The Coaching ministry trains and certifies personal ministry coaches to walk alongside growing leaders to help them become more effective in their particular ministries. Coaches are being used in Leadership Institute, the training of Church Planters and Missionaries, in the Recording process and other environments.
Why Coaching?
Reasons for Emphasizing Organization-wide Coaching
Coaching allows leadership development to be value based. Emerging leaders not only are intellectually exposed to the values of the movement, they are put into a place where those values can be fleshed out in action.
Coaching focuses on developing the individual giftedness of an emerging leader. It cooperates, then, with the “wiring” that God has placed within this leader.
Coaching leverages the specific situation a leader finds themself in, responding to the felt need of the learner. This is called, “Just in time learning.”
Coaching emphasizes the role of the local church in leadership development. Most coaches will be a part of the congregation that the leader serves in, and so will have first-hand knowledge of the ministry.
Coaching insists that the leader is involved in hands on ministry. Learning is at its best when there is immediate application of specific lessons. In-service trainingprovides both theoretical knowledge and practical application.
Coaching provides flexibility for individual learning styles. While some are more comfortable with an academic approach, others are more into the “learn on the fly” mode. Coaching can adapt to both styles.
Coaching allows for more rapid deployment of workers because their ministry will be supported by intentional, regular and sound interaction with a partner (the coach). The leader will receive counsel and resources to help them work through issues that they may not be able to confront alone.
Coaching is a process that provides excellent yet inexpensive training. Using this method raises up leaders at a fraction of the price of more traditional educational processes.
Coaching creates an environment that highlights life-long learning. Other approaches, unless they are at their best, tend to connote that once a leader finishes the process, they have arrived. Coaching assumes that a leader will always need to be coached.
Coaching provides a framework that allows for someone other than the pastor to develop leaders. While a congregation’s pastor may participate in coaching, this approach opens the door for non-clergy involvement, allowing a greater numbers of people to be drawn into the process.
Coaching is inherently relational. Leadership development is really about people, and cultivates a climate for deeper growth that flows from relational interaction. This kind of opportunity is particularly important to the next generation of leaders.
Coaching presents a place for the transfer of leadership wisdom to take place. Most of the best leadership “stuff” is not written down. It may never be written down. This relationship is one that allows the baton to be passed when it might not be otherwise.
What is Coaching?
“How Does Coaching Work?” FAQ’s
What does a coach do?
Coaching is the process of coming alongside a person or team to help them discover God’s agenda for some part of their life and ministry, and then cooperating with the Holy Spirit to see that agenda 
become a reality.” –Bob Logan
In other words, coaching is a relationship focused on facilitating growth/change.
Coaches influence a growing leader by
- Listening carefully to their concerns, needs, hopes and dreams
- Asking clarifying questions
Then, a coach helps them to
- Commit to God’s next step in their life
- Identify resources they need to make progress towards that goal
- Support and challenge them until that leading becomes a reality
How does coaching differ from mentoring?
“A mentor goes before and pours in; a coach comes alongside and draws out.” – Tom Wymore and Joe Woodruff
Coaching differs from mentoring in that mentoring requires the mentor to generally be more experienced or more expert in the area s/he is mentoring in. Coaching, however, is more a matter of learned skills that can be applied peer to peer in all kinds of environments. As was stated, mentors pour in whereas coaches draw out.
What a coach is not:
- An expert – a coach listens rather than tells
- A teacher – a coach asks clarifying questions rather than passing on information
- A boss – a coach depends on the worker’s desire to follow Christ to provide motivation and follow-through
- A counselor – a coach assumes action rather than provides analysis
What a coach is:
- An encourager
- An equipper
- One who nurtures perspective by asking excellent questions
- One who listens to God and to the person they’re coaching
- Helps others listen to God for themselves
What are the Foundational Requirements of a Coach?
- Vital relationship with Christ
- A Learner
- A conviction that the Holy Spirit can and will teach the leader (perhaps within a group) what to do next
- A disposition towards action
- Behavior that exhibits a commitment to the coaches’ own personal development – particularly the skill of asking insightful questions
- A passion to help other succeed
What are the underlying convictions that a coach holds?
- Jesus, Right Here, Right Now
- “Just in Time” learning rather than “Just in Case” learning
- “One thing at a time” rather than “Everything at one time”
- The Lord places leaders in this role for a purpose
- Spiritual Leadership, which motivates through character, gifted ministry and persuasion, is the only way to lead
INTERESTED? If you have questions, or would like more information, contact Stan Leach