Fifteen Reasons to Coach new Shepherds and Church Planters, Face-To-Face

      

  Biblical coaching of pastoral trainees, done in the way Moses, Jesus and Paul did it, proves to have many advantages. These include the following:

1.    Biblical. Moses & elders, Exodus 18. Jesus & apostles, Mark 6:7-13, 30. Paul, Timothy, Epiphras, Archippus & Nympha, Colossians   1 & 4; 2 Timothy 2:1-2.

2.   Effective. Coached leaders in disciplined training programs consistently prove more competent than do whose only training is   academic, because coached learning is tied to urgent challenges and opportunities, and often deals with all facets of ministry and theology.

3.   Efficient. While a busy leader must take valuable time to coach a few, these quickly take up a share of the work and begin coaching others, in turn. Over time, a leader will win more new believers and take better pastoral care of them, by raising up more leaders, than one leader could shepherd.

4.   Enjoyable. Coaches find joy in relating personally with apprentices, in watching their progress, in ministries growing rapidly, and in practical lessons gleaned from the field.

5.   Inexpensive. Coaching can cost little or nothing, especially if participants are self-supported.

6.   Informative. Coaches hear workers report regularly on live ministries, which leads to timely tactical decisions and needed teaching.

7.  Multiplicative. Coach a few, empower them to coach others, reaching out through ‘generations’ of new leaders.

8.   Integrative. Wise coaches bring diverse gifts together to cooperate in Christ-centered, cohesive, loving bodies.

9.   Practical. Coaching focuses on apprentices’ churches and cell groups, meeting their current, urgent needs.

10. Proven. Rapidly-expanding, Christian movements everywhere implement some kind of on-the-job training.

11.  Relational. Coaches and their trainees grow in mutual respect and personal affection. Paul called Timothy and Titus, ‘my dear son’. Coaches help trainees work together in harmony.

12.  Replicable. It takes years to become a competent scholar, but most church workers quickly learn to coach others in the same way that they have been coached.

13.  Safe. In fields where civil or religious authorities forbid open Christian activities, such as bible schools, workers can quietly coach leaders, changing venue as required by needs and circumstances.

14.  Spiritual. As trainees prayerfully begin ministries that God requires, in loving obedience to explicit commands of Jesus and His apostles, the Holy Spirit provides wisdom to both coaches and trainees.

15.  Timely. Instead of teaching a vast amount of information that students may apply in future ministry, coaching normally applies truth at once in response to urgent needs and opportunities.