Coaching Defined

Christian Coaching

“What is it, and Can It Help Your Ministry?”

by

Rev. Glynis LaBarre, Certified Coach

Transformation Strategist

National Ministries ABC/USA

 

It seems that every few months a NEW ministry tool becomes popular, promising to be the cure all for every ministry woe.  Coaching is currently the hot NEW hope for help.  But what is Christian Coaching?  Does it work?  Is it Christian?  Should you consider this tool for your ministry?  This writing is designed to answer some of your questions and help you consider the value of coaching for your purposes.

 

What is Christian coaching?

 

In short, a Christian Coach helps people find their focus and accomplish their goals – to move from muddled to mission accomplished.

 

How does Christian Coaching work?

 

A trained, skilled Christian Coach builds a trust relationship with a person (or group) through focused listening and effective questions to help them identify their priorities and establish an action plan to meet their goals. 

 

Trained – The International Coach Federation (ICF) is the accrediting body for this new, fast growing profession.  They set standards for education and ethical conduct for coaches.  There are several accredited training centers recognized by the ICF as complying with their criteria.  Valwood Christian Leadership Coaching Center, founded by George Bullard, (where I was trained) is an example of a recognized group.  Ask a coach if they are certified and by whom.

 

Skilled – Many people have completed coach training programs.  But, completing the training and practicing the training until becoming skilled are two very different levels of effectiveness.  You want a coach trained by an ICF recognized program and one who has continued to develop their skills with experience.  Higher levels of experience are more expensive, get the best you can afford.  Ask your coach about their experience. 

 

Christian – A Christian Coach is trained to the same standards as any professional coach.  However, Christian Coaches are motivated to service as an expression of their Christian faith and call to ministry.  Some people feel the coaching relationship is more effective if the coach shares the values of their client.  A Christian Coach also has other resources (such as prayer) available to help them in the guidance they offer clients.  Ask your coach about their Christian commitment and how it effects their coaching.

 

Trust Relationship – The effectiveness of coaching depends on how much the client trusts the coach.  It is the coach’s #1 priority to build a trust relationship, starting with the first conversation and development of a Coaching Agreement.  All coach/client conversations are confidential.  A coach’s #2 priority is to believe in the client’s potential to accomplish great improvement both personally and professionally.   Ask your coach what ethics are a standard part of the coaching relationship.

 

2 Main Skills:

 

Focused Listening - Of course a coach must be a good listener, but a coach is listening for more than the person’s story.  They are trained/skilled to listen for patterns, problems and possibilities.

 

Effective Questions – Questions are a coach’s main tool for helping people.  A coach must be able to ask the right questions at the right moment for the client to be able to see their choices, abilities and options to accomplish their goals.

 

The Purpose is to help the Client:

 

Identify Priorities – Most people are chasing many rabbits.  Some are their own desires, or their family’s or their employer’s.  A coach helps a client determine which priorities they want to advance and what they want their future to become. 

 

Establish an Action Plan – The distinction of the coaching relationship is that success is determined by outcome.  The coach helps the client determine the goal they are most committed to reach and then create a step by step plan to achieve the desired result.  The coach is not the ‘parent.’  Accountability is the client’s decision.  That’s why coaching works.  The coach taps the internal, very strong motivation of the client to succeed at their chosen goal.

 

It’s all about the Client!

For many people this is the first relationship they have experienced where someone is committed to the success that they want for themselves.

  

WHAT CHRISTIAN COACHING IS NOT

 

Christian Coaching is NOT Counseling – Your coach is not going to ask about your past or you how you feel about old problems.  Coaching is not designed to be therapy, working to heal wrong thinking or deep wounds.  Counseling can become a long term relationship sustained with regular appointments that can continue for years.

Coaching is about the future and taking actions that will bring about the results a client seeks.  Coaching is also designed to help clients become more adept at self-coaching and empowered to bring about further change.  Coaching is often a short term relationship that discourages co-dependency and can be done by phone.

 

Christian Coaching is NOT Mentoring – A mentor has a long term, personal involvement in forming a person, passing along their vast amount of experience to someone they deem worthy of their investment.  This deeply caring relationship with the apprentice often becomes a parental role.

