Growing Together

I have incredible respect for Melissa Kruger. She is the type of woman I want to learn from. She has a level of excellence with which she teaches, and a simultaneous humility that's comforting and inviting. She is organized, direct and truly loving!
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Growing Together covers the importance of mentorship and how we can find a woman to disciple us/a woman we can disciple.
Through 11 chapters Melissa teaches not only the importance of mentoring, but explores what that means as together we: savor the word of God, serve in the church, share our faith, pray, grow loving relationships with family and friends, fight temptations, cultivate contentment, serve others and learn the art of discernment. She also includes an incredible list of helpful resources. I learned a TON from this book. I will share some favorite quotes in my stories today! If you are a woman that truly wants to learn how to cultivate a positive mentor/mentee relationship, this is 100% the book for you.
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⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Thank you #netgalley and @crossway for the free ARC!

Anyone looking to mentor or be mentored will find biblical principles and practical tips in Melissa B. Kruger's Growing Together. It's definitely a book for such a time as this--when we need godly women to step up and mentor younger women. I think that so many women long for mentoring relationships, but Christian culture has made it into something that seems difficult, when really it's just life on life. Kruger captures the heart of mentoring and helps women to put the biblical practices to work in daily life. It's an easy but challenging read. And if you're not sure about mentoring, you'll be sold by the end of the book, and you'll be asking God to show you who he wants you to mentor and who he wants you to be mentored by. So, be sure to take this book into your prayer time and take a step of faith toward biblical mentoring. Practical, helpful, biblical, encouraging, simple (though maybe not easy!). The hard work of life on life mentoring will pay off in eternal rewards, and Kruger helps you do break it down into easy, doable steps.

Note: I received a copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for this honest review. The opinions expressed are my own.

“Just as the older tree doesn’t make the younger tree grow (the water and the sun do that), the mentor isn’t responsible for the spiritual growth of the mentee (God does that). She’s simply standing beside the younger woman, offering the strength she’s gained as God has grown her through the years.”

Growing Together could be considered a supplemental handbook that helps equip women for mentor relationships, ministry, and maturity. From the on-set, Melissa gives us clear distinctions, definitions, and understanding of what we can expect from the following chapters. While this book is intended for one-to-one discipleship or mentoring, she also suggests other options that might prove useful and offers slight deviations that lend specific help. Additionally, she allows scripture to fine-tune and support a definition of mentoring (it is helpful for both parties to have a foundational understanding as they move forward in this kind of relationship!).

Melissa clearly draws from experience in her own mentoring relationships. Each chapter is incredibly full of helpful wisdom. Not only is this book filled with action steps, but it lays a firm foundation that, when grasped, allows for those steps to be taken. You’ll find overarching information pertaining to the topic, as well as directives and practical actions for both the mentor and mentee. As each chapter comes to a close, Melissa addresses reasons (lies, unbelief, etc) we might try to grab ahold of which prevent us from moving forward on the path. Finally, the chapters end with questions to help guide the time together.

As one who has led women’s ministry in my own church, one who has discipled in groups, and one who is currently intentionally discipling one-to-one, this book is a treasure in providing helpful framework toward cultivating deeper discipleship relationships. Biblically speaking, Melissa draws from clear and specific Scripture to direct us to how the Lord calls us to walk in these relationships.

I am grateful that the Lord brought this timely and needed message to Melissa’s heart. The Church needs women to step into these kinds of relationships together and I believe the relationships between women in the Church will thrive as they work through this book together. Growing Together is a tool of grace for those who desire to partner—whether by leading, receiving, or both—with the Holy Spirit in walking with others in their sanctification and spiritual growth.

Each chapter in Growing Together includes something from Melissa's personal experience, questions for personal consideration (these can also be asked + answered in times together as a mentor and mentee), and action steps. The chapters cover topics like setting expectations (very practical), reading the Word, prayer, sharing your faith, and cultivating contentment.

It's an easy read, but if the reader takes the time to dig into the questions and take the message to heart, it will be helpful for both the mentor and mentee.

http://www.littlebitofthyme.com/2020/06/15/review-growing-together-taking-mentoring-beyond-small-talk-and-prayer-requests-by-melissa-kruger/

As part of my work, I mentor (or disciple) younger women. I will absolutely be using this book as a resource both at work and in my church. Melissa Kruger takes the fear and intimidation out of mentoring by laying out a wise and practical approach. I pray it is used by many women to pour into younger believers!

