key topics
You only get one chance to start anything, so how you begin your mentoring season is pretty important.
This group is a commitment.
Be firm when you set expectations for attendance, punctuality and homework preparation. Communicate these clearly and make sure they understand the commitment that not only they are making, but you are making with them. They will only get out of the year by what they put into the year.
Set an atmosphere for openness and honesty.
Model this when you tell your faith story. Transparency AND vulnerability, coupled with humility are rare. Women will be drawn to you when they see your openness and your willingness to serve them and love them.
Get prepared. Pray diligently. Be fully present. Love your women. Let it show through your availability. You’ll BLAST out of the starting blocks!
Resources
Mentor Preparation Guide
Meeting Guide
Homework
Sharing Your Faith Story
Preparing the Notebook
Notebook Cover
Prayer Log (single)
Prayer Log (married)
Personal Ministry Plan
10-Month Calendar 12-Month Calendar
10-Month Peer Challenge Calendar (Mentor) 10-Month Peer Challenge Calendar(Mentee)
12-Month Peer Challenge Calendar(Mentor) 12-Month Peer Challenge Calendar(Mentee)
Topic One
This is the most important topic you’ll cover in your time with your mentees, as our goal is to equip women to be all God created them to be. The God of the universe created us for fellowship with Himself! For many young women, intimacy with God seems so out of reach.
Our desire is at the end of your mentoring time, each woman will truly be a disciple of Christ, fully devoted and a follower of Him. We want each woman to leave the mentoring time knowing how to follow Him, how to hear Him speaking to her personally, and how to practically read and apply God’s truths to her life.
Starting off with this topic you’ll hopefully see God stir in each woman a desire to develop a consistent devotional life so that she might come to know her Savior in a more personal and intimate way. What a great foundation for all the other topics you’ll address during your mentoring year!
Suggested Books
A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 – W. Phillip Keller
Discerning the Voice of God – Priscilla Shirer
Sit Walk Stand – Watchman Nee
The Well-Watered Woman – Gretchen Saffles
With: Reimagining the Way You Relate to God – Skye Jethani
Women of the Word – Jen Wilkin
Resources
Mentor Preparation Guide
Meeting Guide
Homework
Marriage Focus (if applicable)
Scripture Memory
Additional Resources
Keys to Developing Intimacy with God
31 Days of Praying for Your Husband
Tips for Memorizing Scripture
Telling Your Faith Story
Finishing Well
Topic Two
What an important area to discuss, and to share how the Lord has led you to pray, and the impact of those prayers!
As mentors, we’ve been praying for a long time. We’ve experienced the joy of seeing prayers answered, and our faith grow as we’ve seen God answer our prayers. Sometimes, we’ve experienced God answer our prayers differently than we had hoped, yet can see His amazing love, wisdom and care as we look back. You have the opportunity to share how you’ve grown in your prayer life, and wisdom on how to practically incorporate prayer into our daily lives.
Prayer is one of the greatest gifts our Heavenly Father has given us. May this be a month where each woman is challenged and encouraged in how God can make a huge difference through her prayers.
Suggested Books
A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World – Paul E. Miller
Fervent, A Woman’s Battle Plan to Serious, Specific and Strategic Prayer – Priscilla Shirer
Just Ask – JD Greear
Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools – Tyler Staton
With Christ in the School of Prayer – Andrew Murray
Teach Me to Pray – Andrew Murray
Resources
Mentor Preparation Guide
Meeting Guide
Homework
Marriage Focus (if applicable)
Scripture Memory
Additional Resources
Keeping a Spiritual Journal
Topic Three
How God sees you shapes your personality, your attitude, your marriage and your relationships. God sees us as His child… a daughter that was chosen by God to be included in His family. We didn’t just “happen,” we were intentionally created by our Heavenly Father. Many women don’t know where they stand with God. They may know they’re “saved”, but that’s about it.
So many women struggle with who they are, often comparing themselves with other women and coming up short with who they think they need to be. Women tend to find their worth in what they do, what they look like or what others say about them . . . instead of what God says about them. As they get grounded in who God says they are, they will start experiencing the abundant life that Jesus came to give us. What an exciting truth, that once fully understood, truly sets a woman free to be all God created her to be!
