1&1 Mentorship
Goal and Guidelines
Goal
1&1 Mentorship is a platform where people facing difficult issues or who have questions about spiritual things, can be connected with a 1&1 Mentor to walk alongside them with empathy, one-on-one in their faith journey. We want to bring the Good News to the hurting and broken, so that they can know Jesus as their Lord and Saviour amidst the pain and confusion of their situation, and beyond.
The purpose of mentoring is to have empathy and show compassion by our words of concern and acknowledgment of their situation while trying to take them a step further on their spiritual journey. By taking the time to write to them, we are showing them that they are valuable and that someone cares. When you respond, realize that these are real people with real problems so ask the Lord to give you compassion and wisdom.
Guidelines
- Encourage: Mentoring involves a sincere desire to encourage others and guide them in taking the next steps in their spiritual walk. Therefore, mentors need to be caring people themselves, who are in a committed and growing relationship with God.
- Not Professionals: Mentors are not professional counselors. Our role is to empathize, point them to helpful resources and guide them in taking the next steps in their spiritual journey.
- Statement of Faith: Please read the TMM (our partners on the platform) Statement of Faith and Code of Conduct. It is important that you read them carefully to ensure that you can agree with our foundations of belief. As you fill out the application form, please be sure to indicate that you have read and agree with them. It is also helpful to be familiar with the TMM Terms of Service.
- Spiritual Reference: You will be required to provide the name and contact information of a pastor, church elder, small group leader, any church leader that can verify your spiritual walk and confirm that you would make a good mentor. An email is sent to them but sometimes our emails goes into the person’s junk folder, so giving your reference a heads up to expect an email from [email protected] can be helpful.
- Secure Software: We have developed a safe and secure software to handle all correspondence between mentor and mentee, where no personal information is disclosed to either. We strongly recommend that you do not give out any personal information in your emails.
- Check Emails Regularly: Mentors should be checking their personal emails regularly for any notifications that would indicate they have messages from mentees waiting for a response.’
- Response Time: Replies to mentees should be sent within 24-48 hours unless it’s a crisis, in which the crisis mentor should respond sooner.
- Resources: For mentors, there is an exhaustive list of resources found on the platform’s library. It’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with these and check back for new items.
- Bringing In The Gospel: There are resources and templates available on the platform that show you how.
- Prayer: Prayer and being sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading plays a vital role in mentoring. Pray before you write, pray while you write, and include a prayer for the person in the body of the email as part of your response.
- Setting Boundaries: Sometimes hurting people can become clingy. If you feel the person is harassing you or becoming too dependant on you, we suggest that you be direct with them about how you’re feeling.
- Handling Obscenity: If you receive a request that sounds harassing, offensive or obscene, reassign it back to your community leader.
- Level of Involvement: Most mentors respond to one email per week, however, if you are interested in answering more, we would welcome your involvement.
- Flexible Schedule: If you are unavailable during a certain time, please use your vacation calendar in the platform to set your time awa8
Mentoring Commitment
On average, the mentoring relationships are short-term. Be assured that God has used you to plant a seed of truth in the mentee’s life and that God will continue to nourish that seed to become fruitful. Do not be discouraged if the mentee chooses not to respond back to your email; this is not a reflection on you.
Thank you for prayerfully considering your part in this mission opportunity. Committed volunteers make all of this possible.