What is a Coach

When I first started telling people that I have been trained as a coach, I got strange looks. Most people think of a coach as someone who works with sports teams and individuals. People thought I was going to start telling people how to achieve better in athletics. I must admit that there is a similarity between athletic coach and professional coach. Except, professional coaches do not tell people what to accomplish.

Definition of Coaching

·        Coaching: Coaching is partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.

·        A professional coaching relationship: A professional coaching relationship exists when coaching includes a business agreement or contract that defines the responsibilities of each party.

·        An ICF Professional Coach: An ICF Professional Coach also agrees to practice the ICF Professional Core Competencies and pledges accountability to the ICF Code of Ethics.

From The International Coach Federation Website

 

Photo by graur razvan ionut. Published on 10 May 2010Stock photo - Image ID: 10016416

A coach builds a relationship with an individual or group. In the relationship, the person or people being coached (client/s) express dreams and passions. In the relationship, the coach and client/s define specifics of the goals and dreams and set in motion a process to accomplish those passion and dreams.

Definition of Christian Coaching

Christian coaching works in the same process as the general definition. The main difference is the foundation and perspective the conversations. Christian Coaching starts with a foundation that the dreams and passions have been influenced by God. The relationship builds on a foundation that we are coming from a similar faith and the Bible is used in the conversations.

Christ Focused Coaching builds on the principles of relationships, passions, dreams and goals to deliver a ways to help clients grow in faith and service. Because coaching is built on a relationship, the first meeting is free. Fees for sessions are discussed during the first session. There will be a contract and a commitment to confidentially. The free session is available to congregations and groups wanting to investigate the potential of what a coach can provide your group.  

What Does Christian Mean?

The decry of many in Christian circles in the loss of "Christian America."[i] It was most obvious the other week with the Supreme Court ruling on marriage across the country. I have been asking what does the term Christian mean. I believe the term has had a change in definition and understanding since it was coin long ago.

How the Name Was Given

In truth, people who believe in Jesus Christ cannot take credit for the title of Christian. Biblical tradition reports that the title was given to the followers of Jesus in an ancient city called Antioch.[ii]  The title was given to followers of Jesus by non-Jewish people. It is a composite word from two languages, Greek and Latin. The meaning is “like/belonging to Christ.” The people on the outside saw the people following Jesus as being like Christ.

What Happened

I believe today we understand the title to be less of action and more of persuasion. People identify as a Christian not because of what they accomplish, but what personal convictions they hold on faith. In and individual believes in a god and believes that god sent a person on earth with the name of Jesus, they are a Christian. But that does not seem like enough. It is because of this identification many people are throwing away the title of Christian and identifying in more generic terms.[iii]

The Modern Transformation

Well, Gabe Lyons believes that this is changing with a new generation of followers.[iv] I believe that all followers can learn from this new generation. It will take us all reclaiming a new title. We cannot keep the Christian title for the near future. It has been tainted by hate, hypocrisy, judgement, and many other misalignment. No, it would be better to take on a different identifier. I do not mean the trendy titles of spiritual, religious, or any other generic religious motif. No, I believe we should relearn a very basic ideal of Jesus’ teaching. We need to live again ,” You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”[v]

The Challenge 

Our identifier will not be words or titles as the faith passed down from generations past. In the now, the identifier of followers of Christ must be our actions. Once our actions coincide with the New Testament teaching and words of Jesus, others may one day call the followers of Jesus by the title of Christian. But we must earn that title.

Do you know what changes you need to make to become a follower? What in your life needs transformed to becoming a servant and live out the love command? Christ Focused Coaching is committed to working with you to discover the calls of Christ in your life and the transformation you can make. Church will need to make the same transition. Life cannot be the same. Christ Focused Coaching will work with your congregation to discover and uncover the old habits pushing others away. A congregation can be an inward focused or outward. Christ Focused Coaching wants to help all be Christ focused.

________________________________________

[i] Gabe Lyons states the end was in May, 2007 with the death of Jerry Falwell. (Lyons, Gabe. (2010). The Next Christians: How A New Generation Is Restoring the Faith (p.13). New York: Doubleday Religion.)

[ii] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+11%3A25-26&version=NASB. The term only occurs in two other places in the New Testament (Acts 26:28; 1 Pet 4:16) (Polhill, J. B. (1992). Acts (Vol. 26, p. 273). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.)

[iii] Lyons, Gabe. (2010). The Next Christians: How A New Generation Is Restoring the Faith (p. 11-12). New York: Doubleday Religion.

[iv] Lyons, Gabe. (2010). The Next Christians: How A New Generation Is Restoring the Faith. New York: Doubleday Religion.

