Quick Info:
Number of weeks: 3
Price: $45
CEUs: 1.0
Required books?: No
Live video session?: No
Part of a certification or series of courses?: No
From a young person:
“When I was trying to figure this call stuff out, it would have been helpful to have someone just come alongside me and initiate that mentor relationship. That would have made me feel a little more supported and would have been an affirmation of the call placed on my life.” – Erynn
Young people need the example and experience of faithful adults to become mature Christians themselves. Your conversations with young people mean more to them than you know! Learn how to talk with a young person about their faith, their interests, and their calling in this mentor training course.
This three week course on mentoring helps adult laypeople form a mentoring relationship with a young person. It approaches mentoring as a dynamic relationship between a mentor, a young person, and the Holy Spirit which produces spiritual growth. By the end of this course, you’ll have the tools and resources to form faithful, meaningful, and dynamic mentoring relationships.
Concepts covered in this course are based on research and experience, and include 1) what mentoring is, 2) how to begin and maintain a mentoring relationship, and 3) common pitfalls. Discussion in the class is rooted in the participants’ own setting and experiences.
While the mentoring style taught in this course is primarily intended for one-on-one relationships, the concepts covered could be adapted for use in small groups.
Once you complete this course, you’ll become a lifetime member of the Timothy Circle online community of mentors and given access to the Timothy Circle database of volunteer, work, and school opportunities for young people.
This course is more laid back than some other courses on BeADisciple, but please plan to spend a couple of hours each week in discussion and reading through course materials.
It is not required, but it is recommended, that you read Spiritual Mentoring: A guide for Seeking and Giving Direction, written by Keith R. Anderson and Randy D. Reese, as a part of this course.
This course is eligible for 1.0 CEU.
About the Timothy Circle
The Timothy Circle is a sister program of BeADisciple and is focused on helping connect young people with opportunities that will further their understanding of their call. You can learn more about the Timothy Circle on the Institute for Discipleship website or by watching the following video about the program:
About the Instructors
Julie Lashier holds a Masters in Divinity from Asbury Theological Seminary, and she is ordained with the Evangelical Church Alliance and is a board certified professional chaplain. In her work in chaplaincy, as well as working with a mentoring program for college students, she has discovered a love and passion for the power of mentoring relationships. Julie lives in Winfield, Kansas, with her husband Jackson and their three children Ruthie, Rachel and David. It is a joy to watch them grow in this community. When she is not running after one of them, she loves to read, walk, garden and connect with friends.
Teryl Cartwright is an award-winning writer and teacher. She is honored to be a Timothy Circle instructor. To date she has interviewed over fifty people including bishops, conference leaders, local church pastors, authors, camping directors and campus ministers to bring the most complete and diverse thinking to Culture of the Call and Mentoring courses.
She has an M.A. in Critical and Creative Thinking from UMass Boston, winning their Critical and Creative Thinking Award for Personal and Professional Development. She has a B.S. in Education from Clarion University and has worked with the international Creative HE (Higher Education) group to come up with creative new ways to teach.
For ten years she worked as a curriculum writer for Group Publishing and then served seven years as Director of Adult Ministries in a thousand member church. She is a facilitator at the God’s Calling workshop offered biannually by the Susquehanna Conference Enlistment & Interpretation Committee of the Board of Ordained Ministry and loves the “iron sharpening iron” opportunities to learn from her course participants.
Her mentoring experiences vary from working one-on-one with a young student from third to ninth grade (and still keeps in touch) to working with one to four adults at a time to discern a potential call into pastoral ministry after a God’s Call event. She has also mentored Christian writers and taught mentoring to church leaders in the local church.
She is a member of Spry Church (UMC) in York, PA. Her volunteer work spans each generation by teaching children’s church, helping with the youth group, and teaching adults in Bible study. She also volunteers at the York Literacy council, writes some daily curriculum for church camp (this year for elementary, middle and high school students in Colorado), and helps out at a special needs camp.
Her teaching is based on active discussion, reflection, and questioning. An advocate of lifelong learning, she thinks the best part is seeing the wonders God reveals daily!
Past Students Said…
“Lots of helpful ideas to share with my mentors when I train them.”
“What I liked best about this course is that it led me to reflect on my thoughts of what mentoring is, especially in the spiritual aspect. While it dealt with familiar enough material, it also caused me to look at things in a different light.”
“Although the emphasis of this course was focused on a ‘one-on-one’ setting the environment of a class of youth I believe will provide opportunity to put into practice similar techniques and questions utilized in a mentor-mentee setting.”
“I appreciated the practical suggestions, such as the suggested question and conversation resources and Faith Journey material to use with youth.”
“I am grateful for the experience and the feedback from Julie and the fellow students. I feel better equipped and prepared to enter into thoughtful conversation with the youth.”
“What I liked best were the comments from the other participants. They offered encouragement and insight as well as positive examples. I am looking forward to mentoring a young person when God places them in my care.”
“Would recommend this to others for sure!”
