Why Every Minister Needs a Coach

Ministry responsibilities are multi-faceted and never ending today. Many are exerting great effort, yet they are clearly not functioning in the flow of their God given gifts and abilities. Others are experiencing burnout from trying to accomplish more than is humanly possible. Just as an athlete and a businessman benefit from coaching, being guided on when to work harder and when to rest, so those in ministry can benefit from coaching for the following 9 reasons.

No one is omni-competent and able to navigate the complexities of ministry alone.

1. Perspective

Ministry output is never ending. There are always more needs to meet and people asking for help. A coach can help with strategic thinking to insure that the "tyranny of the urgent" does not squeeze out the most important initiatives on a person's calendar.

The first and most important person to lead is self and the coach can assist in helping the coachee in assessing the current spiritual and emotional condition of the heart.

2. Balance

In Genesis 18, we see that Moses was out of balance, working too hard and failing to delegate. It is not by accident that his Father-in-law was the one who coached him to delegate effectively. Most likely Moses' wife was confiding in her Dad about how Moses was rarely home for dinner on time and the children were missing their father...

A coach can assist those in ministry to find the right balance of work and play, making fewer and finer commitments that lead to greater impact over time.

3. Conflict Resolution

Ministry is a "Dangerous Calling," as Paul David Trip writes. Even the best churches experience conflict. Navigating the inevitable conflicts in a healthy fashion can make all the difference in staying focused on the most important things in life and ministry. Nehemiah reminded us that "the joy of the Lord is our strength.”

If you lose your joy, you lose your strength.

A coach can help guide through difficult conversations and deal with difficult people in healthy and productive ways.

4. Guidance

A trail guide is better than a trail map. Hiking with someone who has walked the path before is far better than going it alone with a printed map. A coach has traveled the path before and can walk with the leader through the seasons of ministry that provide unique, exciting and formidable challenges. Every church is unique with twists and turns, and there are many methods to apply, yet the underlying principles of ministry never change. As Warren Wiersbe writes,

"Methods are many, principles few, methods always change, principles never do."

A coach will help the leader to focus on the eternal principles that never fail.

5. Alignment

Dreams, mission and vision lead to establishing corporate goals and planning. Aligning leaders and ministries around common goals is what creates a powerful movement.

Rivers are powerful when they are narrow and deep.

A coach can assist in determining those narrow and deep group commitments that lead to a powerful movement for the Kingdom of God.

6. Wisdom

Proverbs reminds us that "with an abundance of counselors that is wisdom." We all have blind spots. Everyone does better with a coach, because a second set of eyes can see things that we miss.

7. Encouragement

Everybody needs encouragement, and a coach can help the leader to slow down and celebrate the victories before moving on to the next challenge. Jesus promises that His burden is light and well fitting, so the coach can help determine when the leader is taking on more of a burden than Jesus intends, while providing needed encouragement to take on the next challenge.

When David's men were so discouraged that they wanted to kill him, David had to learn to 'encourage himself in the Lord.

8. Challenges

Challenges in ministry are never ending. The bigger the ministry, the bigger the challenges.

Sam Chand says that the leaders ability to endure pain is directly related to the size of ministry that can be handled.

Change involves pain and inevitable discomfort which is the path to progress. A coach will walk with the leader through the pain. Jesus went through the pain of the cross before he got to the glories of the resurrection.

9. Life-long Learning

A coach is like a curator who is able to direct the leader to the most important books and resources for solutions to the most pressing problems. A coach provides illustrations from successes and failures so that the leaders can avoid having to make the same mistakes. When you are through learning, you are through.