Complete Dissertaton - Final for Print with new editing - Dallas ...

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Stanley and Clinton report that “two out of ten males seem to have a
meaningful, open, and safe relationship where both parties share a trust and commitment to
mutual responsibility for one another. Six out of ten women have this. Yet every man and
woman needs at least one peer relationship (other than a spouse) like this where there is
continuity and proximity in relating to one another.” 76 Author Dr. James M. Houston states
this about mentoring:
…the fact that mentors are now being prominently sought reflects first upon
the alienation of our age. It also reveals an indifference to history and past
traditions, for we forget today the long tradition of apprenticeship that was the
basis of craftsmanship and of the role played by elders in many
societies.…Wisdom, personified in a mentor, is thus the way of excellence
(aretê). It is a friend who – not what – helps me to live life more fully and not to
feel cheated personally in the process. 77
As author Carol Brazo states, “We all want a mentor. We want someone to show us how
to live and how to love. We want to know everything, from how to bake bread to how to
love a difficult child. We were created to live in community, and it is in community that
we frequently learn our most valuable lessons.” 78 I would suggest in light of her
statement, that we were created for community and it is in Christian community that we
learn how to live in a manner pleasing to God.
Definitions of Mentoring
Dallas Seminary trains men and women for Christian leadership and service
worldwide. Bobb Biehl states, “The linchpin of Christian leadership development is the
mentoring process.” 79 However, mentoring, it seems, reflects as many definitions as people
76 Stanley and Clinton, Connecting, 167.
77 Houston, The Mentored Life, 16.
31-32.
78 Carol Brazo, Divine Secrets of Mentoring (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2004),
79 Bobb Biehl, Mentoring: Confidence in Finding a Mentor and Becoming One (Nashville:
Broadman & Homan Publishers, 1996), 144.