[v] Luke 10:27, https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+10:27&version=NASB See also Matthew 22:36-40

The Great Ends of the Church

The Great Ends of the Church are: 

the proclamation of the gospel for the salvation of humankind; 

the shelter, nurture, and spiritual fellowship of the children of God; 

the maintenance of divine worship; 

the preservation of the truth; 

the promotion of social righteousness; 

and the exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world. 

(Presbyterian Church (USA) Book of Order F-1.0304)

Setting Goals

Many of us have heard about setting goals in our lives.  Some of us might have been told to do this in high school or college as you prepared for the “real world”. You might have been asked about your goals as you entered a new position. Most of us have set a goal. We understand that a goal is something we want to achieve. Once we have a goal, we need something more. We need objectives.

Objectives are items with specific dates and times we prepare to accomplish our goals. Without a good set of objectives, we will not achieve our goals. Many groups and individuals miss this step of the planning process. We will spend months and hours developing our goals, but not take the time to set the objectives.

Other times, the objectives are written for us. We have just not realized we need to put in a little more effort. The list above is from my Christian tradition rules. It is in a part of our constitution we call the historic foundations for our government. I believe these are the objectives set forward for each congregation, region and national church. These objectives were never given details of how to accomplish these objectives. The reason is that each group must discover for themselves the how of accomplishing these objectives.  The goal for the church remains to make disciples.

Review, Review, Review

When was the last time you reviewed your goals and set some objectives? Most do this once a year at New Year’s with resolutions. This time of year, we are busy with way too much and the pressure to accomplish these resolutions. Our goals and objectives need to be reviewed more often. Actually, every day is the real need to review these objectives. Each objective needs to be examined for accomplishment to move on to our goal.

The same is true with groups. If a group wants to continue seeing success, they need goals and objectives. Without a goal, we are working towards nothing. For a congregation, this is the road to an end. When the church is not making disciples, there are no new followers. Most congregations are seeing a lack of new disciples. A growing church see transfers and the declining churches are the ones sending the transfers.  Goals, objectives and time lines are needed to grow, thrive and life a full life.

We Can Help

Are you stuck in the setting objectives? Have you not set any goals for work, ministry or life in a long time? Has your congregation set goals (5 year plan) but no objectives? Christ Focused Coaching can help in setting these areas.  Contact us to see if our services will help you.

Knot Tying

As many people know, I am an Eagle Scout. I admit that I have remained in scouting for two very important reasons. My son is in scouts and I feel that I should be part of the program. The second is responsibility. A number of adults helped me when I was young to earn my Eagle Scout. I feel responsible to them that I help others in achieving their goal in scouting. I continue on in the program. In scouting, the skills that I have masted are camping, cooking and rope work. I was never accomplished many of the "nature" skills of identifying trees and plants. Currently I am not able to tell the difference between poison ivy and ivy. So, I teach other skills. I also love to learn new knots and making things with rope. It is a current trend also. Many people want, ware, or make para cord bracelets now. There is a lot of information out there.

I have learned a bunch of new knots and braiding styles for para cord recently. My favorite is the Celtic button knot. I like this know because I have been attempting to make something for prayers. The Eastern Orthodox Tradition uses a prayer rope. It is similar to the Roman Catholic Rosary. Main difference is the number of beads and the material it is made from. The prayer rope is constructed by tying a special knot. There are many different sixes of ropes, but the most common used by is a thirty-three knot.

I attempted to master the special knot to make my own prayer rope. After several attempts, it never looked right. I found the Celtic button knot and realized it looked similar to the knot used in the prayer rope. As a Presbyterian, the Celtic knot seems to fit with my spiritual heritage better than the Orthodox Prayer knot. As I put together a prayer rope, I noticed a problem. It did not matter how many times I tied the knot, I still would get mixed up. I had to keep going back and looking at the instructions. This reminded me or what coaching is all about. When I need to look at the directions, I need focus on how to complete my goal. The instructions never told me how to complete the rope (my main goal). The instructions just helped my accomplish each part. 

Coaching is like looking at the directions for the knot. Coaches help us put together the steps we need for our ultimate goal. They help put in the instructions. Many of us already know what we need to accomplish to reach out goals. We just need someone to point us in the setting up the directions. I want to help you accomplish your goal. I want to help you write your directions. Email or Facebook me for how I can help. 

Small Church Coaching

"I believe small churches are uniquely poised to meet the needs of Millennials and perhaps turn the tide on the trend of the unchurched." 

KARL VATERS 

http://qideas.org/articles/why-small-churches-are-the-next-big-thing

I have been in ministry for over fifteen years. The over part is due to work accomplished in seminary and college. Of course, I was not ordained or much of what is considered "professional" church leader in those days, but I was in leadership in different situations in the life of the church. I was even director of the Vacation Bible School on summer in collage (I was a Christian Education major). 

In these fifteen years, I have been blessed to serve in a variety of settings. My home church is a larger congregation (1300 or so members). During collage, I attend what many would call a medium church. My plans when I went to seminary were to work as an associate pastor in a large church. As I learned and participated in internships, I started asking myself how I could be the second or third pastor in a church when there where churches with no pastor. I began sensing a call to small church ministry as a solo pastor. 

For the last fifteen years, I have served as a small church pastor. I felt the frustration the members of the church feel with limited and decreasing financial and personal resources. They see the building falling apart around them and costing more and more each year. I share in these frustrations as the leader of these congregations. As their leader, I would search and look for avenues to assist congregations with growth and new programs. I would get frustrated as I found consultants and coaches for churches that were expensive. Small churches do not have the extra income to hire these consultants. 

Karl Vaters is the mind behind a website based on serving small churches. He is the author to the quote on the top of the page. The whole articles are based on the idea that small churches are best situated to serve the younger generation. I believe he is full of truth. The whole article is encouraging for the small church. 

It is my passion, my calling, and my agreement with the above article that I see and want to serve small churches in a coach capacity. Coaching allows an outsider to come into the congregation, ask some important questions of the church to help them see themselves and discover what God is calling the congregation to accomplish in their community and the world. 

We Want . . .

"But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, . . ." 

(1 Sam. 8: 19-20, NIV)

These are the words of the people of Israel to Samuel. He was aging and the children were not following in God's ways. The people were worried about the future and did not want the children of Samuel to lead them. The people wanted a king like all the other nations. They wanted to be just like every other nation. Someone to lead them into battle. Someone to fight battles on their behalf. But they were forgetting something important.

It was not Samuel who was accomplishing this for them already. It was not any of the other leaders in the history of Israel. Moses was not leading them into battle or fighting on their behalf as they travel in the wilderness. It was not Joshua who battled at Jericho or helped them through the concurring of the Promised Land. All of these events and the time of the Judges was not accomplished because of the powers of the people in charge. No. It was all accomplished by the power of God. God lead the people out of Egypt. God gave directions to Moses through the wilderness. God lead the people through the Promised Land. 

The people were not rejecting Samuel at this time. No, God reported to Samuel it was not his leadership the people were rejecting. The people were rejecting God. They were turning their backs on the leadership of God. God had declared to the people when they were at Sinai that God was to be the king. 

This was the prescription through out the history of Israel. As we read through the prophets, the people kept turning their backs on God. And it is the the case of people today. We as followers do not want to follow. We want to make our own ways. We think we know more than God. Our ways are better than God's 

We can act like the Israelis  and reject God. Or we can learn to follow and accept God as our king. Jesus asked the same thing of His followers in the New Testament. Jesus did not want us to just give a portion. No, He asked for us to give and trust completely. Are you willing to fall into place? 

Slave No More

Today as I started my day with prayers and readings, I was reading through the Common Prayer: Liturgy for Ordinay Radicals and the thoughts were focused on Harriet Tubman.  She was a slave who fled north to escape the bonds of slavery prior to the Civil War on the rumor she was about to be sold to a different owner.  In her life, she made over 900 journeys into the south to gather other slaves and lead them through the Underground Railroad to Canada.  For those people she lead, she was a tangible witness of what Christ has done for us.  Christ came to the realm of slavery to show people a way to freedom.  The journey of Christ was hard and dangerous.  The difference between His journey and Mrs. Tubman's was that in the end Christ died.  No, Christ had to die to pay for our freedom.  But the life example lived by Mrs. Tubman made me think about what we as followers of Christ need and should be doing today.  

There are many people who are still enslaved.  Some of these people are true slaves (owned and sold as commodities to others).  Other people are enslaved to addictions and powers.  There are still people who need to be freed.  Yes, many are right here in the United States.  We have slaves of all types here.  So, what are we doing to show people that there is freedom in Christ?

I am sure we all can start thinking of different things people are slaves to?  For many the first might be drugs or money.  But there are some more dangerous slavery in the lives of people.  There is a slavery of self doubt.  People have such a low self esteem them a enslaved by others' onion of them.  Others have a slavery to high personal standards.  They expect so much from themselves they never see anything good they have produced or are looking at ways to produce more or better material or ideas.  All of these keep people in a situation where they are owned by some thing or someone else.  What are we doing as followers of Christ to show the freedom that comes from His sacrifice and resurrection? 

On a more personal note, what are you being owned by in your life?  What is controlling you?  If you are not being guided and led by the Holy Spirit, you are owned by something or one else.  At the root of this is the need to be ground in Christ (prayer, Bible reading, and worship).  We need the community to help us.  We need the faithful to hold us accountable.  Who is in charge and owns you?  If you cannot without a doubt say God, I hope you will find the peace that comes through learning to trust in Him with your life.