Suggested Books
Classic Christianity – Bob George
Free at Last – Tony Evans
Identity – Eric Geiger
In His Image – Jen Wilkin
Made for More: An Invitation to Live in God’s Image – Hannah Anderson
The Rest of the Gospel – Dan Stone & David Gregory
Resources
Mentor Preparation Guide
Meeting Guide
Homework
Marriage Focus (if applicable)
Scripture Memory
Additional Resources
Scriptures on Our Identity in Christ
(use with chosen topic for retreat month)
Remember your first day at a new school? Remember your first day at your first job? You didn’t really know anyone, but you wanted to. Remember how it seemed to take forever before you knew everyone? And remember how much more comfortable you felt once you did?
That’s what this retreat is all about. In a focused time away together . . . you and your mentees will spend a weekend really getting to know each other. What usually takes weeks or months to do, you’ll be able to accomplish during this concentrated time together. You’ll review your current book, Scripture verses, homework assignment and part 1 of their Personal Ministry Plan. But the most important part of the retreat is spent sharing “faith stories”. Each woman will have already prepared her faith story and now have the opportunity to share her story with the group. Afterward, the ladies in the group will be able to ask her questions and pray for her. Having already told your story, you’ll be listening intently, taking notes and asking God to show you the truth about each woman….where she’s coming from, where she is RIGHT NOW, and where God might be leading her to go. You’ll be listening, listening, listening!
And by the time you cook together, clean together, do some fun activities, pray and share faith stories, they’ll be ready to take full advantage of the mentoring season.
Resources
Retreat Planning Logistics
Mentor Preparation Guide
Meeting Guide
Personal Ministry Plan
Additional Resources
Search My Heart
Final Month
Influence is defined as “the capacity to have an effect on the character, development or behavior of someone or something.” Jesus was all about others. His life and His teachings point us in that same direction. This month you’ll support the mentees as they discover the importance of living life purposefully, to make sure the path they’re on leads to the desired destination! They’ll be challenged to think through how God has uniquely gifted them and how they can be intentional in fulfilling what He has equipped and called them to do. They’ll set some specific goals in different areas of their lives that will help them to live out to their covenant commitment “to identify a plan for how I can serve and lead in our church and community based upon my gifts, season of life and passions.”
Suggested Books
Clout – Jenni Catron
Find Your Place – Rob Wegner & Brian Phipps
Garden City – John Mark Comer
Leadership As An Identity – Crawford Loritts
Missional Motherhood – Gloria Furman
Restless – Jennie Allen
S.H.A.P.E.-Finding and Fulfilling Your Unique Purpose for Life – Erik Rees
The Best Yes – Lysa TerKeurst
Unstoppable – Christine Caine
You are the Girl for the Job – Jess Connolly
You Be You – Jamie Ivey
Resources
Mentor Preparation Guide
Meeting Guide
Homework
Marriage Focus (if applicable)
Scripture Memory
use with Influence topic on final month
Titus2 Mentoring Women involves a graduation … a passing of the torch … a completion of the mentoring season. We get the idea from Jesus. He did it first. He got His disciples together and told them He was leaving them. He prayed for them, and He let them hear that prayer. Then He sent them out to pay it forward—to do for others what He had done for them. He’d invested in their lives so that each of them were now sold out followers of Christ. After their “graduation” they became mentors themselves. That’s how the church grew and prospered.
Multiplication, not addition.
You can choose to combine your graduation with your last session, in which case it will be a longer session. Or you can add an additional evening together to just share and have a closing time of prayer and encouragement.
Your graduation will be a great time of sharing and celebrating what God has done!
Resources
Mentor Preparation Guide
Meeting Guide
Homework
Scripture Memory
topics Bank
The pressures of life are significant and inevitable! When life’s pressures multiply, what comes out of us is only a manifestation of what’s inside of us.
God gave us emotions to experience life, not destroy it! Handling our emotions can be a huge issue for women. To understand the root and the destructive power of guilt, anger, greed and jealousy are important in order to walk in the Spirit and not according to our emotions. In addition, we’ve seen how even mature Christians can destroy their lives if they do not have godly character.
If we have godly character and emotions, and reflect the person of Jesus Christ, we’ll positively influence every environment and relationship we’re in. Though the power for godly character and emotions comes from Jesus Christ, the responsibility for developing and displaying that godly character and emotions is ours.
