英文原文
Finding a Spiritual Mentor | Jonathan Srock Summary: Every Christian needs a mentor in the faith who will help them grow in Christ. In this post, I discuss the qualifications for a mentor and what to expect in your relationship. Introduction In my last post on Conformed to Christ, I talked about getting involved in the church you find that fits you. But once you get involved in a church, you need to find a mentor in the faith who will guide you and help you grow in Christ. I say you should find one mentor in the faith. But as I have grown up in the church, I have had several mentors. From the age of seven I have known I would be a minister. I sought out the ministers of the churches I attended and asked them to mentor me. My longest running relationship with a mentor is Pastor Marvin who was my pastor when I was a young teenager. He and I talk almost every week today. Even though he lives in Florida we have a very close relationship. Another mentor was in the second church I attended as a teenager and young adult. Pastor Grabill prayed over me when I was ordained as a minister. He passed away in 2011 from a rare cancer and I miss him dearly. I bring up a couple of my mentors to show that mentoring in the Church is essential to your growth in Jesus. But how do you find a mentor? How do you know you have one that will help you grow? These are some questions I hope to answer in this post for you. You Need a Mentor The myth of the cowboy Christian who pulls himself up by his bootstraps and figures everything out in Christianity for himself is bunk. No person can figure everything out on their own. We are not the ultimate source for our growth. We all have heroes in the faith. We look up to these saints all our lives. You want to be like them. You want them to be proud of you as you grow in Christ. But how do you get to the place they are in? It’s not complicated. Just walk up to them and ask them to be your spiritual mentor. Since the beginning of Christianity, younger Christians have looked up to older Christians. Paul had Timothy, his son in the faith. In the monasteries, younger monks looked up to older monks. It has nothing to do with chronological age. A parent in the faith has been where you are and gone beyond where you are. They have suffered your trials and grown from them. And you want to do the same. But before you try to get any mentor, you need to find one that will help you grow the most. Mentor Qualifications As much as you would like to think any mentor will do, that’s not true. You need to find a mentor who fits you. When I was looking for a mentor, I looked for one that would help me do what they were doing. Since I was called to be a minister, I wanted ministers to be my mentors. You don’t have to be that specific about your mentor. But you need to find someone who fits who you are and where you want to go. The best way to find a mentor is to start with someone who is already where you want to be. Perhaps you notice a Christian who is a strong prayer warrior and you want to be a prayer warrior and intercessor for others. This would be a good person to ask to help you learn how to pray as they do. Maybe you see someone who knows how to worship