Intergenerational Connections: The Spiritual Life Mentorship Program

Reported by Audrey Grice

Photo by Luci Lettau

George Fox University (GFU) offers a variety of mentorship programs designed to support students’ growth academically, professionally, and spiritually. One is the Spiritual Life Office (SPiL) mentorship program, which aims to connect undergraduate students with faculty or staff mentors in a faith-based environment.

For sophomore Bethany Cook and her mentor, Christine Lawton, the program fostered more than just a formal connection; it sparked a meaningful intergenerational friendship rooted in shared faith.

“Having an older mentor figure, especially a Christian person who I could just… talk about life and build a friendship with was something that really appealed to me,” Cook said. “I saw the SPiL Mentoring Program as a possible opportunity for that.”

Cook participated in the eight-week program in the spring of 2024 and was paired with Lawton, GFU’s executive director of institutional effectiveness. While Cook hoped for a long-term connection, she approached the experience with an open mind.

“As Christine and I met… we hit it off right away,” she said. “Oftentimes our meetings ended up just being both of us talking about life and the things going on. And then we would have five minutes at the end of our meeting… [to] do our Lectio Divina or whatever.”

At the formal program’s end, Cook and Lawton agreed they wanted to continue meeting. A year later, they still meet weekly in Lawton’s office.

For Lawton, the program offered a return to a familiar and fulfilling role. Before working at GFU, she served as a teacher, professor, and director of a Christian education program at Concordia University for 12 years. Her current role doesn’t involve much student interaction, so she welcomed the chance to mentor again.

“Faith mentoring is… kind of who I am,” Lawton said. “So I was thrilled, actually, when they offered this because coming here, my sadness has been I’m no longer in the classroom, I’m no longer building those relationships.”

The SPiL mentorship program is structured around weekly spiritual disciplines, such as breath prayers, Lectio Divina, and spiritual gifts discussions; booklets created by SPiL guide each pair through their time together.

“Having a set time and a set prayer practice to engage in with just one other person was really meaningful,” Cook said. “[It] allowed us to be able to share our… different perspectives with the writing or the art, and that was really cool to be able to… discern what the Lord is saying from this, and we could have our two different perspectives on that.”

Lawton and Cook emphasized the importance of the intergenerational dynamic in their relationship.

“It’s so encouraging for me to see God working in a young person,” Lawton said. “I think one of the reasons we’ve worked is because I have done a lot of the things she hopes to do. It’s invigorating for me to see somebody at the beginning of that again, and it reminds me of where I’ve been, and at the same time provides me the opportunity to share some of my stories.”

“It’s just cool to… see how God has worked over the years, and in different settings, in different ways, long before I was born,” Cook said. “Christine and I can tie experiences she’s had to experiences that I am having or will have… even over the course of time, we can draw ties between those things, and see how things have changed but also look at it from a perspective of faith and see how God stays the same.”

Their relationship has grown well beyond the program’s structure. Lawton regularly prays for Cook and described feeling protective over her during a recent trip.

“I felt a little motherly over the spring break,” Lawton said. “When [Cook] was gone, I found myself lifting her and her team up.”

Cook said the experience has helped her practice living out a Christ-centered relationship.

“Throughout the New Testament, Paul encourages others… in your relationships with other Christians to bear one another’s burdens [and] celebrate with one another,” she said. “So it feels like another space where I can practice those things so that I can go and live that out in my other relationships, too.”

For both Cook and Lawton, the SPiL mentorship program has become a meaningful source of spiritual growth and the foundation of an ongoing friendship.

“George Fox’s focus is about students,” Lawton said. “We want to be student-centered, so I was thrilled to have the opportunity to connect with a student here.”