The coach approach to ministry provides excellent additions to clergy and lay leader's toolkit that empowers all to live into the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers and move from a fix it' focus to a fulfillment' focus in ministry. This type of coaching is not about a sporting event. Rather Christian coaching is a sacred relationship that empowers others to achieve their destiny and calling. As of November I will be serving Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina as a Church and Clergy Coach.  Prior to this I served 19 years as a Christian coach, coach trainer and consultant through the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.  During this time I have been privileged to coach pastors and leaders from 12 different denominations from across the country. 

Why Coaching is Needed In Church Life

            Coaching has been and continues to be a powerful tool in the business world to help executives, managers and employees move forward and face a rapidly changing world where doing more with less is the challenge. Now churches face similar challenges and more. While coaching pastors and others over 1200 hours I was reminded of several reasons coaching is needed in church life. Reasons include:

·        the loneliness and isolation many experience in ministry,

·        the steep and frequent learning curves many face,

·        the need for support and encouragement to keep going during those tough days,

·         and the power of providing a safe and sacred place through a formal coaching relationship.

 My new challenge and opportunity is to provide a toolkit for pastors/staff and lay leaders of CBFNC that will release them from feeling they have to fix people and churches and move them to fulfilling their gifting, calling through a coach approach to ministry.

            The power of Christian coaching for those in church, denominational and judicatory leadership is that it creates a safe, confidential and sacred dedicated space where those being coached can slow down, focus on what needs to be done now, find encouragement and hope to move leaders, pastors, staff, teams from where they are to where they desire to be.  Fast lives, complicated challenges and ever steepening learning curves for leaders creates the perfect landscape for coaching. So many churches and leaders are so overwhelmed by their, and others, expectations. In our fast-moving world and churches - often with dwindling resources and even increased expectations on their staff that burnout if on the rise and frustration among church leaders is paramount!

What is Distinctive About Christian Coaching?

            Some will likely be skeptical of bringing into the church something from the business world.  There are many distinctives we cannot ignore for Christian leaders. Christian coaching provides a sacred space and trustworthy relationship for the Spirit to work to bring about movement through fear, companionship for a journey through trials and challenges and healthy accountability. The Christian coach prays for their clients regularly, chooses to be genuinely affirming when needed and a truth teller when that is needed. A coach earns trust, respects the client's beliefs and values and commits to being the client's cheerleader and professional coach. In coaching the agenda is always that of the person being coached and not that of the coach. The coach is not there as the expert or a consultant sharing their expertise or a mentor sharing their experiences. A coach is there to hold the client's agenda and provide powerful questions, not answers, to move them from where they are to where they want to be and accomplish their goals. For instance, some often want to move from feeling burdened by needing to or being expected to ?fix people and churches' to experiencing more fulfillment' in ministry.     

            Another powerful distinctive is that coaching provides space to explore deep questions, a personal or group faith journey, celebrate the connections and powerful parts of the journey as well as face and move through the trials and struggles of the faith journey as a leader or congregation. Coaches help to crystallize powerful learnings through celebrations and trials of life. Coaches also creates powerful objective listening opportunities where the leader/pastor has an objective set of ears to help them grow into the leader they have the potential to be.  The aha's' and keen insights of the client is what coaches live for!!! One of my most powerful experiences, as a coach, was when a pastor. who was considering early retirement due to discouragement and lack of vision, entered a coaching relationship with me.  Three months later he declares my wife and family say I've become a better spouse, father and pastor. I'm happier and more fulfilled and effective."  When I celebrated with them and inquired, "What's the difference?" the client declared quickly - "I"ve learned to coach my church rather than carry my church!".  Wow...what a powerful learning and shift in his leadership style, attitude and leadership!  Three years later it continues for him and his church!

İEddie Hammett, PCC, Author of Making Shifts Without Making Waves: A Coach Approach to Soulful Leadership  and Reaching People Under 40 While Keeping People Over 60.  www.transformingsolutions.org. www.thecolumbiapartnership.org; www.soulful-leadership.com  and www.ca-ministries.com Church and Clergy Coach for Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina www.cbfnc.org

Coaching Churches and

 Church Leaders

By Eddie Hammett, PCC

            Coaching churches and church leaders maximizes time, energy and focuses around passion, calling and growth challenges in ways that seminars promise but often miss.  Leaders - whether local, global, church or denomination or judicatory, clergy or lay leaders - all face overwhelming demands these days and find it frustrating if not discouraging.  Most persons in any leadership role are faced daily with doing more with less, choosing priorities that are most meaningful, and moving from talk to action.  Coaching is about all of this.

            Coaching empowers, challenges, and creates environments and conversations that moves coachable persons and organizations from where they are to where they want to be. I'm constantly amazed, with a coachable person or group and a skilled coach, how much quality action can happen in a very short period of time and without an overwhelming amount of energy.  What a gift to stressed out leaders and organizations that face expectations that are over unrealistic and yet present.

            Christian coaching also offers an incarnational element to ministry during the tough and the celebratory times.  That is having the full presence and attention of a coach who is focused on you and your goals and desires brings a partnership and encouraging force that many need these days to face fears and push through challenging goals.  Learning to be fully present and to tune into the client is a large and vital part of all excellent coach training programs.  Learning to trust the Spirit in the midst of the relationship while listening to what is said and what is not being said brings fuel for a powerful coaching relationship. Learning to show up and be fully present in a coaching conversation is a focusing and empowering element that moves persons from just talk to action that is intentional and meaningful for them. 

            The impact of Christian coaching can be summarized by some of the shifts and skills it calls forth.  Moving from ?telling' to ?asking' is far less judgmental and far more empowering to help persons discover how the Spirit is moving in their life and frame it in ways that moves them into their destiny.  Another is a coach approach diffuses power struggles and builds ownership since the agenda is always that of the client.  The threat of some outsider telling you something to do that you really do not want or desire is not an issue in coaching.  The coach approach is all about discovering and building ownership of the ideas that moves you forward.  Another powerful impact is moving from talk to action! Lord knows most churches and leaders need to move from talking to action. Coaching also provides an environment where alignment can happen between the disconnects in ministry (challenges) and alignment that strengthens leadership, influence and impact of pastors and congregations. I really believe that Christian coaching can fuel believers and churches to live into the doctrine of priesthood of all believers, which as Baptists, we declare as a foundation stone for our history and heritage. Findley Edge, my mentor and former seminary professor, often declared that Baptists have talked this doctrine to death and he longed for the day we would act on it! Maybe today is the day!

CBFNC and the Coach Approach

            What will the creating a coaching culture among Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina look like? How will it impact the churches, staff and leaders in affiliated churches? These are questions we will be exploring together over the next months as we cocreate some next steps for leaders and churches.  Some possible venues of such exploration will likely include some of the following:

·        Identifying the most coachable persons/churches among CBFNC

·        Introduce CBFNC to basic coaching skills and models

·        Cocreate some coaching covenants with leaders and churches who are ready

·        Establish a peer coaching network among staff and some of the CBFNC councils

·        Offer coaching services for identified pastors/staff and churches who are ready and coachable

·        Share stories of the impact of coaching with CBFNC

·        Dialogue about the value and challenges of a Coach Certification program for CBFNC

İEddie Hammett, PCC, Author of Making Shifts Without Making Waves: A Coach Approach to Soulful Leadership  and Reaching People Under 40 While Keeping People Over 60.  www.transformingsolutions.org. www.thecolumbiapartnership.org ; www.soulful-leadership.com and www.ca-ministries.com Church and Clergy Coach for Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina www.cbfnc.org