Benjamin Franklin said this about mentoring:
“There are two ways to acquire wisdom; you can either buy it
or borrow it. By buying it, you pay full
price in terms of time and cost to learn the lessons you need to learn. By borrowing it, you go to those men and
women who have already paid the price to learn the lessons and get their wisdom
from them.”
Mentors are important in our personal and professional
development. They not only share their
experiences with us, but they open doors by introducing us to people in our
field and sponsoring us to be involved in special projects or events.
Is it possible that one can outgrow her or his mentor? This is not only a possibility but very
likely. In the Book of Acts, we read the story of a mentor-protégé relationship
that prospered for a period but ended with some discord. We sometimes forget that Barnabas was a
mentor for Saul, the persecutor of the Way who would become its most articulate
spokesperson.
When Saul first appeared in Jerusalem after his conversion,
many of the church leaders feared him, but Barnabas recognized that his
experience was authentic and advocated for him.
Later Barnabas found himself working with the new church in Antioch and
sent for Saul to come join him and invest his gifts there. With the urging of the Holy Spirit, the
church at Antioch sent them off on what we call the first missionary journey to
the Gentiles. Their success led to a controversy
among Christians over the acceptance of these new believers based on their faith
alone, but Barnabas and Paul (as he had come to be called) stood together
before the leaders in Jerusalem to advocate for “an unhindered Gospel” (to use
Frank Stagg’s term). Only when they
planned for the next missionary journey did they experience a disagreement over
the inclusion of John Mark on the team.
They went their separate ways.
At some point the mentor-protégé relationship broke down
between Barnabas and Paul, but evidently neither was ready to acknowledge
it. Paul went on to mentor others, and
certainly Barnabas did as well. What can
we learn from this experience?
First, mentor relationships may only last for a season. There are critical points in our lives when
we need mentors. Most of us have had more than one mentor and each filled an important
role at different times in our lives. We
must recognize that situations change and relationships do as well.
Second, at some point the protégé has learned everything he
or she can learn from the mentor or at least decides that this is true. Even the best mentors have limited areas of
expertise and experience. Barnabas had opened doors of service for Paul and now
it was his time to do the same for others.
Third, although it may be difficult, those who are mentors
must recognize when it is time to move on from the relationship. This does not mean that the person will never
be a mentor again but just that they have invested all that they can in this particular
protégé. Let’s hope when it is time for
that partnership to end, we can find a better way to do it than Paul and
Barnabas did!
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