A Note to Mentors

CityLife is a transition phase, not just for the college grads and vets who are part of the program, but for the city itself. The impact that this program could have on your city is tremendous.

The CityLife Covenant

Each grad or vet that becomes a part of CityLife, makes these commitments:

"By God's grace,

  1. I will pursue Christ and walk with him with will all my heart.
  2. I will pursue excellence in my workplace and profession.
  3. I will live and labor among the lost, especially among my peers.
  4. I will team with others of like heart and purpose.

Your role as a mentor is not the same as a teacher. It might not even be the same approach that you usually call "mentoring." You will be doing more shepherding. More "Yoda-ing." More mentoring the group as a group. Here's what we mean:

Typically, teachers have all the knowledge and are eager to transfer it to the student in as many ways as they can create. As a CityLife mentor, it will be different. You will help them embrace experimentation and not be afraid to fail; to learn from what they experience, enabling them to process what they learn as a group, owned by the group.  Not you.

  • As a CityLife mentor, you will be shepherding, not teaching. Guiding, often not giving answers.
  • You will be helping this group to learn from life and the Scriptures using the principles of "action learning," not from books or a formal training curriculum.
  • You will not be working to have them join NAV staff or other Navigator ministry.
  • They will not be doing any of your work for you.
  • You will stay connected to them with a dotted line: connected but not dominating.

Mike Jordahl has captured the heart of approach well. Click here to watch a brief video. It gives some background on CityLife plus describes the job we are asking the mentors to do.

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All that being said, however, we will need to install some structure in the first few months of the program. This is Phase I and it is devoted to helping the group get set up as a distinct group, establish their values and norms and expectations of one another, as well as establish themselves as a CityLife group in their city.

Phase II is the heart of the program, lasting from 9-21 months, depending on the plans and desires of the group. Phase III is the final month of the program, where you will be helping them prepare to fire you. That's the goal: You fired as their mentor.

Back to Phase I, the first three months. You will help the group figure out how they will be a group. During this time, we are asking them to gather weekly to focus on God and the Scriptures and themselves as a group. You may or may not want to join them. They may call these gatherings "meetings" or "focus time" or something else. Whether it is early in the morning or one evening over dinner and after-dinner time or a Saturday morning session of prayer and talk, it's up to you and them to figure it out together.

What to discuss? During the first phase we have some structured ideas. Because this approach to training is a bit unusual, it will take some time to explore what it all means and to adapt to it. We are setting up a series of activities and assignments that begin to set the stage for later.

The topics for Phase I

  • How "action learning" works and what it means to "learn from life"
  • The four CityLife Covenants and what they mean, really mean. This will include:
    • Pursuing and walking with Christ in this new phase of life: what really works
    • The dignity and value of work and how it fits into the advance of the Gospel
    • Living and discipling among the lost
    • Team Dynamics - Expectations and conflict management (which is, after all, a stewardship issue - how we handle it matters to God)
  • What some people call "the swamp," i.e. the awkward stage of life where suddenly there are no majors to fulfill, no class advisers to consult, fewer "officers" to report to, no one to tell you what to do in the few unstructured hours of your now very busy days
  • How the team will operate, expectations and logistics

After that first three months, when you've moved into Phase II, it's up to them to design their times together. Your job will be to help them embrace the idea that every day is part of learning what God has for each of them, now and as they move through life. This philosophy is fundamental to CityLife. You may not need to be with them each week; they may try something entirely different for their group time (fixing dinners for the homeless? Worshiping with another team of some sort? Some combination of any of these? Help them to think outside of their box.) You do not need to meet with the team members individually. You may decide to do so and/or try to connect them with someone else. In these one-on-one times, the same approach should prevail: you may have a lot to teach and to share, but it needs to be on their timetable. If you line up others to meet with the team members, you will need to pass on to them our commitment to this approach.

Other topics

Having laid the groundwork for "learning from life" and putting a heavy emphasis on reflection, self-discover and bringing life's questions back to the Bible, we recognize that there may still be occasions to "teach" in the more traditional sense of the word. People settling into life may have questions about . . .

  • Setting a budget
  • Time management
  • How to find a mentor, wherever you are
  • Career skills
  • Relationships and heart issues
  • Others?

These are all good topics and may be helpful to pursue as needed.

Desired outcomes

It is our hope and goal that by the time of your firing the following will be in place:

  • Genuine growth in all four areas of the CityLife Covenant
  • Full ownership of their own future development as a lifelong learner
  • Deep conviction on the "life-to-Bible" connection: i.e. when life throws us questions and challenges, we turn first to God and first to His book. Life drives the curriculum and God provides wisdom as we go, just in time
  • Ability and equipment to do the Nav calling as they go forward throughout their lives, always teaming with others of like heart and purpose

"to advance the Gospel of Jesus and His Kingdom into the nations through spiritual generations of laborers living and discipling among the lost"