Missional Mentoring Grows in Ohio
Story by Heidi Shoemaker
In his book Mentoring by Design, Edward Marton, Ohio Conference Youth Ministries director, poses the question, “How could a congregation release and empower young people for ministry and disciples for service?” A young adult himself, Marton’s book looks at the model of mentoring from personal, biblical and Seventh-day Adventist histor- ical perspectives. His passion for mentoring is clear, and the book explores the foundation of these models, adapted and applied within the Ohio Conference by Marton, both as a senior pastor and youth director.
Mentoring by Design focuses on the development of mentoring and discipleship through the small group model. In the model, leaders mentor potential leaders to lead future small groups, while all small group members are discipled to follow Christ and serve Christ in the community. Marton coins this philosophy “mis- sional mentoring,” and has been using this model since his appointment as Youth Ministries director.
Last fall the conference Youth Ministries department produced a series of videos that explained the tenets of missional mentoring and how it was growing across the conference. “Think of the book of Acts— how Barnabas invited Paul into a missional mentoring experience. Then Barnabas invited John Mark, and Paul mentored Timothy. Core tenets of missional mentoring would be groups coming together for prayer, fellowship, sharing, support and accountability, to share Christ, through different types of activi- ties, with other young adults or others in the community,” explains Marton in one of the videos.
Young adults within the Ohio Conference have embraced this mentoring concept. The first video, Missional Mentoring: Ohio Young Adult Women in Ministry, shares stories of mentorship growing in Ohio. After moving for graduate school, Kim DeGracia was church hopping in northeast Ohio, looking for a “good fit.”
Saying of her small group at the Westlake church, “You all have really strengthened my faith in God and helped me realize that He shouldn’t be just a part of my life, but He should be everything to me.”
“Missional mentoring is going out of your comfort zone,” says Nicole Conn of the Athens church. “It means that sometimes when we are feeling vulnerable about sharing our faith, this is where God does His greatest work.”
Marton continually affirms young leaders across Ohio. “I’d like to invite our churches, and all our young adults, to continue to pray for the Holy Spirit’s leading as He designs for our communities to experience discipleship in missional mentoring.”
To learn more about missional mentoring, visit vimeo.com/ohiosdayouth. Marton encourages leaders to share their stories via social media with the hashtag #missionalmentoring, or via email information@ohioadventist.org.
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