Mentoring for effective Cross-cultural ministry: a case study among the University of Nairobi students

Abstract

Mentoring is an ancient old wisdom to impact life-change and to inspire mutual growth, learning, and development. Mentoring relationships have the capacity to transform individuals, groups, organziations, and communities. This research attempts to understand traditional mentoring models, and to compare them with the recent mentoring models to examine which ones work effectively in a cross-cultural context. In addition, the research also searches for a new mentoring model that can work effectively in a cross-cultural setting. This research is based on the qualitative research to describe the implicit aspects of how Christian campus students of University of Nairobi view on mentoring. For this purpose, research design is employed as a tradition of qualitative research. Data is collected using focus group discussions and survey among members drawn from UBF ministry. The findings of this study reveal that traditional mentoring that African young people went through was mainly hierarchical and unidirectional. Such traditional mentoring can be still effective, but it needs to be adjusted according to modern context. They suggested that hierarchical authority must be discouraged, while communal responsibility should be encouraged. Most of all, they claimed that mentors in modern age, should consider the cultural change if they want to be effective in mentoring mentees of modern age. In consideration of a new model for effective mentoring in cross-cultural context, they proposed a holistic model. In the holistic model, God and the Holy Spirit play the role of an agent or supervisor between a mentor and mentee. A mentor can impact the mentee and vice versa. Through such spiritual interaction, both of them grow toward God in the likeness of Jesus. In view of the findings, recommendations for further studies are made that for the holistic model to be practically applicable, practical mentoring tools for effective interaction between a mentor and a mentee to be researched further. In addition, during the focus group discussions, a research question arose: What happens when a mentee grow faster than his mentor? How to measure the growth of both mentor and mentee through mentoring relationship? These remain for further studies.