235: IPC: Community // Mentoring Minute

-IPC is a tool to help us understand our mentee (and ourselves)

Identity is WHO WE ARE

Purpose is WHAT WE DO 

Community is HOW WE BLESS AND ARE BLESSED BY OTHERS

I want to paint a mental picture for you on the canvas of your mind: Imagine our IDENTITY in Christ being a firm foundation. The bedrock that Jesus talks about when he mentions the wise builder who built their house on rock instead of sand. 

We should always consider our identity as being firmly rooted like the foundation of the Golden Gate Bridge that runs over 100 feet deep down into bedrock to sustain the wind, ocean currents, and incredible weight of its load. 

Our IDENTITY in Christ is forever. Our foundation should be unwavering. It is the perfect support for the actions of our PURPOSE. So, if identity is the foundation, purpose is the dwelling built upon it! It is the construction of our life’s walls and roof. If we have a high sense of identity but no practice of our purpose, what good does it do anyone? A slab is not a house! 

In the Bible, James tells us that forgetting our PURPOSE is like walking away from a mirror and forgetting what our face looks like. We must be DOERS of the word. James 1:22-25

So, our purpose is the house built on the foundation of our lives. Our community is who dwells inside! Your purpose is meant to be fleshed out with the people who make up your community. It is building a house and inviting people inside it!

Who makes up your community? Are they people who reinforce your identity and purpose or do they distract you from living out who you are in Christ? 

COMMUNITY is powerful. It’s why we encourage our mentees to surround themselves with healthy and positive people who will be an encouragement. It’s why we invite them to church and why we meet with them every week to chat and pray together. 

Christians are not called to exit general culture for the sake of their own holiness. If that were true, no one would hear the Gospel because there would be no one to preach it! However, our mentees should be mindful about who they let into their close “community” as they will be impacted by them. As people, we rub off on each other!

Encourage your mentee to be a light in the darkness but also remain in community with those who love Jesus and have a true sense of who they are and why they’re here!   

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