EMQ » July–September 2023 » Volume 59 Issue 3
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Summary: The Mentor Ministry software platform enables people serving as mentors to connect online with mentees looking for someone to join a spiritual journey with them. Along the way mentors are equipped to help their mentees take steps towards Jesus. God is using this unique tool to change lives around the world.
By Dorrie Manu
Each morning when I get up and pour myself a cup of coffee to start the day, I have an opportunity to impact people from around the world from the comfort of my living room. Digital missions has no borders, and enables both staff and volunteers to go to countries that are extremely difficult to visit physically.
The Mentor Ministry (TMM, tmm.io) is a software platform that allows people who want to be mentors to connect with online mentees to engage with them in one-on-one conversations that point them towards Jesus. It provides training to equip and coach mentors in how to start a conversation with an online mentee, share their faith, and disciple believers to greater maturity. TMM helps mentors think through various stages of their mentees spiritual journey and provide tips and resources along the way to help the mentee take steps closer to Jesus.
The software gives mentors the opportunity to connect with mentees through various websites, video, and social media content. This empowers churches and missional partners to leverage their online presence and turn it into life changing conversations. Along the way, not only do mentors see lives changed, but God works changing and growing them, too.
Sharing Struggles
One of TMM’s strategies is called Issues I Face (issuesiface.com). This is a personal story-based website that invites mentees to write in about a shared struggle. From there, mentees are matched with mentors who journey with them through their issue and help them discover Jesus. Depending where mentors intersect mentee’s in their journey, it can be a long road to transformation.
I remember when I first started walking alongside Alma. She was one of my first mentees from four years ago. Alma was in an alcohol addiction cycle and was stuck in a toxic relationship. You can imagine my surprise and delight when after six months of not hearing from her, I received a message from her saying that she had moved, gotten therapy, and is now sober and thriving.
“I’ve also been praying a lot, and it feels like God has been hearing our prayers,” Anna shared. “I’ve been praying for God to save me, and forgive me of my sins. It’s been a struggle every day, but I’ve been pushing myself to fight temptations. Being sober feels great!”
She is a committed mother of two boys. They are now all in a safe environment. She committed her life to Jesus and is wanting to connect into a local church.
Other times, mentees will come in at a point of curiosity to spiritual things. Recently, Jill reached out to me. She expressed how she deeply wanted to know that she was saved. She felt like she struggled with doubt constantly. As I reached out and shared the gospel with her, I also shared how she could be assured of her salvation.
She eagerly wrote back saying that she prayed to ask Jesus into her life, and offered a huge thank you for reassuring her that she can know if she is saved. I’ve since had the opportunity to follow-up with her and share some foundational truths for Christian growth.
Gaining Confidence
The Mentor Ministry has a wealth of resources that address both felt-need issues from a Christian perspective as well as spiritual growth and development articles. It also provides templates to help mentors get initial conversations started.
Aside from being a mentor myself, I also have the opportunity to coach other mentors to help them grow in their fruitfulness. One of our mentors, who lives in Québec, Canada, mentioned that serving with The Mentor Ministry gave her the confidence she needed to start spiritual conversations and introduce people to Christ. She shared with joy that one day whilst shopping for groceries at her local grocery store, she met a woman who had lost a loved one.
As she listened to this woman’s journey, she was able to empathize with her and share about how God was near her in her time of need and grief. And, right there in the grocery store, she led this lady to the Lord. The mentor mentioned that she would never have been able to do that apart from the experience she had gained with The Mentor Ministry. She explained that she had gained confidence in both starting conversations, going deeper into the spiritual and transitioning to the gospel. Her online experience trained and equipped her for conversations that she can have in person – even in her local grocery store.
Finding Restoration
Partnerships with The Mentor Ministry continue to grow around the world. One of TMM’s partners in Indonesia who is mentor online shared that normally, being in a Muslim country, there is a lot of debate and angry conversations. He found that by starting with a felt-need, loving the mentee where they were at and walking with them towards Jesus, it taught him how to love with the heart of Christ and many have come to know Jesus.
Taman grew up a conservative Muslim. But that all changed when he went to college. He dated a man who became his entire support system. Clothes, food, the roof over his head, all provided by his boyfriend.
He didn’t feel right about the way he was living, but he was afraid that if he left his boyfriend and homosexual life, he’d lose everything. Taman was so conflicted. He couldn’t return home because his family would reject him. He had nowhere else to go and no one else to turn to.
Something told Taman to search online for someone to talk to. Earlier this year, he was feeling overwhelmed and despondent. That’s when he wrote in to our Indonesian Issues I Face site and met Sunil.
“I was ready with the rope,” Taman shared. “I even wrote a note, but something told me this was not the way for me to go. God was working in me to make me search the internet and finally connect with brother Sunil.”
Sunil is TMM’s digital strategies leader in Indonesia and an online mentor. Sunil has been walking with Taman through his depression and life’s struggles through The Mentor Ministry for several months. He offered a listening ear, and the love of Jesus. And just recently, Taman gave his life to Christ!
“It [meeting Sunit] was a turning point in my life,” explained Taman. “Brother Sunil built up my faith and discipled me. What used to make me so fearful, I now lift up to God. My image and self-esteem are being restored by Jesus.”
Last month, Sunil and Taman met in person for the first time at a nearby KFC.
Connecting More People with Jesus
TMM currently works with 82 global partners in 27 different languages. Any missionary, mission organization, or church can connect their digital properties with The Mentor Ministry. Doing so facilitates missionaries, as well as mission agency and church staff and volunteers to have actual conversations after an individual has been exposed to website or social media content from TMM. We offer this software for free to empower spiritual conversations around the world through the digital space.
Digital mentoring can make it easier for you and your ministry to help more people from around the world people discover Jesus in their hopelessness. To explore how The Mentor Ministry can accelerate your engagement in a digital space visit tmm.io.
Dorrie Manu (dorrie.manu@p2c.com) has served with Cru (https://www.cru.org/) for 25 years. During her time on staff, Dorrie helped pioneer the Canadian ministry in East Asia, served on campuses throughout Canada and re-launched the student ministry in Montréal, Québec before serving as the global missions director. Currently, Dorrie has moved to Digital Strategies and serves in a joint role as a global strategist for the VP team and partnership director for Canada (p2cdigital.com).
Possible Pull-Quotes Include
- One of our mentors, who lives in Québec, Canada, mentioned that serving with The Mentor Ministry gave her the confidence she needed to start spiritual conversations and introduce people to Christ.
- Could be shortened to: One of our mentors … mentioned that serving with The Mentor Ministry gave her the confidence she needed to start spiritual conversations … .
- TMM currently works with 82 global partners in 27 different languages. Any missionary, mission organization, or church can connect their digital properties with The Mentor Ministry.
- Could be shortened to: Any missionary, mission organization, or church can connect their digital properties with The Mentor Ministry.
- Digital mentoring can make it easier for you and your ministry to help more people from around the world people discover Jesus in their hopelessness.
EMQ, Volume 59, Issue 3. Copyright © 2023 by Missio Nexus. All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from Missio Nexus. Email: EMQ@MissioNexus.org.
