Mentoring in ministry is a MUST! It is especially important for woman as they navigate through the call. Over the years, mentoring has helped me understand myself as a minister and helped me learn to walk in the call of minister. For years I shied away from the title minister and pastor, but then I had a mentor who guided me in how to walk in the call and the title. I believe mentoring helps woman walk in their call.
Mentoring creates a space for those hard conversation that are needed for woman ministers to have–a safe space to ask questions and be vulnerable. Mentoring connects us to like-minded woman who are striving in the same sphere of ministry and are in need of commonality around them as well as friendship and support. It helps us not feel alone in this big ministry world by finding out that others have the same issues, thoughts and celebrations.
It gets us out of the “I am by myself” bubble because there is always other woman just like us going through the same thing.
The world will lead us to believe we are alone and that there are not many woman living out the call of ministry. However, mentoring opens our lives to other woman who have gone before us and are still trying to figure out the path of ministry. Mentoring helps woman in ministry see they are not alone.
Our mentoring group this year created a true sisterhood. Supporting and praying for one another. Showing the importance of encouraging and challenging one another to go to the next level and recognizing we are all in this together. Being each other biggest cheerleaders and recognizing this is not a competition but that there is enough ministry to go around for us all and to support each other.
Bianca Robinson Howard is children and youth pastor at Zion Baptist Church, Marietta, Georgia.