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In my experience, the Christian education offered through the traditional church, particularly the education through Men’s ministry, is very high level and generally does not explore complex topics and strays away from topics that are culturally taboo. The topics that programs like Men’s ministry do address tend to be superficial in nature. “Let’s go away for a weekend, be manly by shooting shotguns and spend 3 hours learning about Jesus” is not an effective system to develop a deeper Christian eduction.

Alternatively, Christian education is most effective when it’s personal and genuine. Spending time with a friend or mentor that is willing to sit down with you and explain complex topics that would otherwise be ignored in a tradition church setting, is critical to a Christian’s development. The church casts a very large net and tend to generalize a large group of people and hope that most will find identity in their characterization, but struggles to address outliers. Personal mentorship or friendship to further the Christian education is the answer to the growing problem in the church.

Perhaps the real struggle though is finding mentors for mentees that have significant hobbies, value, or interests with one another in common. I’m unlikely to have a genuine connection with a man 20-30 years older than me that is only interested in hunting, but I will have a great relationship with someone a few year older than me that also plays video games. The establishment of a long term relationship with a mentor that we share common interests with is supportive in furthering our Christian education through role modeling daily Christian behavior.

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I 100% agree that discipleship is vital to Christian development. Older women teaching younger women and older men teaching younger men is the model that Paul lays out, which is still applicable today.

However, maybe consider that common personal interests and hobbies are potentially less important than you think. Moreover, interacting on a deep level with only those with whom you have an arbitrary level of common ground can be detrimental to yourself and to the community around you, pigeon-holeing you into box with little to no connection to other perspectives, ideas, or experiences. Some of my closest friends have been from wildly different walks of life, ages, and cultures, with little or no previous exposure to my interests or hobbies (as was the case for me with theirs). In fact, some of those relationships have been the most memorable, interesting, and (in some cases) life-changing relationships I've ever had. If that individual has a personal relationship with Jesus, you immediately have the deepest, most important common ground that could ever exist, regardless of culture, age, gender, or practices.

So anyways, go hunting with that old man. Listen to him as if he had something you need to know. Maybe you'll hate it, but maybe you'll learn something new and be better for it. 🏞️

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