For a practical guide to preaching through a book of the Bible, see our expository preaching guide for small church pastors.

For a practical guide to building Titus 2 mentoring relationships, see our Titus 2 mentoring guide for small churches.

By Brent Lacy

Paul’s instruction in Titus 2:3-5 is one of the most practical passages in the New Testament for women’s ministry. Older women are to teach younger women. Not in a classroom. In relationship. Through the ordinary stuff of life.

In a small church, this is not just possible. It is natural. The generations are already in the same room every Sunday. The question is whether the church is intentionally connecting them.

What Titus 2 Mentoring Is

Paul tells Titus that older women are to teach younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands. This is not a list of rules. It is a description of a life well-lived, passed from one generation to the next through relationship.

Titus 2 mentoring is not a formal program with a curriculum and a schedule. It is an older woman investing in a younger woman through the ordinary rhythms of life. Cooking together. Shopping together. Talking through a hard marriage season. Praying together. Showing a younger woman what it looks like to follow Christ through the decades.

Why Small Churches Are Ideal for Titus 2 Mentoring

In a large church, the generations are often separated. Young families go to the contemporary service. Older members go to the traditional service. The Sunday school classes are age-segregated. The generations rarely interact.

In a small church, everyone is in the same room. The 70-year-old woman who has been married for 45 years sits three rows behind the 28-year-old who just had her first baby and is struggling. The connection is right there. It just needs to be made intentional.

How to Build a Titus 2 Culture

Start with the pastor

The pastor sets the culture. If the pastor values intergenerational relationships and talks about them from the pulpit, the congregation will begin to value them too. Preach on Titus 2. Tell stories of women in the congregation who have mentored younger women. Name it and celebrate it.

Identify the older women

Not every older woman in the congregation is ready to mentor. Look for women who are spiritually mature, who have navigated the seasons of life with faith, and who have a genuine love for younger women. These are the women Paul is describing in Titus 2:3.

Have a conversation with them. Not a recruitment pitch. A genuine conversation: “I have been thinking about the younger women in our church and what they need. I think you have something to offer them. Would you be willing to invest in one of them?”

Make the connection

Do not wait for the connection to happen organically. Make it. Introduce the older woman to the younger woman. Tell each of them why you think they would benefit from knowing each other. Then get out of the way.

Keep it informal

The moment you turn Titus 2 mentoring into a program with a curriculum and a schedule, you have changed what it is. Keep it informal. The older woman invites the younger woman to her home. They cook together. They talk. They pray. The curriculum is life.

What Younger Women Need

Younger women in small churches often need someone who has been where they are and come out the other side. They need someone who can say: “I remember when my children were small and I felt like I was drowning. Here is what helped me.” Or: “My marriage went through a season like that. Here is what we learned.”

They do not need a perfect mentor. They need an honest one.

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