Lodge Mentoring
New Freemasons become puzzled and lost in their first two or three years of membership and sometimes as a result drift away from Freemasonry.
It is the responsibility of every Lodge to look after its members. The Lodge Mentoring Coordinator has a vital role to play; as it is his responsibility to ensure that the Mentoring process is not only implemented, but that it also works effectively in his Lodge. The Lodge Mentoring Coordinator needs to ensure that a Mentor is appointed for every Candidate.
To do so he must;
1. Be fully aware of the Mentoring process, what it is trying to achieve and what ‘success looks like’.
2. Make sure that all the members of his Lodge are aware of Mentoring and what benefits it will bring to their Lodge.
3. In order to assess how mentoring is working within the lodge – Celerity Lodge have in this instance requested that W Bro Kevin Darling will produce a small report on each candidate and convey the thoughts of not only the mentor but the candidate – and possibly report his findings to the Lodge: perhaps then the mentor may be given an opportunity to give a Lodge Mentor’s Report in open Lodge.
The purpose of the Mentoring Programme is to ensure that every new member enjoys being a Freemason, understands what it is about and becomes involved in his Lodge - its ritual working and other activities.
Lodges which accomplish this have enthusiastic and committed members who are not only an asset to their Lodge and Freemasonry in general, but also keen to encourage their friends to join as well.
It is therefore the responsibility of every Lodge to look after its members and give them all the information they need at each stage of their Masonic development. Whilst Lodges may adopt differing procedures for doing this, the Mentoring Scheme recommends the appointment of a senior and experienced Brother as Mentor to each new member. Each Candidate needs a Mentor to whom he can relate and who is readily available at any time to answer questions. The Mentoring Co-ordinator of the Lodge acts as Team Leader. He selects two or three Brethren of experience and knowledge to act as individual Mentors for newly initiated Brethren. It is important that these Mentors have (or establish) good relations and close communication with the Brethren they are mentoring.
The scheme suggests a series of meetings, though these can be very informal, and covers the period from a man first identifying himself as a potential candidate to when he is Masonically mature.
Mentoring is not new. We have always done it, but not on an organised and systematic basis. The prime responsibility for Mentoring a young Mason has always rested with his Proposer and Seconder. It still does. However, sometimes they are not able to do the job well, so back-up is essential.
The Lodge Mentoring co-ordinator makes sure Mentoring is done well, identifies suitable people to fill any gaps and makes sure the resources needed are available.
The pressures of modern life mean time for personal reading and research are at a premium so 'spoon feeding' is sometimes necessary.
Most people find checklists helpful and the series of booklets associated with the Mentoring Programme provide these and list other sources of information.
We all know Freemasonry is more open these days but we still worry about just how much we should tell people who are not yet Masons. How much do we tell a Mason at each stage of his development?
It is a sad fact that in recent years there has been a steady decline in the numbers of Freemasons within the United Kingdom. In addition to that many of the newer brethren leave within the first 5 years of their Masonic life and the number of active masons in each lodge is declining.
