One-on-One Faculty-Student Mentoring

　　Beginning in the fall term of 2009, the one-on-one faculty-student mentoring method was adopted in order to further nurture students’ spiritual lives. This change has been of great significance to many. Thirty years ago, when I was a seminary student, the seminary nurtured students’ spirituality through the Morning Chapel, the morning prayer meetings, and the evening prayer meetings. However, spiritual growth was largely considered to develop independently through one’s personal relationship with God. When considering how students’ spiritual growth is nurtured, the impact of the Morning Chapel and the prayer meetings is obvious. However, the Bible also shows that the master-disciple relationship is an important method for spiritual cultivation which can be seen through the relationship between Jesus and his twelve disciples, which is itself a mentor-student relationship. Spiritual cultivation through mentor-student relationships has a long and important history.

　　In 1998, I came back from the US to become a teacher at the Seminary. At that time, the small group mentoring method had already been adopted to help cultivate students’ spirituality. Each individual teacher led a group of 10 to 15 students, and it was obvious that the benefits far exceeded that of the seminary meetings alone. This was a big step forward because this method confirmed that spiritual cultivation was part of the curriculum of theological education. However, small groups also have their limitations. For example, some of the problems inherent in spiritual growth are not necessarily suitable to be shared in a group setting. In addition, it is hard for a teacher to offer advice to students one-by-one when dealing with more than ten students at once.

　　In 2009, the Seminary took another big step forward by arranging that students receive spiritual cultivation through one-on-one faculty-student mentoring. Through this scheme, the challenge a teacher faces becomes even bigger. To be a spiritual mentor, our teacher not only has to dedicate more time, they also have to open their minds and hearts, and to let their lives influence the students’ lives.

　　In the Seminary, all teachers, students, and staff comprise a disciple community, and together they learn to follow Jesus, and to be his disciples. The teacher is an essential catalyst who must take the first step. In a disciple community where everyone learns together, the teacher, being a catalyst, has to take the responsibility to lead students to grow and to nurture others who have nothing to be ashamed of in front of God.

　　It is an important development in theological education for the Seminary that they have adopted this one-on-one faculty-student mentoring method for students’ spiritual cultivation. Amongst all the curricula in HKBTS, spiritual cultivation uniquely takes the form of one-on-one relationships. This illustrates the commitment of the Seminary to the spiritual cultivation of students.