Suggested Books
Emotionally Healthy Discipleship –Peter Scazzero
Enemies of the Heart – Andy Stanley
Louder than Words – Andy Stanley
The Cry of the Soul: How Our Emotions Reveal Our Deepest Questions About God – Dan Allender/Tremper Longman
The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry – John Mark Comer
Unglued – Lysa TerKeurst
Resources
Mentor Preparation Guide
Meeting Guide
Homework
Marriage Focus (if applicable)
Scripture Memory
Additional Resource
Date Night Survey
It is a goal of Titus2 that women walk away from the program encouraged and equipped to be a follower of Jesus. God has a unique call and purpose for each of us. Our prayer is that each woman would be challenged to take a giant leap into the adventure of a sold-out life for Christ, to experience a life of boldness, courage and purpose. God is calling women to step out of their comfort zone to fully surrender their lives to His will. A passionate love relationship with God is one of the many benefits to following Jesus.
Suggested Books
Anything – Jennie Allen
Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God – Francis Chan
Follow Me: A Call to Die, A Call to Live – David Platt
Humility – Andrew Murray
Love Does – Bob Goff
Resources
Mentor Preparation Guide
Meeting Guide
Homework
Marriage Focus (if applicable)
Scripture Memory
Women worry a lot! We worry about our children, our friends, our careers, our families, our spouses — the list could go on and on. Yes, we want to be content and trust God with our worries, but it’s a struggle to let go and free ourselves from the burden of anxiety.
And contentment!! So many women are wishing for what they don’t have, living in the past with regrets or in the future with fear; but seldom content with where they are and what they have. As Paul said, he learned to be content. So we must come alongside the women and encourage them in this area by modeling a contented life, because our culture breeds discontentment!
There is always something to be thankful for, even when storms are all around. We just have to adjust our perspective, keeping our eyes on Jesus, not on the circumstances that seem to be overwhelming us. It is a hard thing to do, yet a very important aspect of our journey through life and walk with Christ. You have an opportunity to have a great impact on your women as you bring these topics front and center and allow them to really learn how to find gratitude, peace and contentment with where God has placed them.
Suggested Books
Anxious for Nothing – Max Lucado
Calm My Anxious Heart – Linda Dillow
Enjoy – Trillia Newbell
What Women Fear – Angie Smith
Resources
Mentor Preparation Guide
Meeting Guide
Homework
Marriage Focus (if applicable)
Scripture Memory
As we all know, every one of us will walk through difficult situations during our lives. Learning to trust God is a lifelong process and essential to living a victorious Christian life. For young women to have an older and wiser woman to walk with them is a huge encouragement. We can bring not only wisdom gained through life experiences, but truths we’ve learned through meditating on God’s Word and allowing His truth to be lived out through us. Even if we have not gone through the same situation, we can be a voice in their lives that reminds them of God’s love and faithfulness in their lives. This is probably more impactful than any of us can imagine.
As mentors, you will help the women receive all God has for them and learn how to use “what Satan meant for evil” as the very thing that God will use for their good and His glory. God never wastes one moment of our pain or our sorrows.
Suggested Books
Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy – Mark Vroegop
Goliath Must Fall – Louie Giglio
Hope Heals – Katherine Wolf
It’s Not Supposed to be This Way – Lysa TerKeurst
Lessons I Learned in the Dark – Jennifer Rothschild
Prayer in the Night – Tish Harrison-Warren
Remember God – Annie Downs
Suffer Strong – Katherine Wolf
Suffering – Paul David Tripp
The Hiding Place – Corrie Ten Boom
You’ll Get Through This: Hope and Help for Your Turbulent Times – Max Lucado
Resources
Mentor Preparation Guide
Meeting Guide
Homework
Marriage Focus (if applicable)
Scripture Memory
specifically designed for married women
Intimacy in marriage – well that’s a HOT topic!! It’s a topic often avoided in our Christian discussions, but such an important topic for us to address. Our culture certainly does not display how God intended marriages to be and the sacredness of the sexual relationship. The importance and blessing of healthy marital intimacy will help us to fully live out God’s design for an intimate marriage.
Suggested Books
Intimate Issues – Linda Dillow & Lorraine Pintus
Redeeming Sex in Marriage – Scott Mehl
Resources
Mentor Preparation Guide
Meeting Guide
Homework
Marriage Focus (if applicable)
Scripture Memory
Additional Resources
Little Things That Make A Big Difference
specifically designed for married women
A woman who stays married to the same man for her whole life has accomplished something few women in our current culture have. The greatest gift a mom can give her kids is a healthy relationship with her husband, where love and respect for him is lived out in the good and bad times. A solid Christian marriage is one of the most powerful testimonies to our broken world of the Lord’s unconditional love for us.