the Lord, and you want to do the same. There are some qualifications you need to walk through before you make your choice. I have talked about accountability partners in other posts. The qualifications for a mentor are very similar. But they don’t have to be as specific. A mentor can also be an accountability partner. That is part of their portfolio. But mentors are much more than accountability partners. An accountability partner helps you with your temptations. A mentor is more encompassing than that. Mentors are first and foremost guides on the path to spiritual growth. They help you in your spiritual formation to be like Jesus. But they are not the end-all of your formation. You must listen to the Holy Spirit most of all. I suggest you find a mentor of the same gender. That would be ideal. But sometimes you can have a Christian of the opposite gender for a mentor. For instance, if you find someone who is a great prayer warrior, and you want to be like that person, they can be your mentor for a time as you grow in that area of your spiritual formation. A spiritual mentor must be more mature than you in the faith. This does not mean they are older than you. Each of us is on a different part of the path to spiritual maturity. You can have a 30-year-old who has been a Christian for one year. There could be a 30-year-old who has been a Christian for 25 years. Take into account the maturity of your mentor and make sure it is more than your own. Your mentor needs to be more mature in Christ than you so they can guide you to a higher place in your own maturity. You cannot teach others what you have not learned. You cannot give what you do not have. So your mentor must be able to guide and train you in matters they have already had experience in. You can ask a mentor to mentor you in a specific area of your spiritual formation. You can have more than one mentor. I suggest you work with one mentor at a time. Work on that one area, or maybe find a general mentor who guides you overall. Whoever you find, don’t limit the relationship to a certain time period. You will have some mentors for a long time, and others for a shorter time. Some will help you with a specific area of your spiritual growth, while others you will return to over and over for more wisdom and counsel. What to Expect What should you get out of your experience with a spiritual mentor? You will get a close relationship. The knowledge and wisdom you share will stretch both of you. Most mentorships become close friendships as you share parts of yourself with one another and become more vulnerable as you gain trust. If you choose a mentor for general growth in the faith, you will find these mentors are in your life longer than those you choose for specific growth areas. Growing in a specific area lasts for a shorter time as you grow in that area. But growing overall in your walk with Christ requires wisdom and counsel from a more mature Christian more often. General mentors continue to be more mature than you, offering a longer lasting relationship. It’s not that mentors for specific areas don’t grow more than you as they mentor you. But as you grow more proficient in that area, you will learn to grow