help. One such Leader helped take a Group away last spring and the
Group came back so inspired that the Leaders have had the confidence
to run two weekends of their own since.
2. Having small mentoring groups in a Leader’s home
You might also want to think about having small groups of young people
in a Leader’s home one night during the week. This works well
with year 9 and upwards. These times can be very informal - it usually
helps if food plays an important part! The young people can take it
in turns to cook or provide the food. As the evening progresses, the
Leader could encourage the young people to talk about their week, what
went right and what went wrong. In one group that have tried this approach,
they have discussed some important issues over the last weeks e.g. drinking
alcohol, use of money, choice of college, coping with parents’
expectations, non-Christian girlfriends, is professional sport a good
aim for a Christian? You might also want to consider introducing some
basic leadership training in these evenings. Crusaders have recently
produced their first training video on ‘Safety Matters’
which you could use. If once a week is too often, try meeting once a
month.
3. Encourage the young people to pray for others within the group during
the following week
Sometimes young people need to be shown that there are people beyond
themselves and so we want to encourage them to see others’ needs
rather than just their own. As they become more comfortable with each
other in the group, they may want to share prayer topics with each other.
Why not encourage them to commit to praying for at least one other person
in their group during the week? It is amazing how this works so well
in the most unlikely groups. Young people who would not profess to being
Christians have been happy to do this within some group settings.
4. Helping at another Crusader Group
It is important that any leadership training that a Leader does with
their Group is not seen to be in isolation. As young people learn new
skills they need to be able to practice those skills in a real setting.
This can be done by offering to take an evening for another Crusader
Group in the area. Young people can then work out the theory they have
been learning in the mentoring relationship and put it into practice
in a real situation. It is essential that they are debriefed afterwards
and encouraged to try it again putting into practice things they have
learnt from their previous experiences.
5. Cru Holidays and CRUSOE
There are a variety of opportunities for young people to be involved
in developing their skills on Cru Holidays. However, it is important
that mentoring is not just seen as young people learning new skills,
but is about them learning who they are and how they respond in a variety
of situations. Encouraging young people to go as a junior leader on
a Cru Holiday or on a CRUSOE will help them to develop their leadership
skills, but also discover who they are as a person and how their faith
interfaces with the world in which they live. For the young person to
get the most out of this experience, there would need to be good communication
between their mentor and the leader of the holiday, so that the training
experience can be designed for the individual.
6. Help young people to set their own goals
Most young people like to have goals to work towards and therefore it
might help if the Leader helped them to set long and short term goals
for their life. This should not be done in a legalistic way, but as
a help to the young person. Some young people have a dream or vision
of what they want to be or do, but have no idea how to get there. A
Leader acting the mentor role can help them to see how they might achieve
their dream by setting long and short term goals. These need to be specific
to an individual young person and could be to do with skills, behaviour,
attitudes or their faith. Regular chats assessing how they are getting
on will help the young person to focus on the present and the future
rather than on the past. Encouraging them to keep a brief journal or
diary may help in this process. It is amazing how youngsters will share
their thoughts with a diary and then find it easier to share them with
you. Hopefully this will give them something to look forward to and
a hope for the future.
These are just a few ways that we can mentor the young people in our
Groups. They have been used by some Groups already and have been found
to be successful. Why not have a go in your Group and see what you might
achieve in the lives of some of the young people?
Let us know how you get on!
Sharon Prior & Peter Jeffrey
(Vice-Chairman and Chairman of Executive)
