What Does a Religious Education Credentialing Mentor Do?

The mentor, who has been specially trained by the Liberal Religious Educators Association (LREDA), helps to guide the participant through the Religious Education Credentialing program. Topics of conversation during a mentoring session might include: what to put in the portfolio; what type of professional development to pursue and where to pursue it; how to document previous, current, and future experience for inclusion in a portfolio; what books to read on the reading list; suggestion of discernment process for articulation of a personal theology or preferred pedagogy; serving as a sounding board for future direction in program or whether to seek additional credentials, etc.

All program participants must have a mentor. The expected frequency of mentor/mentee contacts is 10 monthly per year of at least an hour duration. Those candidates desiring to complete the RE Credentialing program in less than a year are required to have a mentor with the ideal being approx. 1 hour a month for how many months it takes for the candidate to complete it.

How Do I Get a Mentor?

Information for mentor matching will be taken during the Entry Interview. This information will be passed by the Professional Development Programs Manager to the LREDA Committee on Mentoring which will use it to match the participant with a mentor during their next mentor matching process.

The mentor will contact the participant once the matching has taken place. After that, it is the participants’ responsibility to contact the mentor.

Can I Request a Particular Mentor?

The Professional Development Programs Manager will pass along any special mentor requests to the LREDA Committee on Mentoring. However, the Committee on Mentoring makes all decisions regarding mentor matching and cannot guarantee that the request will be honored.