on your own with their guidance. You want to have regular contact with your mentor. Growing doesn’t happen overnight. So you need to keep in closer contact with a mentor than with your other relationships. You should check in regularly with your mentor to assess your progress. These meetings don’t have to be long. Some of the best mentorships happen when you grow in “on the job training.” I have had internships in my college and seminary careers with my mentors. They have helped me become a better minister as I work alongside them. One of my mentors for a brief time was a pastor in the church I attended while I was in college. I chose him as my mentor during that time. During my internship he taught me how to water baptize people. It’s not as natural as you think. He showed me how to do it the best way for me. The best way to learn is by doing. A good mentor in the faith doesn’t just tell you how to do something. He or she shows you along the way. Jesus did this. He taught the disciples by example and word how to do what He did. Then He unleashed them to do the same ministry. Becoming a Mentor We will discuss why it’s important for you to graduate from student to teacher when we talk about discipleship. It’s imperative that you grow enough that you become a mentor to someone else. As you grow to maturity, part of your continued growth is to take someone else under your wing. You transition from a student to a teacher. And you will work with your mentoree the same way your mentor taught you. One problem in the Church today is that we don’t have a transition from one generation to the next in mentoring. Think of David. He had a thriving relationship with the Lord personally, but he had a hard time transferring that same relationship to his children. The kingdom of Israel paid for his inability to pass on his spiritual legacy to his children. The apostles had disciples, and those disciples discipled others, and so on. Don’t take from your mentor without giving to the one you are mentoring. Share with your mentoree the same things you have learned from your mentor. And when you discover something, share it with your mentor and your mentoree. No one benefits from keeping wisdom and knowledge to themselves. As they say in the world, “Pay it forward.” Growth Challenge Do you have a mentor? Are you mentoring someone with less maturity in Christ than you? Look for these relationships in your church. They will stretch you as you grow in Christ. First, find a mentor in the faith. And as you grow, find someone you can mentor. Up Next We’ve talked about how necessary it is to have a mentor in the faith to grow in Christ. Next, we will discuss worship and how we can worship the Lord regularly.
中文翻译
寻找灵性导师 | 乔纳森·斯罗克 摘要：每个基督徒都需要一位信仰上的导师，帮助他们在基督里成长。在这篇文章中，我将讨论导师的资格以及在这种关系中可以期待什么。 引言 在我上一篇关于“效法基督”的文章中，我谈到了参与适合你的教会。但一旦你参与教会，就需要找到一位信仰上的导师来引导你，帮助你在基督里成长。 我说你应该找一位信仰导师。但我在教会中长大，有过好几位导师。从七岁起，我就知道自己会成为牧师。我寻找我所参加教会的牧师，请他们指导我。 我最长久的导师关系是马文牧师，他是我青少年时期的牧师。今天我们几乎每周都交谈。尽管他住在佛罗里达州，我们关系非常亲密。 另一位导师是我青少年和青年时期参加的第二家教会的格拉比尔牧师。我被按立为牧师时，他为我祷告。他于2011年因罕见癌症去世，我非常想念他。 我提到我的几位导师是为了表明，在教会中接受指导对你成长于耶稣至关重要。但你如何找到导师？如何知道导师能帮助你成长？我希望在这篇文章中为你回答这些问题。 你需要导师 那种认为基督徒可以靠自己努力、独自弄懂基督教一切的神话是荒谬的。没有人能独自弄懂一切。我们不是自己成长的最终来源。 