What an amazing guide to help women cultivate deep, meaningful relationships. Melissa B. Kruger is a talented author bringing practicals, personal life lessons and scripture together seamlessly. Thank you Crossway and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this profound book in exchange for my review. I can’t wait to order a hard copy to write in the margins and keep as a tool and resource for my mentoring relationships. #growingtogether #NetGalley #MentorsCare

"Mentoring is a privilege. It is needed. It is a blessing," writes Melissa Kruger—many Christian women know this in theory, but they have not had the opportunity to experience it firsthand. In Growing Together, Melissa helps both the mentor and the mentee learn how to develop a gospel-centered relationship in order to 'grow together' in Christ.

Living alongside another with intentional truth-telling is the heart of mentoring, and in Growing Together: Taking Mentoring beyond Small Talk and Prayer Requests, Melissa Kruger employs the vivid metaphor of one tree standing beside another, a young tree tethered to a much older tree–“one that is sturdy and strong, standing straight… to offer support and strength to prevent the younger tree from growing askew.” (LOC 120)

Strength the older tree has gained from withstanding years of wind and storms allows it to offer stability to the younger tree, just by standing straight and strong beside it. In the life of my family, with my readers, and with the women of my church, I want to practice this faithful “standing beside ministry,” offering the strength God has built into me through years of quiet growth.

The Gift of a Rope

Mentoring is a discipleship relationship that focuses on equipping younger believers for the work of ministry so that they grow in maturity and unity in the faith with the ultimate goal of glorifying God.”

Although her work provides principles along the way and makes a strong case for mentoring, Kruger’s main focus is to provide content for spiritual conversations. She extends the gift of a rope in her writing, a tethering tool and a practical guide for helping a godly mentor hit the high points on a roadmap for faithful living. While it is true that Christianity is more than a codified system of beliefs, it is also true that scriptural content is absolutely essential to living a life pleasing to God.

So often, young women become discouraged, feeling that older women are unwilling to make themselves available for a mentoring relationship. If lack of confidence is the reason for the reluctance, Growing Together takes the pressure off the mentor by providing a guide and by challenging readers to throw off the need to be “resident expert” and, instead, to be learners together. Best of all, each chapter focuses on one very specific area and then follows up with questions for discussion.

Mentoring is true spiritual work, and we are not in control of the results. To extend the metaphor of the tethered trees, “one tree cannot make another tree grow. It simply stands beside a younger tree and offers its strength for a season.” My own spiritual batteries were recharged in this initial reading of Kruger’s fine resource, and I look forward to tackling it again, sharing the content with others, and standing alongside them in their growth process.


Many thanks to Crossway for providing a copy of this book to facilitate my review, which, of course, is offered freely and with honesty.

I had too many expectations of this book. I can say that it is useful to disciple a woman from zero. Preferably if she is a new believer. If you have been a believer for many years ... Let's say it serves to review concepts, but I do not know if it is redundant or uncomfortable to address such basic topics again.

I thought that it would be more than anything a book full of questions to initiate topics or bring the relationship closer and make it grow from someone who is already in Christ and must mature in order to disciple others.

I do not criticize the book as totally bad, it is organized, it is just that it is not what I needed or had in mind to use with women who already know Christ and still need or ask for mentoring. I enjoyed reading it as they are topics of interest to me. I would consider addressing those topics with someone.

There were some things that reminded me of my grandmother and that this author does not share ... for example the verse of "Therefore, be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5:48" the author says that it is not necessary to be perfect and places a lot of emphasis on exposing weaknesses. I think I understand her point, but the way she put it ... I think it lends itself to misinterpretation. Quote: "Perfection is impossible. Howerver, we can be women who seek to love God in all we think, say an do. That´s what your mentee needs most: a woman who earnestly desires to know God and glorify him with her life" ... "Perfection isn´t the goal. Instead, try to develop healthy patterns of bible reading". I suggest if you are interested in this topic ... check Adorned by Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth and Susan Hunt's books. I will keep waiting for a title on this topic perhaps, or I will continue with interviews with devoted women.

I received a copy of this book at exactly the time I needed it. The first chapter does a wonderful job of explaining about how a mentoring relationship should look, and the second chapter’s “Sharing Your Story” questions are very helpful. Every chapter in this book is an encouragement, and it would work very well as a small group study. I’m looking forward to to following the suggestions and wisdom that’s packed into this book. I’ll be reading it a second time to carefully glean all that I can from this author’s wealth of knowledge that she shares with us.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.