Why the World Needs Women to Rise: The Power of Spiritual Mentorship

When I was in college at UC Berkeley, I knew I had talent and I had a lot of ambition, but I really needed direction. I had spent much of my life and childhood performing, and it was easier to play a character or get lost in a song than to live my actual life. Growing up in a divorced family, there’s just brokenness and a lot of emptiness and just feeling lost.

High school, college. Having gone through several bad relationships, I really needed women mentors, women who would take me in, women who had me over for dinner, women who just talked to me about life but also challenged me on the way I had been thinking, and then walk me through things, but also point me to actually having a purpose.

And I think that is what inspires me to want to do that for women who are coming after me.

Though women make up nearly half the workforce, 63% of women say they’ve never had a mentor. Research says that successful mentoring of women has been shown to help minimize feelings of isolation and contribute to increased self-confidence and work engagement. I think now more than ever, the world needs women to rise up so that we can raise up the next generation.

And this is where God comes in. He brings people into our lives to empower and shape us, and brings us alongside others so that we can empower and shape them.

The scripture that I think of is in Romans 15 one and two it says, now those who are mature in their faith can easily be recognized, for they don’t live to please themselves, but have learned to patiently embrace others in their maturity. Our goal must be to empower others to do what is right and good for them, and to bring them into spiritual maturity.

I really believe that God put us in the lives of those around us to empower them to grow. I think without people around me who are more spiritually mature than I was, I would have stayed lost. I want young women coming after me to have the same opportunities that I did and more.

This is why I’m so glad that at the Bay Area Christian Church, our women’s ministry is really invested in the next generation. I know personally, I’ve had the opportunity to lead our women’s Summer leadership program for the last several years now, and I’ve watched these young women grow to embrace God’s vision for their lives. They are talented and driven and caring, but they also need guidance to be shaped into who they are meant to be.

I’ve seen these women grow to become leaders in fields of education, in engineering, in medicine, as well as in the ministry. And I’ve seen these women raise their families to become pillars in the community. And one by one, I’ve seen the world around them change for the better.

What I’ve experienced is that this concept of mentorship does not happen overnight. Now is the time to invest in young leaders, to build their lives, to empower them to discover God’s purpose for their lives. Now is the time to rise up so that we can help raise up young people for a better future.