Biblical Values Embodied in Coaching

While not specifically referenced as a spiritual gift or among the roles of Christian leaders, Christian coaching harmonizes remarkably well with a number of biblical values.

1. Christian coaching places a high value on relationship. Father, Son and Spirit have existed as relationship for eternity making relationality the preeminent divine attribute. Christian coaching reflects this attribute by emphasizing relationship as the ground out of which people grow and develop.
2. Christian coaching is rooted in the belief that God is at work in the life of the 'other.' This belief allows the coach to walk alongside rather than stand above. The coach recognizes that God is the primary provider of what the other needs and that the person being coached is in the best position to discern God's work within his/her own heart and mind. In this way, Christian coaching honors God's work in the life of the other. 
3. Christian coaching is built on the belief that God wants people to grow, change and become more fully who God made them to be. The scriptures place a high value on spiritual growth suggesting that spiritual growth is like a 'tree planted by streams of water' or a 'seed scattered on good soil'. Christian coaching affirms the potential God has created within each person to grow well beyond their imagination. 
4. Christian coaching extends the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the other. While the Holy Spirit is called the paraclete, one called alongside, the coach is a para-paraclete. The Christian coach comes alongside another to provide guidance and assistance, not in the place of the Spirit but in tandem with the Spirit. 
5. Christian coaching, different from other coaching orientations, believes that growing into the fullness of God is the objective, the telos, of Christian life and ministry. This is in contrast with a success paradigm in which pragmatism, not incarnation, drives the coaching discipline. While Christian coaches frequently help a person successfully accomplish their initiatives, Christian coaches assume that those individual goals are part of the larger and far more important objective of growing in godliness.  
6. Christian coaching assumes that taking appropriate, intentional action is an incarnational response to belief. Action and behavior are not secondary to belief or prayer or spirituality but their fulfillment. Christian coaches walk with people to discern which actions are appropriate and how to go about them. 
7. Christian coaching emphasizes listening. As witnessed throughout the scriptures, godly men and woman have always taken opportunities to withdraw, listen, reflect and discern. Christian coaching creates that space for prayerful, reflective listening.

What makes coaching Christian is not that the topic of coaching, as if all Christian coaching focused on prayer, evangelism or worship. Coaching is Christian insofar as the coach incarnates the person of Jesus in the life of the person being coached. As the coach coaches incarnationally, embodying the biblical values above as well as others, coaching becomes a Christian spiritual discipline.

Recovering from Chaos

God's first foray into his creation reveals a god who brings order out of chaos. With a word, out of the primordial chaos, out of the deep darkness comes light. He speaks another word and from the chaotic depths comes air and then land and eventually all kinds of life. Starting in Genesis 1 God has envisioned a better creation.

Genesis 1 begins the life-story of every believer who has endeavored to live better, learn more, be more devoted to family, have more meaningful friendships, exercise more self-discipline, better serve the community or grow more intimately with God. Creation started as God's first renovation project. Biblical history documents the ebb and flow of God working in the world, often through people to make creation better. The scriptures lay out before us people growing and failing, improving and being lazy, finding success and facing obstacles.

This story belongs to each of us. Chaos is fundamental to life. Yet, we want to escape the chaos and enjoy order. We want to be healthier in body, mind and spirit. We want to understand with greater clarity. We want our efforts to have effect. We do not want our energies to be wasted or our initiatives to be meaningless.

This is true no matter who you are. It does not matter if you are a believer or not. It does not matter where you are plotted in the social matrix. Woven into what it means to be human is the desire to be better; a better farmer, a better accountant, a better poet, a better policeman, a better mother, a better missionary. The desire to improve is not unique to a particular culture or people living in a certain century. It emerges from our divine nature, our imago Dei.

The discipline of Christian coaching emerges from this divine characteristic entwined into every human being. While each of us shares a common desire to improve, we also share the deep struggle of making those improvements reality. Christian coaches step into the gap between desire and reality.