Woman to Woman: Life Principles from Titus 2, by Barbara Henry, is part of the Following God Discipleship Series.  A scripturally based 12-week study, Woman to Woman is a small group study for equipping women to mentor younger women with the Titus 2:3-5 model.

This study can also be used for mentoring directly, and there is an accompanying leader's guide available. Younger women also could use the study as a guide for what to look for in a mentor just as mentors can grow spiritually through doing it.

This is a culturally relevant study, with quotes from modern and older spiritual classics peppering the pages. Barbara Henry has written a helpful, rich curriculum that will strengthen mentors themselves and prepare them for mentoring relationships.

In the preface to the book, Henry writes,

"…The Holy Spirit has identified and listed for us in these few short verses in Titus the key topics you, as a mentor, will be questioned about. The Word of God, as our only rule of faith and practice, supplies the answers…. If your mentoring relationship lasts several years, life will have a way of bringing up most of these topics. Under His sovereign direction, God will ordain situations that may eventually cover it all. God knows what women want and need to talk about.  However, you, as a mentor, need to be familiar with each category and be able to recognize a topic when it surfaces."

This description is helpful, revealing this book both as a resource and a direct learning tool. The study is meaty, and Henry urges women to dig into Scripture for themselves. She telegraphs a heart for God and a desire for women to approach the Scriptures with intellectual integrity and rigor. 

Henry does not shy away from topics that some would prefer to ignore--anger, sexuality, addictions, and denial--and provides links to ministries specifically helpful to women struggling with particular issues (all of us!).

Each lesson is comprised of five days of homework leading the participant throughout Scripture and asking her to answer reflective questions and to write out prayers of response. 

Learn more about Barbara Henry and her work at www.barbarahenry.wordpress.com.

Women Mentoring Women: Ways to Start, Maintain and Expand a Biblical Women's Ministry, by Vickie Kraft and Gwynne Johnson, has stood the test of time.  Translated into over ten languages, this study has sold more than 80,000 copies since its original publication in 1992. A more general guide to supporting the development of women's ministries, this book also outlines the development of Heart-to-Heart mentoring ministries.  

Its authors are well-educated, Biblically-grounded and church-based. Vickie Kraft has served at Northwest Bible Church in Dallas as Minister of Women, and Gwynne Johnson led for over 20 years in Bible Study Fellowship. Their book is a product of Titus 2:4 Ministries, which Vickie and her husband founded.

This is a very flexible program, yet the book provides detailed, useable templates for everything from matching mentors with mentorees to evaluating the program. 

Older and younger women (called Elizabeth/Mary or Naomi/Ruth perhaps) are paired for walking through life together and encouraged to attend specific church events as a way to insure some parameters to the otherwise somewhat unstructured relationships. The women are free to set up any structure that works for them but are encouraged to speak by phone once a week, spend time together monthly, pray for each other and look for other opportunities to be together.

This ministry is primarily a support and source of encouragement for relationships that are initiated through the women's ministry structure that matches them (aiming for "at least two interests or life issues in common"). 

There is a recommended fall kick-off event, with matching done in September and October, with the expectation that pairs will be together formally until May of a given year and then beyond that as the relationship naturally dictates. 

Heart-to-Heart also recommends a spring tea, and their materials go into great detail in explaining how the tea can work.  There are lists of recommended foods, committee responsibilities, room preparations and table settings, and even a schedule for the day of the tea with detailed line items ranging from "folding napkins" all the way through to "go home and collapse!"

Materials also include a helpful list of "common problems for problem solving as matches are made."

Learn more at http://www.titus2-4.org

Woman to Woman, Preparing Yourself to Mentor, by Edna Ellison and Tricia Scribner, serves a needed niche… equipping women who have made intentional decisions to mentor but don't necessarily feel adequate to the task. 

The book contends that mentors are not superwomen but "…real people--with real feelings, concerns and responsibilities--whose most important qualification is that they care enough about others to invest themselves in relationships."

Providing hope that "real people" can mentor, this study includes 18 interactive studies that women can do alone or with others, before they begin mentoring or as they go along. 

