Because research and our experience show that being coached greatly enhances ministry effectiveness, GCI trained ministry coaches are provided at no cost to work with GCI-USA interns, pastoral residents, first-time employed pastors and church planters. Coaches are then provided to other pastoral leaders for a small fee. If you are interested in being coached or in being trained to serve as a ministry coach, email GCI-USA Ministry Coaching Coordinator Cara Garrity. We invite you to support Ministry Coaching by donating to the GCnext fund.

What is ministry coaching?

Ministry coaching is a process by which the coachee is helped by the coach to take next steps in their development. The coach listens then asks questions to deepen the coachee’s thinking, allowing them to find their own solutions, and doing all this in a way that makes the coachee feel empowered and responsible enough to take action. Ministry coaching is about positively impacting the coachee’s mindset, heart and behaviors so they can move forward in their development. Ministry coaching is NOT:

  • Ordering people around because the coach has authority or power.
  • “Fixing” the coachee.
  • Creating dependency or indulging in open-ended therapy.

A ministry coaching session typically has five parts, summarized in the acronym COACH:

Connect: build rapport and trust, follow up on action steps from previous conversations.
Outcome: identify the result the coachee wants to achieve during the conversation.
Awareness: reflective dialogue leading to discoveries and insights that help the coachee make better decisions.
Course: help the coachee formulate action steps to put feet on the insights and discoveries gained.
Highlights: review the conversation to identify what the coachee found most meaningful.

Those being coached experience several benefits:

  • An informed opinion from a coach with no vested interest in the situation’s outcome.
  • Having their eyes opened to what they can’t (or won’t) see.
  • A compassionate and confidential ear where frustrations can be vented.
  • Reality checks concerning their vision, values and strategies.
  • Help dealing with conflict.
  • Help implementing plans.
  • Someone who will ask the questions others aren’t.
  • Help developing ministry strategies.
  • Help balancing ministry with family life.

Recommended coaching resources:

 

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