Every week, I get the privilege of working with pastors from all over. Most have a sense there could be more. More participation, more depth, more passion, more community. What they're doing isn't broken, but it's not enough. A common concern I hear: "My church is a mile wide but an inch deep."

I'm a little biased, but I think the best way for a church to help their people dig a few inches deeper is small group mentoring.

Before I tell you why, here's the two-sentence overview of how Radical Mentoring does "small group mentoring." We equip an older, wiser mentor with conversation guides and other resources to lead a group of younger mentees through an intentional mentoring process for nine to 12 months. Mentors share their faith stories in the first meeting and continue to share their life experience by facilitating a topic-based conversation during each of the monthly meetings that follow.

Here are four reasons launching a small group mentoring process can have a profound impact on your church:

1. Mentoring groups build intergenerational relationships. Last year, Barna released a study on engaging men. They found that men with intergenerational relationships were "nearly twice as likely to be very satisfied in their relationship with their child (54% vs. 30%) and in their marriage (64% vs. 54%)." Mentoring groups create an environment for people of different seasons of life to interact. Mentors find value in sharing their wisdom and life experience, while mentees get to learn from someone who has already been where they're going.

2. Mentoring groups create authentic relationships. Ultimately, we all want to be known. Of more than 450 people surveyed after their mentoring season, 95% said they experienced authentic community in their group, and 88% described their group's relationships as "very deep" or "deep." The secret sauce? Stories. By focusing on stories, mentoring groups create a safe space for people to be real, encourage each other and drive relationships deep. Having everyone share their full, no-holding-back faith story, starting with the mentor, equips the group to go further, faster and leads to conversations that matter.

3. Mentoring groups raise the leadership capacity of your church. Every church needs more leaders. More people to lead small groups and get involved with the high school ministry. More people to serve as deacons and elders or to lead Bible studies. People who go through a mentoring group become your next generation of leaders. They improve the quality of your other environments by bringing the authenticity and intentionality they learned during their mentoring season.

4. Mentoring groups develop all-in Jesus-followers: This is arguably the most important one. Mentees spend nine to 12 months learning from and watching their mentor. They observe how the mentor lives their life and how they interact with Jesus. While anything but perfect, the life of the mentor, transparently exposed and fully committed, shows them a real-life example of what a fully-alive Jesus-follower is like and what it can be for them if they go all-in.

We'd love to help you explore how small group mentoring could fit in at your church. And the best part, our entire resource library is available to you for free. When you go here to get access, you'll receive everything you need to launch Radical Mentoring groups for men or Known Collective groups for women, including our coaching and guidance. Learn more here.

For the original article, visit churchanswers.com.

In 2002, Kevin Harris underwent a dramatic change as husband, father and Jesus-follower through his experience as a mentee in a Radical Mentoring group. He is now the president of Radical Mentoring, a non-profit focused on encouraging and equipping churches and mentors to use Jesus-style relational mentoring to create environments for people to be real and develop authentic relationships. Before joining Radical Mentoring, Kevin led a sales team at Wells Real Estate Funds and served in sales positions at CNL and Atlas Energy. He and his wife, Susan, have two boys and live in Atlanta, Georgia.

Read articles like this one and other Spirit-led content in our new platform, CHARISMA PLUS.

Get Spirit-filled content delivered right to your inbox! Click here to subscribe to our newsletter.

Dr. Mark Rutland's

National Institute of Christian Leadership (NICL)

The NICL is one of the top leadership training programs in the U.S. taught by Dr. Mark Rutland. If you're the type of leader that likes to have total control over every aspect of your ministry and your future success, the NICL is right for you!

FREE NICL MINI-COURSE - Enroll for 3-hours of training from Dr. Rutland's full leadership course. Experience the NICL and decide if this training is right for you and your team.

The NICL Online is an option for any leader with time or schedule constraints. It's also for leaders who want to expedite their training to receive advanced standing for Master Level credit hours. Work through Dr. Rutland's full training from the comfort of your home or ministry at your pace. Learn more about NICL Online. Learn more about NICL Online.