STB-95-04
Music by Brother J. L. F. Mendelssohn.
MENTORING PROGRAM
A WORKING TOOL FOR
MEMBERSHIP RETENTION
By: David R. Flight
David Flight is a Past Master of Cauvenzeur
Lodge #500, Cauverneur, New York. The program
described in this STB has proven very helpful to
those Lodges who have put it to use! As always we
ask you to check with your Grand Lodge for permission to use this program.
Editor
INTRODUCTION
I'M THE GUY
"I'm the guy sitting by himself on the side. I asked
to join, I paid my dues, and I promised to be faithful
and loyal.
I've come to the meetings but hardly anyone pays
attention to me. I've tried to be part of the group,
but everyone seems to talk to and sit with their
own buddies.
I want to get involved, but l'm just not sure how to
do it. The same guys always seem to do the work.
but they don't seem interested in having anyone
new join them.
I missed a few meetings after joining, and no one
asked me at the next meeting where I had been.
Everyone says, "Hi," but no one really seems
interested in me.
I want to get involved, I want to know more, I want
to be part of the group, but right now I'm thinking
about the game I'm missing on TV. "
If the brother in "I'm the guy" sounds familiar,
we urge you to read this STB! Something good
can be done.
MENTORING
This Short Talk Bulletin is not intended to serve
as a guide but as an introduction. The Mentoring
Program when used in association with a Masonic
education program, such as "Tried and Proven",
available from MSA, creates a compound stronger
than cement, uniting us into one common mass of
educated, active Masons. This system takes in
every candidate; it becomes the labor of the Craft
under the supervision of the Master: a uniform,
acknowledged, and renewing education process.
In order to maintain and strengthen Freemasonry,
Lodges need to educate their members in all aspects
of the fraternity. We have a responsibility to provide
each member with opportunities to meet and interact
with others, to help him do his share, and to give
him knowledge about the Fraternity. The Mentoring
Program is based on consideration, respect, and
cooperation. It is a team program aimed at developing
each Brother to his fullest potential.
What happens in the majority of Lodges between
the Brother Bring A Friend Night (12-90 STB)
and the First Degree? The scenario goes something like this: The Lodge receives a petition
which is read and turned over to an investigation
committee; the investigation committee does their
job and returns their report; the petition is read
again; the Lodge ballots on the petition; and, if
accepted the petitioner is informed of the date of
the First Degree.
Is there something missing here? How about a
Mentoring or Mentor Program and a Masonic
Education Program? We ask ourselves time and
time again why new members do not stay active
in the Lodge after the Third Degree. The answer is
because they often do not have a stimulant to keep
them active. Frequently they do not even understand
the Fraternity they have just joined. A continuing
program of support through Mentor
Counseling, Fraternal Lodge Visitations, and
Lodge Participation is encouraged for the New
Brothers in their First Year as Master Masons.
The Mentoring Program consists of assigning each
candidate a well educated Brother to act as his mentor,
educator, and companion for a year, thereby,
creating an active, educated and working Brother.
A Mentoring Program together with a system of
Masonic Education provides the necessary
methodology to guarantee that every new Brother
is properly instructed in the fundamentals and
workings of the Craft.
THE PURPOSE
(Taken in part from "Tried and Proven")
Every candidate is a stranger to Freemasonry and
Freemasonry is a stranger to him. It is not merely
a Lodge that he joins, but a great fraternity with a
history stretching back over many centuries. It has
an intricate system of laws, a large number of purposes,
ideals and Obligations, a set of rights, privileges
and duties, and a set of landmarks to be preserved.
The fraternity as a whole carries on a program
of activities of great variety.
It is too much to expect of any man that without
guidance he can make himself at home in such a
society, or that unaided he can take his own proper
place in the Lodge's work with credit to himself and
honor to the fraternity. He has every right to expect
that the Lodge itself shall give him much of the
information he needs. So many Brethren never
receive this information and are permitted to
come--and perhaps go--undirected and uninstructed.
They either cease attending Lodge at all,
or, sometimes, for lack of knowledge, blunder into
humiliation to themselves and damage to the Lodge.
There is nothing new in these statements. For
years responsible Craft leaders have been only too
aware of these problems. This failure to properly
prepare the candidate for his new duties and privileges
is both a failure on the part of the Craft to discharge
its just obligations to him and a weakness in
the fundamental system of Initiation. These failures
incur the danger of weakening the whole
structure by attempting to build enduring walls
with rough ashlars and untempered mortar.
Moreover it is not solely a matter of teaching the
new member the ceremonies he is to go through. It
is necessary that he become imbued with the spirit
of Freemasonry and to believe in, as well as to
understand, its purposes and ideals. Our Fraternity
does not rest on compulsion or military rule; if its
own members are at odds with its aims it becomes
a house divided against itself. In many cases when
Masons cause dissension in a Lodge, it is not out of
malice or a desire to make mischief, but because
they do not understand the rules and laws.