There is a study guide to foster group discussion as well as a study guide for a facilitator for a group of mentors, a sample covenant, guidelines for a commissioning service, a reference list of books, a list of "fun things to do" and advice for using the book in churchwide settings.

Sample chapter topics include:

•    Do I Have the Stuff Mentors are Made of?

•    Me, Gifted?

•    Taking Off the Mask

•    Developing Heart-Core Intimacy

•    The How and Why of Boundaries

•    Keeping Your Well Full

•    From Covenant to Closure

Each chapter has an "Always Remember, Never Forget" thought.  One such example is "While youth demands 'doing,' age whispers 'being.'  Success in your relationship is determined by how you balance the two." 

A study designed to cement your skills and confidence, Woman to Woman is also creative.  In the "Getting to Know You Survey" resource, this is one of the questions: "If I had a jar of marshmallow cream, I would: A. Give it to the homeless, B. Eat it all at one sitting, C. Make fudge, D. Use it for paste."  Certainly you will know your younger partner better after exploring those answers!

Edna Ellison, PhD, is an author of several books and has addressed international audiences. Tricia Scribner is a speaker, writer, songwriter, and Bible study teacher.  Their pairing as coauthors insures two different and complementary perspectives.

Learn more at http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=99493&;event=71457SBF|678972|

Apples of Gold purposes to "equip women to be better wives and mothers, build a stronger relationship with Christ and develop intergenerational relationships with other women." Founded by Betty Huizenga, it began in 2000 and has had national and international impact, affecting the lives of thousands of women and their families.

With elements of Scripture study and cooking and meal planning instruction, Apples of Gold encourages women in the domestic arts and nurtures them, per Titus 2:3-5, which encourages older women to help younger women to love their husbands and children.

Based on traditional values, Apples of Gold teaches older women to share those values with each new generation and emphasizes the importance of spiritual development. Proverbs 25:11 is another foundational Scripture for this ministry and expresses its theme: "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver."

The "core" of Apples of Gold is six-week, three-hour group sessions that end with a celebratory dinner. Hospitality is a strong component of this program. A typical mentoring session (as described in Apples of Gold materials) includes:  

•    The first hour is cooking time. Women learn menu planning, cooking tips, wonderful recipes to be used at home, and ideas for setting the table for family and guests.

•    The second hour is discussion of the weekly lesson from the Apples of Gold book, led by a gracious, seasoned mentor.

•    The third hour is mealtime for enjoying the food prepared in the first hour and for sharing Table Talk questions from the lesson. 

Apples of Gold trains women to conduct their own programs, and mentors or church leaders can get that training at a conference that is chock-full of information and camaraderie.

This program is wonderful for those women who particularly want to focus on Scripture study, intergenerational relationships and the traditional values of home and family.

Apples of Gold produces resources that teach mentors how to run the program. There are even studies for mentoring pre-teens, an important niche, as well as a book to strengthen women in their own "quiet times" with God.  Apples of Gold studies are published now in English, Spanish, Dutch and Portuguese.

Learn more at http://www.applesofgold.org.

Janet Thompson, of Saddleback Church in California, is the author of Woman to Woman Mentoring: How To Start, Grow, And Maintain A Mentoring Ministry… and Mentoring God's Way studies, which bring Biblical stories of mentoring (Naomi and Ruth, Mary and Martha, Elizabeth and Mary) into a 21^st century context. Mentoring God's Way can be used by individuals, pairs or groups.

Woman to Woman Mentoring emerged from Thompson's desire to help other churches develop mentoring ministries, much as Thompson had done at Saddleback as she transitioned from the business world and seminary to ministry. 

Thompson partners with LifeWay to present one-day Woman to Woman Mentoring Trainings throughout the United States and Canada. For more information on these trainings visit

http://www.womantowomanmentoring.com.

Mentoring, according to Thompson, is simply teaching what you've been taught so you can train upcoming generations. She writes that women do not have to be Bible scholars or senior citizens in order to mentor. Furthe