How did Jesus mentor His disciples? How did He mentor others? How should we mentor those who look to us for leadership? Discover mentoring leadership.

By Mark D. Harris

Institutions from business to government to the military decry poor leadership throughout the world. Examples of poor leadership are legion, as are examples of poor followership. Library shelves groan under the weight of leadership books, and millions of words about leadership spew from audio files into waiting ears every month. And yet, during my 27 years in uniform, the situation never really seemed to get better. The faces changed from 1989 to 2016, but the message did not. Is leadership a dead art? We will look at the example of Jesus.

Teaching as mentoring

One of the greatest strengths of mentoring leaders is the ability to teach.  To reproduce himself, a man must teach, by words and by actions, those who are learning from him.  Jesus taught large groups and the people marveled at the wisdom and authority of His words.  He was doing His most important work, however, when He was teaching small groups of His disciples and other followers (Luke 24:32).

Mentoring leaders also use gifts of exhortation to mentor those entrusted to them.  Exhortation includes encouragement and instruction to do the right and wise thing.  After Peter’s proclamation of faith in Matthew 16:16, Jesus encouraged him.  After Peter denied Jesus in Matthew 26:69-75, Jesus encouraged him again (John 21:15-17).  Many times in the gospels Jesus exhorted His disciples.  Such gifts as exhortation and teaching are evidence of excellent communication, in this case sharing leadership principles and examples to the next generation of leaders.

Continue reading “Jesus, an Example of Mentoring Leadership” →