Karl Vaters makes an important point in his book, Small Church Essentials. Many of us learned the basics of our faith in Sunday school or discipleship classes, but it takes mentoring to understand how to put it all into practice. The goal of mentoring is to help us move from knowing to becoming. Here are seven things I learned about this from Karl’s book.

1. Begin with one person. Someone who wants to be mentored, and who is aiming to invest in others.

2. Find a servant. Look for a person who walks humbly, serves willingly, steps up to fix problems rather than to point them out, and who wants to learn more.

3. Determine how the person learns and grows. Ask questions about their family, good and bad experiences, favorite activities, best and worst memories about school, and so on. Seek to understand their learning style and use it in mentoring them.

4. Listen. The more we learn about someone, the better equipped we are to mentor them. Seek to understand what they think, what they’ve experienced, what their gifts, favorite activities, and memories are, and so on. We honor others by getting to know them.

5. Tell them why. Learning to become the kind of person Jesus would be in our shoes means understanding why He did what He did. It’s one thing to know where the steering wheel and brake pedal are, but it takes understanding to use them in rush hour traffic.

6. Share the work. As you spend time with them, give them responsibility for things. Influence involves watching, listening, doing, and discussing. Plug them into activities that utilize their skills or spiritual gifting. Tools exist to be used, and mentoring equips people to develop proficiency.

7. Trust them to do it without you. This doesn’t mean walking away. It means checking in, answering questions, giving feedback, and helping them thrive. It also means teaching them how to mentor someone else. Mentoring is more about multiplying than passing batons. If everyone in the room is gaining expertise, the entire group grows healthier, and their influence spreads much farther.