Would having a coach benefit your ministry?

My DMin thesis was "Coaching Bivocational Ministers for Greater Ministry Effectiveness." For my project I coached six bivocational ministers located throughout the United States and
Canada. The paper explored the issues we discussed and the solutions the persons being coached discovered that would address those issues. Each minister was asked to write a two page report on how the experience impacted their lives and ministries, and in each case the impact was positive. That paper was later rewritten and published in my last book The Art and Practice of Bivocational Ministry: A Pastor's Guide. I added four more ministers to the book whom I have coached over the years and added their stories to the ones in the thesis.

For a number of years many major corporations have provided executive coaches for their leaders. These companies recognized the benefits of their top executives receiving coaching far exceeded the costs. It was an investment they were willing to make knowing these coaches would add value to their executives and companies.

Many individuals today have life coaches to help them address challenges in their lives or to help them improve certain aspects of their lives. Some have financial coaches to help them make wise decisions about their money and investments. Some have physical coaches to help keep them accountable for their workouts and diets. A growing number of people today are willing to invest in having a coach help them grow in every aspect of their lives.

Unfortunately, few ministers have seen the same value in having a coach. The Lone Ranger syndrome that plagues many ministers is at work in this area of our lives as well. This is a shame. In my doctoral project I coached some ministers who were really struggling in various areas of their lives and ministries. They had no one to talk to and no answers to their problems. Yet, in a series of brief coaching sessions they began to find the answers they had been seeking. In some of the conversations I had with them over the telephone I could almost hear the light bulb go off as they suddenly discovered those answers. In our next coaching session I knew I was going to hear a great story of a breakthrough in their lives, and I was seldom disappointed. Yet, despite the positive things that can happen when one has a coach, few ministers are willing to work with one.

It should be noted that coaching is not exclusively for those having problems. A coach can help a person grow in areas in which the person is already strong as well. In fact, some of my favorite coaching times comes when a person wants to work in areas of their strengths. They want me to help them improve things they are already doing well.

As part of my coach training I worked with a coach for nine months. It came at a perfect time in my life because I was at a crossroads in my ministry. I had told no one, but I was literally at a fork in the road and wasn't sure which direction to take. My coach helped me work through that. I am convinced that because of being coached at the time I made the right choice.

There are a number of good ministry coaches out there who can be a great asset to your ministry. Some will work with just the minister while others are willing to work with the entire congregation. If you wonder if having a coach would benefit you, read the stories in my book and see how coaching helped them. Or feel free to send me a direct message asking to talk to me about how having a coach might help you in the coming year.