Park Avenue Baptist Church is excited to offer several opportunities to be involved in mentoring relationships through our Mentoring Ministry.
At PABC we define mentoring as sharing life and life lessons with another person in a defined relationship for a focused purpose.
A Mentor is one who is willing to give time and expertise to guide the development of another.
A person being mentored is someone who desires to glean wisdom for their life journey, grow in some character quality or gain some skill from one who can impart what is needed. A mentoring relationship is often cross-generational, usually time defined and always intentional in focus.

1. Personal Growth and Spiritual Development Mentoring
As we look at Scripture we see this type of mentoring clearly through the relationship between Paul and Timothy. We don’t know how much technical skill as a missionary Paul gave Timothy, but we do know Paul invested dynamically and specifically in Timothy’s life. Whether it was discipleship, spiritual coaching or just encouragement there were lifestyle mentoring principles taking place that led to personal growth and spiritual development. We know Paul was a “father in the faith” to Timothy and encouraged him to observe him at work. In the broad sense, we could call Paul a lifestyle mentor to Timothy. Many times this is most effective as a cross-generational mentoring relationship as well.

2. Skills/Art Mentoring
Skills-art mentoring is a one-on-one relationship between two individuals for the specific and definable development of a skill or an art. Skills-art mentoring can cover multiple areas from practical life skills such as personal leadership, finances, marriage, parenting etc. as well as art/technical skills such as fine arts, music, media or other technical skills.  This is a common mentoring model and is greatly dependent on the knowledge and experience of the mentor in a specific skill or art.

3. Career/Ministry Mentoring
This type of mentoring often is seen in the Bible as well and specifically in the Paul-Timothy model. It places an emphasis on discovering spiritual gifts, developing character qualities along with specific skill sets and defining personal calling and passion. The mentor is often more experienced in some specific aspect of career or life skills such as ministry, relational skills, training, equipping, life coaching or career development, etc. This also is a very common mentoring method for people starting out in the work force as well as those who are at a cross-roads for a new direction.

It may be hard for you to feel optimistic about the future right now. If you’ve lost a spouse, child, family member or friend, you’ve probably found that there are not many people who understand the deep hurt you feel.
That’s the reason for GriefShare, a special seminar and support group for people grieving the loss of someone close. This group is sponsored by Park Avenue Baptist Church, led by people who understand what you are experiencing and want to offer you comfort and encouragement during this difficult time. Each GriefShare session includes a video and seminar featuring top experts on grief and recovery subjects. These videos also include on-location video and the real-life stories of people who have experienced losses like yours.
After viewing the video you’ll participate in a small group discussion about what you’ve seen on the tape. You’ll also have the opportunity to interact with others who have experienced a recent loss, learn about their experiences and have the opportunity to share your own. Please join us for the next GriefShare session.

Griefshare meets Tuesday nights from 6:00 to 8:00 pm in the Office Conference Room. We offer this ministry 2 sessions a year: one in the fall and one in the winter/spring. Please call 321-269-6702 ext 1-405 to leave a message and have someone return your call if you need specific information. For general information about Griefshare and Griefshare groups see the Griefshare website at www.Griefshare.com

When a loved one or friend dies, grieving that loss can take a long time, but you are not alone. GriefShare is here with support groups, and now daily emails, that provide encouragement and reminders of the recovery process. Interested? To sign up for our daily emails go to http://www.griefshare.com/dailyemails/ and you will start receiving daily emails!