It is not only the candidate that profits by a
Mentoring and Education Program. The Lodge
itself is strengthened from having new members
who from the beginning are able to take part in its
activities; who are likely to become regular attendants;
and who can quickly grasp the aim and purpose of the
Lodges' endeavors. They come in already prepared for work!
Ask yourself these four key questions;
1) Are we allowing newly raised Brothers to
pass through the three degrees uninformed
and uninstructed?
2) Do we fail to encourage special meetings to
educate the regular attending Brethren and
re-educate Brethren who have drifted from
regular Lodge attendance?
3) Is my Lodge allowing the line officers to
advance to the East unprepared for the
task, thus resulting in SELF-DESTRUCTION '?
4) Have we failed to recognize that leadership
qualifications are unobtainable if we
continue to ignore the vital need to
become masonically educated'?
If you answered YES, your Lodge needs a
Mentoring Program.
The mechanics of a Mentoring Program are as follows:
FUNCTION:
To ensure that every Candidate is properly
instructed in the fundamentals of the Craft.
MECHANICS:
Option A: Upon receipt of a petition, the Master
appoints an investigating committee consisting of
one current officer, one new brother, one Past
Master, and one experienced brother. Either the
Past Master or experienced brother will continue
as the Mentor. The investigating committee meets
with the candidate and his family at the candidate's
home and answers any questions they may
have regarding Masonry. Consider the following
in discussions with the candidate.
ù Does the petitioner believe in God?
ù Are his moral and mental standards satisfactory'?
ù Will his acceptance create financial or
domestic problems?
ù What are his motives for petitioning?
The Candidate and his family will get their first
impression of the Craft from the Investigation
Committee.
Option B: Upon election of a petitioner for the
degrees of Freemasonry, the Master appoints the
Lodge Mentor for a ONE YEAR term to serve as
part of a Lodge Masonic Education Team. In the
event a Lodge does not have an education team,
the Mentor may work alone to enact the program.
The Lodge sends the Candidate a congratulatory
letter. Include a copy of Short Talk Bulletin No. 8-
54, "Tell the Applicant," available from the
Masonic Service Association.
Assign a Mentor to the candidate. Preferably a
seasoned member who is knowledgeable about
the Craft. The Mentor will serve as one of four
members of the Lodge Masonic Education Team
or he may work alone.
METHOD
The Lodge Mentor will contact the candidate and
advise him of the tentative Degree schedule and
invite the candidate and his lady to any open
Lodge functions. The Mentor will maintain contact
during the candidate's progress through the
Degrees and will assist him in preparing for each
Degree. The Mentor will find out if the candidate
has any particular Masonic friends or associates
who would like to be invited to attend or assist in
the conferral of the Degrees (particularly the Third
Degree). Above all, the Mentor will make the new
Brother a part of the Masonic Family.
The Candidate meets with the Mentor a minimum
of FIVE times. A recommended time limit for all
the sessions is one hour, not to exceed one and onehalf hours including discussion. They meet: I )
prior to the First Degree, 2) following the First
Degree, prior to the Second Degree, 3) following
the Second Degree, prior to the Third Degree, 4)
following the Third Degree, 5) one month after the
fourth session for a continuing Education Program
as designed by the Lodge.
It is a misfortune that so many new Brothers are
permitted to drop from sight after they receive the
Third Degree. Often they are left to their own
devices and to fend for themselves. If the Lodge
can retain their interest during this most critical
period of their Masonic careers and give them
guidance and encouragement until they have had
time to form habits of interest and activity for
themselves, they will develop into working, active
Masons. Otherwise they are likely to stop attending
after a few meetings and either lapse into
chronic indifference, or find their way to some
other more attractive activity.
The new Mason needs to know and understand
his duties as a Master Mason and what his rights
and privileges are. He should be taught how to visit
other Lodges. He needs information about the
traditions and work of the Craft as a WHOLE.
It must be stressed that the duties of a Mentor are
for ONE YEAR. Do not leave the newly-made
Mason alone to fend for himself after the Third
Degree !
A personal note:
Some Lodges may already use a formal
Mentoring Program, many do not. When I became
a Mason, my Lodge did not have a Mentoring
Program. Thanks to two Brothers, one who taught
me the ritual and the other who answered all my
questions (and I had a lot of them), I received an
extensive Masonic Education. I can tell you first
hand that mentoring works.
For far too long, new candidates have been
brought into the Craft enthusiastic and eager to
become active members, only to be neglected by
the Lodge they join. A properly educated, oriented,
and invested new Mason is an ACTIVE member of
his Lodge. The Mentoring Program is the first step
to membership retention and expansion.
The Mentoring Program combined with either the
Tried and Proven Booklet available from the
Masonic Service Association or your present
Masonic Education Program provides one coherent
system of Masonic Education and Membership
Retention.
Also available from the M.S.A. are the following
digests and Short Talk Bulletins, that will assist
your own Program.
DIGESTS
Tried and Proven
Leadership
Masonic Lifeline
One Hundred One Questions About Freemasonry
What is Freemasonry?
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