Coaching for ministry excellence

Bivocational ministers come from all walks of life. Some of us have been fully-funded and are now serving as bivocational either by choice or necessity. Some have been in the ministry for many years, and others entered this ministry as a second career. Some of us have professional, white collar jobs, and others wear a blue collar on our jobs. Some of us have had the opportunity to further our education while others are serving without a college or seminary education. When I began my ministry at Hebron I worked on the assembly line in a factory and had only a high school education. I worked at that factory job for another fifteen years before taking early retirement, but I did enroll in a Bible school and then earned my college degree. It wasn't until leaving the factory job that I enrolled in seminary.

One of the challenges facing leaders today is how do we provide training for our bivocational ministers who have not had the opportunity to further their education. If bivocational ministry will continue to grow, as I believe it will, we need to find ways to train those persons God is calling to this ministry. Some schools are now offering diploma and certification programs for bivocational ministers, and some seminaries now offer dual degree programs for persons planning to enter bivocational ministry. Some judicatories offer training programs such as the Church Leadership Institute I refer to in a previous blog. All these opportunities are good, but there is another component that I believe can be a helpful tool for training bivocational ministers. That component is coaching.

Many corporations now recognize the value of having professional coaches for their executives, and some offer coaching as a perk for their top executives. Many ministers would also benefit from having a coach to work with them through the challenging time of life and ministry. Some of the challenging times I'm thinking about are:

• when a minister is facing conflict in the church.
• when the minister is considering whether or not it is time to seek another place of service.
• when things are not going well at home.
• when a minister is seeking a fresh vision from God for his or her church.
• when the minister feels "stuck" and isn't sure how to regain his or her momentum.
• when the minister struggles with personal issues that challenge his or her sense of call.
• when the minister simply wants someone to bounce ideas off of without being afraid that those ideas will be ridiculed.
• when the minister needs some affirmation.

I've had the opportunity to serve as a coach for a number of bivocational ministers, and each of them have said that it was a growing time in their lives and ministries. One of the positive things about coaching is that we always work from your agenda. The person being coached always determines what we will address at each session so we are always working on the things that matter most to you. We normally set up six sessions to begin with and then review to see if more are needed. Because of my commitment to bivocational ministry I keep my rates very low for bivocational ministers, much lower than if you were to use an executive coach. If you would like to discuss whether or not coaching could help you move forward in life and ministry, please respond to this post, and I will get back to you.