This month, you’ll read an important book on Christian marriage. As you read, you’ll see the real root of most marriage problems – each spouse is still a sinner! But God wants to use our marriage to transform us and make us more like Christ. You’ll discover that your marriage can become a doorway to a closer walk with God and to spiritual growth, so that others will see the life of Christ displayed through your marriage.
As a mentor, you don’t have to be the perfect wife to be able to share what God has taught you through your marriage. Women want honesty and authenticity. You can tell them the truth about your experiences . . . what’s worked and what hasn’t worked in your own marriage. You have made a decision to love, respect and submit to the leadership of your husband. Commitment is everything.
Suggested Books
Choosing Marriage – Debra Fileta
Fierce Women – Kimberly Wagner
Grace Filled Marriage – Tim Kimmel
Marriage – Paul David Tripp
Sacred Marriage – Gary Thomas
The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God – Timothy Keller
You and Me Forever – Francis and Lisa Chan
Resources
Mentor Preparation Guide
Meeting Guide
Homework
Marriage Focus (if applicable)
Scripture Memory
All moms want to be good mothers to their children. But parenting in an increasingly complex world isn’t a simple or easy task. Parenting for the most part is often “on the job training.”
Being a mom is a hugely important role, but one that can often feel frustrating and unrewarding. There are so many challenges we face as parents, and having an older woman who is further down the road is a gift to young women’s lives. You’ll be able to come alongside women to encourage them and help them in ways their peers cannot.
Don’t feel you have to have been the perfect mom, or that all your children have made wise choices and are walking with the Lord. You’ll find that some of the key insights and wisdom you’ll be able to give them are things you learned, not because you “did it right,” but because you didn’t do so “right” but you gained wisdom through the process. Your willingness to be transparent and honest will be something God will use in a mighty way!
Our heart’s desire is that no woman would come away from this month feeling discouraged or guilty, but would be encouraged and better equipped as a mother.
Suggested Books
Desperate: Hope for the Mom Who Needs to Breathe – Sarah Mae, Sally Clarkson
Families Where Grace is in Place – Jeff VanVonderen
Habits of the Household – Justin Earley
Gospel Mom – Emily Jensen & Laura Wifler
Intentional Parenting: Autopilot is for Planes – Sissy Goff, David Thomas and Melissa Trevathan
Mama Bear Apologetics – Hillary Ferrer
No More Perfect Moms – Jill Savage
Parenting: 14 Gospel Principles That Can Radically Change Your Family – Paul David Tripp
Parenting the Wholehearted Child – Jeannie Cunnion
Risen Motherhood – Emily Jensen, Laura Wifler
Shepherding a Child’s Heart – Ted Tripp
The Worry Free Parent – Sissy Goff
Resources
Mentor Preparation Guide
Meeting Guide
Homework
Marriage Focus (if applicable)
Scripture Memory
Personalities . . . how we are uniquely made. How can we better interact with others who are so different from us? Whether it is with our spouses, our children, our siblings, our co-workers, our friends or neighbors, it is so easy to misunderstand others simply because they’re wired differently than us. Just because two people see things differently doesn’t mean that one is right and the other is wrong. Rather your differences are often just a matter of personality. It’s a fun topic to discuss and the insights they gain will be a huge encouragement to their marriage and to every other relationship!
Suggested Books
Taming the Family Zoo – Jim Brawner
The Road Back to You – Ian Cron, Suzanne Stabile
Wired That Way – Marita Littauer
Resources
Mentor Preparation Guide
Meeting Guide
Homework
Marriage Focus (if applicable)
Scripture Memory
Additional Resources
Personality Profile
Understanding Temperaments
specifically designed for single women
One focus of this theme is to learn how to develop healthy and God-honoring relationships by first focusing on becoming the person God wants each of us to be. Healthy and safe relationships are so important and vital for the well being of a single woman.
In pursing sexual purity, a single woman is putting herself under God’s blessing. How many of us hope God will guard us from calamity and misery, while every day we make small, seemingly inconsequential immoral choices that inch us toward bigger immoralities? When God calls on us to pursue purity, we are not being asked to do what will deprive us of joy. It is God’s protection for us.
You have the opportunity to bring some clarity and hope for single women as you look at what God says and share your experiences with them. This is a topic we avoid, but so many women need to talk about this with an older and wiser woman. You could set each woman on a course for which each of them and their families will always be grateful.