While a Christian coach genuinely cares about their client’s future, they work to stay more objective in their relationship role, able to help the client discern patterns in their thoughts and behaviors, reinforcing the client’s right and responsibility to determine their direction and decisions; defined more as peer to peer.

 

Christian Coaching is NOT Consulting – A consultant is hired as an expert to give specific direction and advice.  They expect the client to follow their instructions and experience success by implementing the consultant’s ideas.  By its very nature, consultants form co-dependant relationships with their clients to continue receiving their business. 

A Christian Coach may have years of experience in the client’s field of interest, but they are more concerned about what the client is learning about themselves and increasing their ability to accomplish their decisions.  Sometimes a coach many know little or nothing about a client’s field, but by listening and asking questions a coach can guide a client to gain insights they have been missing and determine future directions.  A coach relationship is usually project related and can be picked up and dropped off at times when the client determines a need for clear processing. 

 

Does Christian coaching work?

 

Sometimes Yes - For some people (and groups) this is the relationship they have been looking for and it is amazing the life changing decisions they accomplish.

 

Sometimes No -

• Sometimes there is not a match between coaching style and client need. 
• Sometimes the client is not willing to make necessary choices or follow through on decisions they have made. 

 

Part of the coach’s role is to ask the client if they are making progress and how to improve the effectiveness of the coaching sessions.  If the coach or client does not feel that the relationship is beneficial they may discontinue the coaching.  Most coaches explain arrangements for discontinuing coaching in their Coaching Agreement.  Ask your coach how discontinuing the coaching relationship is handled. 

  

How could Christian coaching help my ministry?

 

Consider these possibilities:

• Working on a project that keeps getting delayed – often writers use coaches to help them keep on task and meet a deadline.
• Sorting through confusion about a job assignment – you have too many priorities and don’t know where to start
• Applying a new direction in ministry – coaching can help you decide what steps, when.
• Incorporating new learning into your life or organization, forming new healthy habits.
• Carrying out important life changes – developing new life skills.
• Looking for a new direction – job changes, career redirection.

 

Anytime you or your group would benefit from having someone guide you to clarity and action. 

 

Next Steps

1. Ask for an introductory coaching appointment with a certified coach.  Most coaches are willing to have a complimentary conversation with someone interested in learning about coaching and searching for the right coach to help them.
2. Ask a certified coach to teach an introduction to basic coaching skills session with your group.  Most people can benefit from learning basic skills of focused listening and asking effective questions.  As you attend this introductory lesson, ask yourself questions like, “How would my ministry team function differently if we all developed coaching skills of listening with more focus and asking each other engaging questions?”
3. Use your imagination.  Now that you’ve experienced some coaching and thought a little about Christian coaching try to picture how your church, staff, pastors’ group, board, judicatory, might function differently if you brought a “coaching culture” to your area of ministry.  How would relationships be different if everyone was trained to ask questions and listen to others, seeking to empower others to make wise life giving decisions?  What would change if every conversation was about making decisions and commitments to action? 
4. Talk to a certified Christian Coach about your particular ministry and ask them to help you think about how coaching might make a difference in the effectiveness of your organization.

 

FINALLY, Is Coaching Christian?

 

Jesus asked his disciples many, many questions, “Who do people say that I am?  But who do you say that I am?”  I’m sure some of his questions are popping in your mind at this moment.  Jesus was a master coach – he allowed people free will, he never demanded his own way, he often painted pictures of a different future for people where they were free to fulfill their potential.  What do you think – is coaching Christian? Probably like everything else, coaching is as Christian as the people who use it. 

 

I hope this writing has been helpful to your quest for information and understanding about this new ministry tool and its potential to help you and your ministry be more effective.  If you would like further conversation about coaching and how I might be helpful in discovering if Christian Coaching would be useful to you or your group, please call 800-ABC-3USA x 2412 OR 813/727-6887 EST.  I would enjoy hearing your thoughts and questions.  As your ‘home missionary’ my services are available to you without cost.

 

With you in Christ’s adventure,

 

 

Rev. Glynis LaBarre

Transformation Strategist

National Ministries ABC-USA

800-ABC-3USA x 2412

813-727-6887

glynis.labarre@abc-usa.org