Our fourth core value is mentoring. It is a word that describes the premier task that Jesus commanded his followers to attend to.

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

When Jesus told his followers to “make disciples” he was telling them to do what he had done for them. Jesus had twelve guys he “discipled” for a few years. These twelve were to “be with him” so that “he might send them out to preach” the gospel. In other words, the key to discipleship is intentionally investing your life into the life of another. That’s what we mean by mentoring. We chose that word over “discipleship” because we want to stress the intentionality of investing your life into someone else rather than merely the idea of passing on information.

We see an example of this kind of intentionality in Paul’s command to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:2: “and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” Paul wanted Timothy to leave Ephesus to be with him in his final days on earth (2 Timothy 4:9). But before Timothy left his post, Paul wanted to be sure that the Christian faith would continue there, so he explained the process for passing on the faith.

First, Timothy was to pass on to others what he had heard from Paul, namely, the gospel. The essence of the Christian faith that is not open to negotiation. The “good deposit” (2 Timothy 1:14) that must be guarded because there will always be attempts to dilute or pollute it. Second, Timothy was to pass on the faith with intentional effort. He could not assume that the faith would endure to the next generation. He had to work through some process of “entrusting” the gospel to others. Third, Timothy needed to be sure he entrusted the gospel to faithful men. The recipients of the gospel need to be people of high character, committed to the gospel, so that they in turn would not drop the ball in passing it on to others.

At Crosstown we value mentoring: Christian community endures as we pass on the faith to others and train them to do likewise.” Therefore, we make an intentional effort to pour our lives into others as we have also benefited from others pouring their lives into us. The Senior Pastor of this church, Jesus Christ, left us with a command to make disciples. We value mentoring because we see this intentional effort of life on life as the only way to fulfill this task entrusted to Christ’s church.