Suggested Books
Boundaries in Dating – Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend
Dating with Pure Passion – Rob Eagar
Gift-Wrapped by God – Linda Dillow & Lorraine Pintus
Loveology – John Mark Comer
Safe People – Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend
Sex, Jesus and the Conversations the Church Forgot – Mo Isom
Swipe Right – Levi Lusko
The Purity Principle – Randy Alcorn
The Sacred Search: What If It’s Not about Who You Marry, But Why? – Gary Thomas
Resources
Mentor Preparation Guide
Meeting Guide
Homework
Personal Exercise
Scripture Memory
All women desire significance and security. Regardless of professions, credentials or possessions, the vast majority of women are swimming in a sea of insecurity and trying their best to hide it. The messages all around us are that worldly things can fulfill us. It’s on TV, in magazines, on the internet; everywhere we turn we’re being bombarded by empty promises for a more fulfilling life. . . a better husband, a better body, a better career, a more beautifully decorated house . . . to be liked, to be wanted, to feel we have something unique to offer. They sneak into our thought process and make us think, if only I had . . . I’d be so secure and fulfilled.
Until our hearts find complete significance and security in God’s unconditional love, we will never be satisfied. As children of God we are designed to find our significance, our identity and our confidence in Him. The only way we’ll be able to do this is if we move beyond knowing about God to knowing and relying on Him. True freedom is when we learn to apply foundational truths that can motivate us to live for Christ instead of the approval of others.
Suggested Books
A Confident Heart – Renee Swope
Counterfeit Gods – Tim Keller
Grace for the Good Girl – Emily Freeman
Nothing to Prove – Jennie Allen
Seated with Christ – Heather Holeman
So Long Insecurity – Beth Moore
The Cure: What If God Isn’t Who You Think He Is and Neither Are You? – Bill Thrall, Bruce McNicol, John Lynch
The Emotionally Healthy Woman – Gerri Scazzero
Tired of Trying to Measure Up – Jeff VanVonderen
Uninvited – Lysa TerKeurst
Resources
Mentor Preparation Guide
Meeting Guide
Homework
Marriage Focus (if applicable)
Scripture Memory
specifically designed for single women
Singleness is a positive gift from the Lord, and is to be cherished and maximized. We must resist the implication that singleness is second best. Singles are able to be undistracted in their devotion to the Lord. They are able to go deeper into other important relationships in their lives. There is potential for meaningful ministry. This topic will highlight the unique opportunities singleness affords.
Gary Chapman, author of The Five Love Languages and other books on relationships said, “I feel very strongly that marriage is not a higher calling than the single state. Happy indeed are those people, married and single, who have discovered that happiness is not found in marriage but in a right relationship with God.”
Suggested Books
7 Myths About Singleness – Sam Allbery
Resources
Mentor Preparation Guide
Meeting Guide
Homework
Scripture Memory
So many people grew up never being taught the truth, that we are stewards, not owners, of our time and money. Our culture puts so much value on acquiring things, building wealth and busyness without realizing the toll that takes on our family. These women desperately need to see lived out before them women, couples and families who are living for eternity and not for this temporary life; recognizing that all we have comes from God and is to be used for His glory.
Suggested Books
Love Your Life Not Theirs – Rachel Cruze
Margin – Richard Swenson
The Truth About Money Lies – Russ Crosson
Your Money Counts – Howard Dayton
Resources
Mentor Preparation Guide
Meeting Guide
Homework
Marriage Focus (if applicable)
Scripture Memory
Additional Resources
Faithful Stewardship
Tyranny of the Urgent
Marriage Focus Spreadsheet
So many women live defeated lives because of their thought life. They live in fear of the future, guilt from the past, insecurities of who they are and often projecting themselves to places God never means for them to go. Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as he thinks within himself, so he is.” Our thoughts are so important as we seek to walk with the Lord and fulfill His purposes in our lives. It is key to living a victorious life in Christ!
If we don’t intentionally allow God’s Word to transform us, we will live defeated lives. Genuine transformation occurs only as we let Truth sink down into the very core of who we are, changing our thoughts and our behaviors. This month the women will be challenged to “think about what they’re thinking about”, to recognize the lies that Satan has deceived them with, and realize that they can experience the freedom Christ came to give us as they “take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:5).
Suggested Books
Get Out of Your Head – Jennie Allen
Get Your Life Back – John Eldredge
Resources
Mentor Preparation Guide
Meeting Guide
Homework
Marriage Focus (if applicable)
Scripture Memory
Additional Resources
Quiet Time Exercise
For Editable Monthly Homework click here
