Biblical Worldview for Effective Coaching
Defining a Christian coach is the first step to understanding Christian coaching. However, it is equally important to clarify what life coaching entails. Generally, coaching is an art that is always rapidly growing. Caching involves intervening in someone’s situation and helping them identify their strengths and weaknesses, including where they are, where they want to be, and how they can get there (Collins, 2014). In the same way, Christian coaching also assumes the concept of helping others become a better version of themselves regarding the Christian worldview. Based on the concept, Christian coaching is an art of practice that is aimed at assisting either an individual or a group through their spiritual journey. Based on the scripture, a Christian coach is responsible for not only helping others believe in God’s plan for their life but also facilitates self-discovery of the same plan (Collins, 2014). With Christian coaching, a biblical approach is applied to allow someone to achieve their goals in mind. That means that a Christian coach is more than a mere counselor as counseling often focuses on the past and how one can recover from the same to live fully in the moment. Christian coaches look into the future and encourage the development of strategies for overcoming related obstacles to achieve their dreams. Christian coaching entails drawing out what God has bestowed in an individual so that they can use the same.
Several methods can be used for effective Christian coaching. Among them is discipleship. Typically, discipleship is more of having the heart of Christ, which stimulates the desire to help other growth. Discipleship is a Christian coach approach since it allows for walking with others as change agents. Christian coaches, in this case, are the little fathers in the spiritual journey (Putman, 2014). Besides discipleship, consulting is also another effective approach used by Christian coaches. As consultants, Christian coaches are pivotal to the development of individuals and groups. Often consultancy involves providing expert advice, recommendations, and analysis to entities, groups, or individuals based on own experiences (Collins, 2014). Christian coaches assume the above role by serving as trouble-shooters and fixers to prevent further problems while improving performance regarding Christian worldviews. Further, Christian coaching can also take the form of mentoring. Mentoring and Christian life coaching go hand in hand as coaching requires expertise in certain subjects, the kind of faith (Collins, 2014). Thus, students often look forward to learning from the mentor to grow in areas where the mentor is already successful. In that case, the Christian coach is often the mentor that students model. The mentor often decides how students grow, with definite plans and success as the end goal. Consequently, counseling is an approach that involves the Christian coach demonstrating what it would be like for the client to walk away from past burdens. In counseling, the coach often sets the agenda by identifying the problem and working towards achieving a desirable outcome (Viljoen, 2017). Counselling, mentoring, discipleship, or consultancy may be used interchangeably or independently, depending on a given situation.
From the methods mentioned above, it would be justifiable to argue that regardless of the methods utilized, all that matters is guiding people to God. For instance, while Christian coaching is conventional coaching, it also uses secular coaching in different ways (Collins, 2014). A similar goal drives conventional and secular coaching: to help people overcome, find meaning, and become healthy spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. Just as discipleship requires connecting with others, so is counseling. That means that God is at the center of Christian coaching and that God guides all coaching. As such, the method used by a Christian coach carries less weight as long as an individual, and group conflicts are successfully resolved and restored per Christian worldviews.
Biblical worldview on Christian coaching can be analyzed from different angles. The first one pertains to the assumption that people lack all answers to what they are facing. That is why they tend to turn to the ones with answers to be coached and guided. While Christian coaching entails finding solutions to constant issues, it does not imply knowing everything regarding the given situation (Allen & Fry, 2019). In other words, managing the situation requires cooperation from the individual in need regarding ideas that, when implemented, would best help them grow spiritually and overall. The biblical worldview of Christian coaching is allowing others to view life from a biblical perspective. A biblical approach to coaching touches on faith, perseverance, and truth, all rooted in the biblical accounts of James (Roberts, 2015). The integration of the three areas adds values to the coaching process while fostering the establishment of deep spiritual relationships. Moreover, at the base of Christian coaching is teaching people to tap into their purpose, which is where God wants them. Biblical coaching provides insight and solutions to developing trusting relationships in different areas of Christians’ lives.
Trusted relationships are a significant ingredient in Christian coaching. Ideally, developing trust between a coach and the clients is one of the most crucial steps (Van Nieuwerburgh,2017). Coaching programs often involve several parties, and each party influences the final goal. Thus, when seeking coaching services, one tends to feel more secure and ready to open up when he/she can trust the coach. Conventionally, trust can be built by including God and acknowledging that he is the creator and is the only one who has gift people with life. Therefore, with trust, Christian coaches find their way in teaching people how to appreciate the gift of life and why it is essential to be faithful to God (Van Nieuwerburgh, 2017). Showing people how best they can please God as well as what He delights in, eventually makes them fulfilled. In that regard, the most crucial part of gaining trust is having respect and giving respect to the clients. Continuously reciprocating what others offer is the fruit of living. Doing good and sharing are the only sacrifices that can grow trust in the Christian coaching area.
Christian coaching includes the Holy Spirit to help all clients grow and develop a relationship with God for the primary purpose of finding their purpose. When aligned with God’s purpose, everything can work better, resulting in better relationships with others and with God. It becomes possible to understand that God is the provider and that He will provide what is necessary to accomplish our purpose. A Christian coach comes in to help others live their vision that God has given them. However, for success, you must be able and ready to listen and ask questions. Only through listening and discovering can one begin to believe in God’s plan, a plan that is discovered through a series of helpful Christian coaching.
References
Allen, S., & Fry, L. W. (2019). Spiritual development in executive coaching. Journal of Management Development.
Collins, G. (2014). Christian coaching: Helping others turn potential into reality. Tyndale House.
Putman, J. (2014). Real-life discipleship: Building churches that make disciples. Tyndale House.
Roberts, G. (2015). Christian scripture and human resource management: Building a Path to Servant leadership through faith. Springer.
Van Nieuwerburgh, C. (2017). An introduction to coaching skills: A practical guide. Sage.
Viljoen, J. J. (2017). Life-coaching within the context of pastoral theology (Doctoral dissertation, North-West University (South Africa), Potchefstroom Campus).