Thursday, May 28, 2015

Coaching within the Church

The core of the coaching process is asking the question, intuitive listening for clues to progress forward, and walking alongside the coachee (client). Continuous curiosity enables pondering values, perspective, context, lifestyle, goals, feelings, and relationships. This continuous curiosity promotes thought provoking questions, active listening, and leaps of intuitive insight for the coachee. The coachee is built up through these inquiries focused on goals and dreams enabling clarity and energy to achieve their ministry.

The flow of an effective coaching relationship is unique. While mentoring flows wisdom and experience passing on a father-like legacy; counseling flows prespective advice promoting physician-like healing; and consulting flows direction and expertise fixing a specific flaw akin to a senior design engineer. Coaching draws equals together flowing in a partnership characteristic by walking through life challenges together until actions are taken and the coachee's goals are achieved.

The ebb and flow of the coaching relationship is dictated not by a carefully scripted agenda of the counselor or the step by step plan of the consultant. Rather the coaching topic is influenced by the coachee's state of mind reflected in the coaching model continually centered around Jesus Christ as the foundation. Perhaps on a given coaching day, a powerful reminder needs to be crafted of the vision becoming fuzzy in the midst of the demands of every day life. Another session may need to explore strategy and objectives with the success or failure of initiatives considered. Stepping back and unpacking obstacles could be the unanticipated topic of another coaching day resulting from the brutal confidence damaging effects of a meeting. The topic may need to be a thoughtful examination of awareness of the realities of the present and setting the foundation firm again to build with strategies and actions.

Gary Collin's book, CHRISTIAN COACHING, presents a comprehensive picture of the relationship. Positive change that is: collaborative not prescriptive; dialogic not sermon focused; positive building up not problem solving taking apart; and life encompassing not component evaluating.

Some of the key underpinnings:

  • Listen intuitively
  • Demonstrate continuous curiosity
  • Promote mutual respect and trust
  • Clarify assumptions
  • Race alongside toward action oriented goals

There are several organizations that develop people coaching skills and certifications.

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