While I have been staying in Kunming, China I had the opportunity to go to coaching training in Singapore. Now for many of you that is probably a broad term so I would like to expand on what coaching means for me as well as tell you about my exciting week in Singapore.
Coaching defined: “Christian coaching is an on-going intentional conversation that empowers a person or group to fully live out God’s calling.” Another term that some may be familiar with would be a life coach, which focuses on moving a person forward in a variety of different aspects within their lives. Where this type of Christian coaching varies is that we believe the Holy Spirit is an active part of this process. The process happens through a simple model of: Connect, Outcome, Awareness, Course, and Highlights. This model plays out in guided steps by the coach where question asking is the primary focus. Allowing the “coachee” to process and discern what the Holy Spirit is speaking to them about.
Where this differs from counseling is that you are only dealing with the present and future so that the “coachee” moves forward in action. Whereas counseling will often dive into childhood and past experiences to help frame why current issues are being presented, often in emotional areas. One requirement of a candidate who wants to be coached is that they are emotionally healthy.
To give further understanding on coaching, some examples as to what people may come to a coach for would be transition periods, (moving, out of work) creating, (church planting, new business startup, ministry focus) and personal development (physical health, spiritual patterns, relationships, family). These are some broad areas and they do not come close to covering the many different topics where a coach could be very useful.
The coaching process is somewhat hard to describe because we often think of a coach in relation to sports. Where they have a plan and are telling you how to do something like shooting a basketball. Although there is structure, a life coach is not telling you what to do. Where most people struggle with life coaches is that they are used to people sharing their input. For example, we may present an issue to a friend that we don’t have an immediate answer to, often our friends will just give their solution to the problem. Another example would be going to your pastor for advice (which is a very good thing) about an issue. When it is presented your pastor usually tells you their thoughts or experiences. This is not at all a bad thing, but at times when we are simply told something there is a lack of ownership especially amongst adults. Typically adults remember best what they found the solution to and are much more likely to see it through, causing the learning to stick with us a lot longer. Please don’t take my word for it I would encourage you to process on your own how effective it has been when you have told another adult exactly what to do in a situation. So in coaching we do not give the answer to the “coachee” but through questions help them to self discover with a dependence on the Holy Spirit to speak to them. In life there is a need for personal advise to others, pastoral care, and counseling, but when an individual enters the coaching process we as coaches desire to draw out what God has placed inside of them as the best solution through pointed questions. 
At times I thought this sounded simple or easy but I quickly learned how easily I love to give my opinion or thoughts. When I disciplined myself to not share my opinion it was amazing to watch how simply asking questions can even at times bring people to the same answer you would have given them, but now they have complete ownership of it and are much more likely to implement it into their lives because its their idea not yours. If you are curious to learn more or would like to experience being coached I would be happy to do that over skype with any one. Just send me an email with your thoughts or questions and I will get back to you as soon as I can.
