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Transforming Together: Authentic Spiritual Mentoring
Young women are crying out for someone older to care about them, to help them. Older women desire to be useful and productive. Those who have invested years of walking with the Lord themselves desire to be teamed up with this generation of younger women who are yearning for someone to show them how to walk through life with genuine faith in Christ.Transforming Together presents the model for genuine spiritual mentoring through the power and work of Christ in the lives of women faithfully pouring into one another. Women, both young and old, will appreciate the dual focus on the roles of mentor and mentee. Building on real life testimonies and her experience as a committed mentor, Ele Parrott will guide women as they seek to walk with one another to greater faithfulness in Christ.
- GenresChristian Living
174 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 1, 2009
13 people are currently reading
30 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 2, 2025
Some really good and practical advice. I especially love the parts that teach about active listening.
August 3, 2018
Another good book on mentoring. Took a few good ideas from this.
December 7, 2018
focus on relationships. leave the results to God.
January 4, 2020
A good book on mentoring and being a good friend/ listening ear.
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November 18, 2010A friend recently loaned me Transforming Together: Authentic Spiritual Mentoring, by Ele Parrott. This book is a quick read at 169 pages, heavy on stories of encounters with her mentees.
Because mentoring can tend to be a buzz word, it's helpful to know the definition Ele is working with.
"Spiritual mentoring is coming alongside of and partnering with who the Holy Spirit is being in the life of another person and infusing truth into that reality."
Ele has many years experience as a mentor of many. More importantly to me, she has been through a breaking experience. After a season of much upfront ministry, God led her through an unwanted season of not having a public ministry. While she was in a place she did not want to be, God shaped and refined her, and opened her eyes to opportunities to serve and thrive where she was. Ele starts out by saying that mentoring begins with "Just Jesus and You" (the title of chapter 2) and by being "Authentic at Home" (the title of chapter 3). That seems to be consistent with the path the Lord has led her on.
I appreciate Ele's emphasis on prayer (before starting a mentoring relationship and of course while mentoring someone). I appreciate her emphasis on the Word of God. Ele does not use mentoring textbooks or study guides as the basis of her mentoring. She takes people to the Living Word, and in the book, recounts story after story of how the Spirit used the Word to meet a person in their biggest point of need at that moment.
The book has many fine points (see more below) and may provide the motivation you need to be available to help others be transformed by Jesus. My only disappointment was that it seemed to me that, in her attempt to stay away from a cookie-cutter approach to mentoring, she has created a cookie-cutter. Wait for someone to ask you to be their mentor. Pray for one week before saying, 'yes.' Meet for two hours every 7-10 days. Read x verses in the Gospel of John. She is mentoring people in the way God has led and equipped her. And certainly there is nothing wrong with any of those things, but I know that in my life I need to beware of formulaic living, especially a formula for following Christ, or helping others follow Him. Perhaps others would not see a cookie-cutter in her way of doing it, and I am only extra-sensitive.
One of the best take-aways I learned was her list on page 91, contrasting the open-ended questions of an active listener with ineffective comments, which I am prone to make.
"Would you like to tell me more?"
"What are your options?"
"How are you praying about this situation?"
versus
"I know just how you feel."
"The same thing happened to me."
"You have nothing to complain about."
The other main take-away from the book was her standard question to women who come to her with struggles and asking her to mentor them.
"Sandra, do you want a quick fix, or do you desire to be transformed by Jesus?"
Both she and the woman she mentors know from the outset that they are in it for the long haul, and they have a clear view of where they are headed - transformation. Authentic spiritual mentoring flies in the face of our American culture in many ways, but mostly in the quick fix category. As Ele shared examples of women she has mentored for 2-4 years, she shared triumphs as they are being transformed, but she kept it real and shared the struggles they still face.
Being transformed by Jesus is a lifetime process! Ele's book will give you helpful, biblical tips.
Because mentoring can tend to be a buzz word, it's helpful to know the definition Ele is working with.
"Spiritual mentoring is coming alongside of and partnering with who the Holy Spirit is being in the life of another person and infusing truth into that reality."
Ele has many years experience as a mentor of many. More importantly to me, she has been through a breaking experience. After a season of much upfront ministry, God led her through an unwanted season of not having a public ministry. While she was in a place she did not want to be, God shaped and refined her, and opened her eyes to opportunities to serve and thrive where she was. Ele starts out by saying that mentoring begins with "Just Jesus and You" (the title of chapter 2) and by being "Authentic at Home" (the title of chapter 3). That seems to be consistent with the path the Lord has led her on.
I appreciate Ele's emphasis on prayer (before starting a mentoring relationship and of course while mentoring someone). I appreciate her emphasis on the Word of God. Ele does not use mentoring textbooks or study guides as the basis of her mentoring. She takes people to the Living Word, and in the book, recounts story after story of how the Spirit used the Word to meet a person in their biggest point of need at that moment.
The book has many fine points (see more below) and may provide the motivation you need to be available to help others be transformed by Jesus. My only disappointment was that it seemed to me that, in her attempt to stay away from a cookie-cutter approach to mentoring, she has created a cookie-cutter. Wait for someone to ask you to be their mentor. Pray for one week before saying, 'yes.' Meet for two hours every 7-10 days. Read x verses in the Gospel of John. She is mentoring people in the way God has led and equipped her. And certainly there is nothing wrong with any of those things, but I know that in my life I need to beware of formulaic living, especially a formula for following Christ, or helping others follow Him. Perhaps others would not see a cookie-cutter in her way of doing it, and I am only extra-sensitive.
One of the best take-aways I learned was her list on page 91, contrasting the open-ended questions of an active listener with ineffective comments, which I am prone to make.
"Would you like to tell me more?"
"What are your options?"
"How are you praying about this situation?"
versus
"I know just how you feel."
"The same thing happened to me."
"You have nothing to complain about."
The other main take-away from the book was her standard question to women who come to her with struggles and asking her to mentor them.
"Sandra, do you want a quick fix, or do you desire to be transformed by Jesus?"
Both she and the woman she mentors know from the outset that they are in it for the long haul, and they have a clear view of where they are headed - transformation. Authentic spiritual mentoring flies in the face of our American culture in many ways, but mostly in the quick fix category. As Ele shared examples of women she has mentored for 2-4 years, she shared triumphs as they are being transformed, but she kept it real and shared the struggles they still face.
Being transformed by Jesus is a lifetime process! Ele's book will give you helpful, biblical tips.
February 24, 2014
EXCELLENT book on Spiritual Mentoring between women!! Parts of this book can be used by a Mentor or a Mentee. The author gives her personal story of spiritual mentoring and her own transformation through this process. Her examples are great! This is a book that can be used as a reference for future use! Spiritual mentoring, in the author's definition focuses on the HOLY SPIRIT as the primary guide in the relationship between the Mentor and the Mentee...!!!
November 14, 2012
I thought that this book started off really well, but went downhill super fast. The author has a very specific definition of what a mentoring relationship should look like. I felt as though she puts mentoring and God in a box.
May 31, 2011
Wonderfully clear and to the point. I , who never read anything TWICE, will be re-reading this immediately
June 14, 2011
Great book to use to prepare for mentoring others or to teach others to do so.
January 29, 2015
Good resource for those looking to mentor or be mentored as well as for those in ministry leadership roles. Very practical ideas on what a mentoring relationship could look like.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews