Greetings,

You may have seen the colourful COACHING4GROWTH flyers around the church recently.

I’d like to invite you personally to invest in those six evenings and come and join for what hopefully will be a life-changing time of training.

So, what is coaching?

Author Dr. Gary Collins describe Christian life coaching as the “art and practice of enabling individuals and groups to move from where they are to where they want to be.”

For followers of Jesus, it means understanding that the Holy Spirit is calling each of us to keep growing fully into our new life in Christ. It means understanding clearly what is happening in our life at present, and then discerning how God wants to lead us onwards; and then how to step forward in obedience.

A coach sits with us, listens carefully and asks good questions to help us clarify what we are hearing, and what we need to do, and how to faithfully stay the course.

Coaching is not counselling. Counselling focuses on the past and how to recover from its effects so we can function well in the present. Coaching looks forward and helps us find a path for overcoming obstacles and achieving dreams.

Coaching is not mentoring. A Christian mentor encourages growth by sharing the lessons and stories that God has given him or her. A Christian coach helps us learn from our own stories and experiences.

(Of course, in a close discipling relationship, there will be overlap in these areas, and experts differ amongst themselves in how they use these terms).

The coach encourages us and holds us accountable, helps us plan and cheers us on to become who God created us to be. The coach holds us up in prayer and is the keeper of our dreams.

Why a ‘coaching’ course? 

We want to help grow disciples of Jesus who live out God’s purposes for them and are effective as ‘salt and light’ in their world. Adding good coaching skills to your tool-box is important, whether you are a small-group leader, a parent, a youth leader, or choose to  coach to another individual.

Also, If you would like to BE coached, it’s helpful to understand these skills. Ideally, as you yourself are being coached, so you could be coaching someone else, maybe younger in the faith than yourself. 

How do I register?

Coaching4Growth Term: 4 DVBC

One-on-one coaching of disciples is a most effective tool for growing thriving followers of Jesus. Whether an older person discipling a young person, or a more experienced Christian investing in a new believer, or even a wise confidante providing structure and accountability for a peer who is working though a specific issue, personal discipleship encourages growth. 

This six-week Diamond Valley Baptist Church (DVBC) introductory course will provide a very simple framework and hands-on skills to get you started. We will be practicing what we learn. Attendees from DVBC will be encouraged to prayerfully seek out a person to coach or disciple.

The topics will be useful to you in your personal growth even if you decide not to participate in coaching for now.

We are inviting both prospective 'coaches'  and 'coachee-s'. We'd like to think about possibly matching up coaches and coachee-s at the end of the course. 

Maybe as someone receiving coaching, you might also find someone you can coach. Want to learn what is coaching is all about? Check out this article - HERE

What is Coaching?

WHAT IS COACHING?

In the 1500s the word coach described a horse-drawn vehicle that would get people from where they were to where they wanted to be. Many years later, in the 1880s, coach was given an athletic meaning, identifying the person who tutored university students in their rowing on the Cam River in Cambridge. 

That use of the word stuck, and coaches became known as people who help athletes move from one place to another. Over time the word also became associated with musicians, public speakers, and actors who rely on coaches to improve their skills, overcome obstacles, remain focused, and get to where they want to be. 

Former Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula writes about the athletes who would come to his team with their skills and talents, ready to submit to the coach whose job was to instruct, discipline, and inspire them to do things better than they thought they could do on their own. “The coach leaves each person being coached … more competent, fulfilled, and self-confident than he or she would have been otherwise.”

Coaching might have stayed in the realm of sports and entertainment if it hadn’t burst into the corporate world a few years ago. Faced with the unsettling impact of galloping change, rapid technological advances, and tidal waves of information glut, business leaders began to see that no single person could keep abreast of everything. The CEO could no longer manage from the top, keep aware of everything that was going on, and have the ability to tell people what to do. In companies large and small, people at all levels had to learn how to deal with change, develop new management styles, make wise decisions, and become more effective, all while they coped with their hyperactive lifestyles and increasing stress.

Many wanted help with their own life planning and life-management issues. Workers needed to think and behave like leaders and decision-makers. CEOs and other executives wanted people to guide them into this new world … The coaching principles that athletes and performers had used for years suddenly became relevant to the business community. Personal coaching moved beyond health clubs and into corporate offices and the workplace. According to Fortune magazine, coaching has become the “hottest thing in management” today’

But the impact of coaching goes beyond management. Currently, coaching is hot everywhere except in the church. People are turning to nutritional coaches, fitness coaches, financial coaches, public-speaking coaches, and what have become known as “life coaches” who help others find focus and direction for their lives and careers.

Some people look for marriage coaches, parenting coaches, coaches for their spiritual journeys, time-management coaches, and coaches to help them through life transitions. 

All of these coaches come alongside to guide others through life’s challenges and to help them move forward with confidence in the midst of change.

At its core, coaching is the art and practice of guiding a person or group from where they are toward the greater competence and fulfilment that they desire. Coaching helps people expand their vision, build their confidence, unlock their potential, increase their skills, and take practical steps toward their goals.