(Are they the same thing?)

Have you ever questioned just what discipleship and mentoring are and how they could affect your Christian walk?

As I was writing the post, What Is Titus 2 Mentoring, I repeatedly interchanged the names discipleship and mentoring. Even as I hit publish, I couldn’t stop wondering what the difference was between them…if they really were interchangeable or if they are two completely different things. I decided that if it was something I was confused about, others probably were too, so I should dig deeper.

Let me just state right up front that no matter how much I researched, I had trouble finding consistent information on discipleship and mentoring. Everyone seems to have their own ideas and definitions for these activities so I couldn’t find cut and dried definitions or program descriptions. Many lumped mentoring in with discipleship and many others didn’t acknowledge any form of mentoring.

I even found that the information about discipleship and mentoring varied greatly from denomination to denomination and even churches within denominations.

After much research and prayer, I would like to share with you what I have learned. I believe so strongly in both of these for spiritual growth and pouring into others!

My prayer is that you will be intrigued to look around your area to see if there are Christian discipleship or mentoring programs that you could benefit from.

WHAT ARE THEY?

DISCIPLESHIP

A follower; someone who learns and assists in spreading the doctrines (beliefs) of another.

Christian Discipleship: The process of assisting others to grow in Christ-likeness by teaching the foundations of the Christian faith; what we believe, why we believe it, and where to find it in the Bible. Discipleship is usually taught in a church classroom-type of setting.

A discipler is the person teaching. A disciple is a person receiving instruction.

“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
(Matthew 28:19-20)

MENTORSHIP

A mentor is someone who teaches, gives advice, and guides someone else along on their walk.

Christian Mentorship: The process of assisting others to grow in Christ-likeness by teaching them how to apply the doctrine learned in discipleship in daily, practical ways.

A mentor is a person instructing or doing the mentoring. A mentee is a person receiving instruction or being mentored.

“Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.”
(1 Corinthians 11:1)

HOW ARE THEY DIFFERENT?

Discipleship

Typically done in a classroom-type setting with a teacher/student relationship of both men and women. Discipleship starts with a Scripture or biblical principle and takes the time to explain it to discover what we believe, why we believe it, and where to find it in the Bible. Usually, a brief discussion is shared on why we need to know and apply this Scripture or principle to our lives.

Mentorship

Mentoring takes discipleship a step further by teaching how to apply biblical principles to one’s life. It usually starts with talking about the mentee’s life and what they are struggling with (marriage, being single, kids, finding and applying daily time with the Lord, etc). The mentor helps the mentee come up with a game-plan on how to do those things while keeping Christ at the center by bringing God's truth into the situation. Men do not mentor women and women do not mentor men.

HOW ARE THEY THE SAME?

Discipleship and mentoring approach the same issue (learning and growing in Christ) from different perspectives (learning the foundations of faith versus how to apply biblical principles to day-to-day life).

Titus 2 tells us that everyone (both men and women) are called to participate.

Both…

focus on growing in Christ-likeness (living a godly life) by putting feet to our faith as we are instructed to do in James 1:22. We are also told to show genuine love to fellow Christians. Teaching them about Jesus and how He wants us to live is a great way of blessing others.
help the instructor and the student to grow deeper in their faith/walk with God (Proverbs 27:17).

have fallen by the wayside in most churches. If there is a program in place it is almost always a discipleship training program and not a mentoring program.
provide accountability.

pray with and for you.

WHERE IS DISCIPLESHIP AND MENTORING IN THE BIBLE?

You will find the word disciple in the Bible just over 250 times, mostly in the Gospels and Acts (never in the Old Testament). At first, a disciple was those who followed and learned from Jesus. Later, any believer in Christ Jesus was called a disciple before eventually being called a Christian.

A few interesting notes: from the age of 13 on it was a normal lifestyle in the Jewish culture to learn under a mentor or teacher. John the Baptist has disciples (Matthew 11:2, 14:12) and so did the Pharisees (Matthew 22:16).

Jesus modeled both discipleship and mentoring throughout his earthly ministry. He helped his followers so they’d be able to help others, making them fishers of men. Jesus also commanded every follower to learn from him then teach others about him. (Matthew 28:19-20, Mark 16:15).

You won't find mentoring mentioned in the Bible. It is a concept of teaching how to walk out of your faith. Although it is never called by this name, we can find examples of this lifestyle throughout the Bible…Jesus mentored the disciples. Paul mentored Timothy and Titus. Naomi mentored Ruth. Elijah mentored Elisha (to name just a few).

IN CONCLUSION

Discipleship and mentoring are not the same thing just as apples and oranges are both fruits yet not the same thing. Both discipleship and mentoring approach the same issue (learning and growing in Christ) from different perspectives (learning the foundations of faith versus how to apply biblical principles to day-to-day life).

If you are looking for discipleship, ending up in a mentoring relationship won’t bless you. Likewise, if you have a Christian foundation already and are looking for a mentoring relationship, getting into a discipleship program will just frustrate you. You need to determine which is needed then look to see how God will make it happen.

"I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him." (John 13:15-16)

YOUR TURN

Have you been confused about the difference between discipleship and mentoring? Have you participated in a discipleship program when you were looking for a mentoring relationship instead?