A mentor is someone who "puts flesh on the Christian life," who helps you understand how to live what the Bible teaches. On today's episode of Let's Talk, Jasmine Holmes, Jackie Hill Perry, and Melissa Kruger talk about the people who have mentored them and why being a mentor shouldn't be intimidating. They give practical advice on how to find a mentor and on how to be a mentor. For example it's important to communicate your expectations of the relationship, to decide how long the mentoring is going to last, and how formal or informal it will be.

Sometimes mentoring is intimidating because we fear we will be failures if the person we are mentoring doesn't grow, but Melissa points out that mentors are not meant to replace God in your life. Only he can make you grow. But a mentor can come alongside you and encourage you to listen to and live by God's Word.

Related content:

• Growing Together: Taking Mentoring beyond Small Talk and Prayer Requests
• Needed: Women Disciplers
• When Mentoring Gets Messy

Today’s episode of Let’s Talk is brought to you in part by International Justice Mission. IJM is a global nonprofit working to end slavery and violence around the world. To get an idea of what this work looks like, take this story from South Asia: Several families living in slavery were being brutally abused, poorly fed, and forced to sleep outside in make-shift tents. When IJM and local authorities heard about the abuse, they planned a rescue operation to set these families free—and that operation took place in March of this year, setting 50 people free. You can help make this kind of restoration possible by becoming a Freedom Partner and sending IJM to rescue others. Freedom Partners give a monthly gift to IJM, so IJM teams can show up month after month to rescue people from slavery and walk with survivors as they heal. Visit IJM.org/LetsTalk to join today.