She sent me a relatively long note. It was her two years anniversary of following. I don’t keep such dates but her mentioning it brought back the memory. She highlighted how it all started; the instructions, counsels and corrections she had received all along, and the massive progress she has made following. She ended it with a note of gratitude and her new expectations. I was inspired.

Friend, mentorship relationship should be an intentional relationship. Like my spiritual father would always teach us; “in life, you would meet a lot of unconscious teachers, but you must never be an unconscious learner”. This is true of mentorship. Don’t be an unconscious learner. Don’t be a frivolous protégé. Know what you want. Know what you are doing. Invest in the relationship.

Mentorship is not another brand statement you are trying to make about your life. It is not the public accolades and shouts. It is about what is going on privately. Like my dear protégé, it is about what you are learning and receiving from the mentor, and the transformation that you are experiencing.

“Those things, which you have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do…” (Philippians 4:9). Mentorship is work; both for the mentor and the protégé. Mentorship is not follow up. In follow up, the “followupper” follows you up but in mentorship, you do the following (2 Kings 2:1-9). You need to go all the way. Most times, it is not what the mentor teaches you in a formal setting that makes you, it is what you pick in informal situations. You must be hypersensitive (2 Kings 2:10).

If you are following a mentor without something definite taking place in your life, it is either you are following the wrong mentor or you are following wrongly. Following is an art; there is a way to do it. There is what to follow. We don’t follow fashion, we follow faith. We don’t follow style, we follow substance. We don’t follow the blessing, we follow the process (Isaiah 51:1-2, Hebrews 13:7, 17). We follow to become (John 1:12, 1 Corinthians 11:1).

“When you know your father, you have an identity but when your father knows you, you have an inheritance” (Rev. Olusola Areogun). Don’t be casual about who you follow. Let him know you. Learn from various people but have a fathering voice in your life; it would make a whole lot of difference (Acts 4:13, 1 Corinthians 4:15). There is an inheritance for you in destiny, make sure you follow rightly (Genesis 25:5-6).

© ‘Demola Awoyele
Lead Pastor,
Destiny Impact Church
Akure, Nigeria