我们都有信仰中的英雄。我们一生都仰望这些圣徒。你想成为他们那样的人。你希望他们为你成长于基督而感到骄傲。但你如何达到他们所在的位置？ 这并不复杂。只需走上前去，请他们做你的灵性导师。自基督教诞生以来，年轻的基督徒就仰望年长的基督徒。保罗有提摩太，他信仰中的儿子。 在修道院中，年轻的僧侣仰望年长的僧侣。这与实际年龄无关。信仰中的父母经历过你所在的位置，并超越了你所在的位置。他们经历过你的试炼并从中成长。你也想这样做。但在你试图找任何导师之前，你需要找到最能帮助你成长的那一位。 导师资格 尽管你可能认为任何导师都可以，但事实并非如此。你需要找到适合你的导师。当我寻找导师时，我寻找能帮助我做他们所做之事的人。既然我被呼召成为牧师，我希望牧师做我的导师。 你不必对导师如此具体。但你需要找到适合你是谁、你想去哪里的人。找到导师的最佳方式是从已经在你想要达到位置的人开始。 也许你注意到一位基督徒是强大的祷告战士，你想成为为他人代祷的祷告战士。这将是一个很好的人选，可以请他帮助你学习如何像他们那样祷告。也许你看到有人知道如何敬拜主，你也想这样做。 在你做出选择之前，有一些资格需要考虑。我在其他文章中谈过问责伙伴。导师的资格非常相似。但它们不必那么具体。 导师也可以是问责伙伴。这是他们职责的一部分。但导师远不止是问责伙伴。问责伙伴帮助你应对诱惑。导师则涵盖更广。 导师首先是灵性成长道路上的向导。他们帮助你在灵性塑造上像耶稣。但他们不是你塑造的全部。你必须首先倾听圣灵。 我建议你找同性别的导师。那将是理想的。但有时你可以有异性基督徒作为导师。例如，如果你找到一位伟大的祷告战士，你想成为那样的人，他们可以在你灵性塑造的那个领域成长时，暂时做你的导师。 灵性导师必须在信仰上比你更成熟。这并不意味着他们比你年长。我们每个人都在灵性成熟道路的不同部分。你可以有一位30岁、成为基督徒一年的导师。也可能有一位30岁、成为基督徒25年的导师。考虑导师的成熟度，确保它超过你自己的成熟度。 你的导师需要在基督里比你更成熟，这样他们才能引导你达到更高的成熟度。你不能教别人你尚未学会的东西。你不能给予你没有的东西。所以你的导师必须能够在你已有经验的领域指导和训练你。 你可以请导师在你灵性塑造的特定领域指导你。你可以有不止一位导师。我建议你一次与一位导师合作。专注于那个领域，或者找一位总体指导你的通用导师。 无论你找到谁，不要将关系限制在特定时间段。有些导师会陪伴你很长时间，有些则时间较短。有些会帮助你灵性成长的特定领域，而有些你会反复寻求更多智慧和忠告。 可以期待什么 你从灵性导师的经历中应该得到什么？你将获得亲密的关系。你们分享的知识和智慧将扩展彼此。大多数导师关系随着你们分享自己、随着信任增加而变得更加脆弱，成为亲密的友谊。 如果你选择导师是为了信仰的总体成长，你会发现这些导师在你生活中的时间比那些为特定成长领域选择的导师更长。在特定领域的成长随着你在该领域的成长而持续时间较短。但在与基督同行的总体成长中，需要更频繁地从更成熟的基督徒那里获得智慧和忠告。 通用导师继续比你更成熟，提供更持久的关系。并不是说特定领域的导师在指导你时没有比你成长更多。但随着你在该领域变得更熟练，你将在他们的指导下学会自己成长。 你希望与导师保持定期联系。成长不会一夜发生。所以你需要与导师保持比与其他关系更密切的联系。你应该定期与导师检查你的进展。 这些会议不必很长。一些最好的导师关系发生在“在职培训”中。我在大学和神学院生涯中与导师有过实习。他们帮助我成为更好的牧师，因为我与他们一起工作。 我的一位短期导师是我大学期间参加教会的牧师。在那段时间我选择他作为我的导师。在实习期间，他教我如何为人们施洗。这并不像你想的那么自然。他向我展示了最适合我的方式。 学习的最佳方式是通过实践。一位好的信仰导师不只是告诉你如何做某事。他或她会在过程中向你展示。耶稣就是这样做的。他通过榜样和言语教导门徒如何做他所做的事。然后他释放他们去做同样的事工。 成为导师 当我们谈论门徒训练时，我们将讨论为什么从学生毕业成为教师很重要。你必须成长到足以成为他人的导师。随着你成长到成熟，你持续成长的一部分是庇护他人。 你从学生转变为教师。你将与你的学员以你的导师教导你的方式合作。今天教会的一个问题是，我们在指导中没有代际传承。 想想大卫。他个人与主有蓬勃的关系，但他很难将同样的关系传递给他的孩子。以色列王国为他无法将灵性遗产传递给子女付出了代价。 使徒有门徒，那些门徒又教导他人，依此类推。不要只从导师那里索取而不给予你指导的人。与你学员分享你从导师那里学到的同样东西。当你发现新东西时，与你的导师和学员分享。没有人从将智慧和知识据为己有中受益。正如俗话所说，“传递下去”。 成长挑战 你有导师吗？你正在指导基督里比你更不成熟的人吗？在你的教会中寻找这些关系。它们将在你成长于基督时扩展你。首先，找到一位信仰导师。随着你成长，找到你可以指导的人。 接下来 我们已经讨论了拥有信仰导师以成长于基督是多么必要。接下来，我们将讨论敬拜以及我们如何定期敬拜主。
文章概要
本文围绕“寻找灵性导师”这一主题，从基督教视角深入探讨了中年时期寻找信仰导师的重要性、导师的资格标准、导师关系的期望以及成为导师的传承意义。文章强调，灵性成长不能仅靠个人努力，需要成熟导师的引导，导师应在信仰上更成熟、适合个人目标，并能通过实践示范帮助成长。文章还指出，导师关系应定期维护，最终个人也应成为他人的导师，实现灵性智慧的代际传递。
高德明老师的评价
1. 用12岁初中生可以听懂的语音来重复翻译的内容 这篇文章就像是在说，当你学习一门很难的功课时，比如数学或科学，如果有一个好老师教你，你会学得更快更好。在信仰上也是这样，特别是当你长大后，可能会觉得生活中有很多困惑，这时候找一个有经验的“信仰老师”来帮助你，就像有个超级英雄伙伴一样，能让你变得更强大、更明白道理。这个老师不一定要年纪很大，但要比你懂得多，能教你如何祈祷、如何做好事，还能在你遇到困难时给你鼓励。而且，等你学会了，你也可以去帮助其他小朋友，这样大家都能一起进步！ 2. 佛学的各个宗派视角评价，突出《显密圆通成佛心要集》的视角 从佛学视角看，寻找灵性导师与佛教中的“依止善知识”理念高度契合。在显宗如禅宗、净土宗中，强调亲近善知识以明心见性、念佛往生，导师的引导能避免修行偏差。密宗尤其重视上师传承，认为上师是成就的根本。从《显密圆通成佛心要集》的视角，这部经典融合显密教法，提倡圆融无碍的修行路径。寻找导师正体现了“心要”中的“依师”原则，即通过合格导师的指导，整合显教的教理学习与密教的实修体验，达到快速成佛的目标。准提法作为该经典的核心修法，强调通过咒语、观想等密法在导师传承下净化业障、开启智慧，这与文章中“通过导师实践学习”的理念相通，都突出了师徒相承对灵性成长的关键作用。 3. 在修行实践上可以应用的和可以解决人们的十个问题 在修行实践上，寻找灵性导师可以应用于日常修持，帮助解决人们的诸多问题。基于准提法的优点，从大乘显宗视角，这能解决以下十个问题：一、解决迷茫无方向的问题，通过导师指引找到修行路径；二、解决修行懈怠的问题，导师的督促能增强精进力；三、解决业障深重的问题，准提咒在导师传承下加速净化；四、解决智慧不开的问题，导师教导显教经论启发般若；五、解决人际关系冲突，导师示范慈悲化解烦恼；六、解决生活压力大，修行在导师指导下带来内心安宁；七、解决信仰不坚定，导师的榜样增强信心；八、解决修行方法杂乱，导师提供系统修学方案；九、解决生死恐惧，导师开示轮回实相减轻焦虑；十、解决利他心不足，导师引导发菩提心服务众生。准提法以其简便易行、功德广大，在导师传承下能快速积累资粮，成就自他二利。