|
MentorNet #33 Coaches
Empowering Shepherds Copyright © 2005
by Galen Currah and George Patterson May be freely
copied, translated and distributed After
rising back to life and before going up into heaven, Jesus shared with his appointed
apostles a vision to disciple the nations, a strategy starting at Coaching
authority Gary Collins* said that coaches do something similar to what Jesus
did. “They help people find vision and develop strategies
for reaching their goals, but coaches also empower people to move forward.
Then the coach withdraws (in a way less dramatic than the ascension of
Jesus).” While admitting that we cannot confer upon folks that spiritual
power which comes only from God, Collins suggested that coaches (mentors) can
empower others in eight ways. (The guidelines below are his, the comments
come from us.) · Guiding
as they clarify (and cast) a vision for what they seek to do. Over
several weeks and months of mentoring novice congregational shepherds and
church planters, a mentor with foresight repeatedly asks them, “What would it
take to help your flock obey Jesus” in this or that area of church
development. Most will reflect on the question and come up with their own
fresh vision and plan. A wise coach seldom dictates to novice leaders what to
do. Instead, he helps them to think through their plans in a way that needed
action becomes obvious. · Helping
them determine what they need to reach their goals. Shepherds
and church planters who have been “contaminated” by Western traditions often
imagine that they require more education, expensive buildings, better
equipment, highly-trained staff members, well-paid tithe payers, etc. To keep
churches simple enough to reproduce without a lot of money, mentors must help
their trainees to depend on available resources, easily imitable methods, and
the five-fold gifts that the Holy Spirit gives to his flock (Eph. 4:11-12). A
wise coach passes on a ‘light baton.’ · Guiding
as they get necessary training. Both classroom
instruction and face-to-face mentoring have their place in training novice
leaders in a church-planting movement. In the first year or so of novice
leaders’ training, they must be mentored regularly. Classroom instruction
provides a lot of helpful information for possible future use, but only
personal coaching can provide the day-to-day guidance that leaders need in
order to help their flocks to grow and reproduce. · Helping people find and
manage needed resources. Part of most mentoring
sessions is the trainer listening to each trainee in order to learn what
their flocks need now. The mentor then refers to his “menu” of materials from
which to make reading assignments that will help them carry out their
immediate plans. Moreover, mentors often model new skills for their trainees
and accompany them as they deal with people to practice those skills
together. · Teaching
them to create conditions that make success more likely. Researchers and
specialists like David Garrison (Church Planting Movements), Mikel
Neumann (Home Groups for Urban Cultures) and George Patterson (Church
Multiplication Guide) have described the conditions under which churches
and cells will likely reproduce in various culture groups. Mentors help their
trainees to create or to find those conditions. One such condition that often
is lacking is freedom for church planters, shepherds of new churches or cells
and the flocks themselves to take initiative in their development and
reproduction. A wise coach will provide guidance without controlling. · Helping
them discover their gifts and unique abilities, because people are most
empowered when they build on their strengths. A helpful exercise that
mentors use with novice trainees is to have them fill in three columns of an
empty chart. The columns are labelled Non-negotiable, Strong Preference and
Weak Preference. As the mentor asks about past experience, training,
different ministries, dreams, and so forth, the trainees class their
responses under one or another of the columns. In their following sessions
together, they envision how to build on the trainees’ non-negotiable points,
that is, areas of strength about which they have strong convictions and leading
from the Holy Spirit. A wise coach keeps in mind these strengths and helps
others to build on them. · Modelling
what we teach. Mentors
of novice shepherds and church planters are often themselves
novice workers who have a little more experience than do their trainees.
Thus, they understand each other’s needs and struggles, and gladly share what
they know and how to do it. Furthermore, the mentoring process (described in
earlier MentoNet articles) can easily be followed
by trainees as they begin training even newer leaders, in turn. Thus wise
mentors use only easily imitable training methods. · Reminding
Christians that the Holy Spirit who empowered the early disciples, still empowers
Christ followers who want God’s plan for their lives and who determine to be
the people God meant them to be. Dependence
on God who always does his part while we learn to do our part is an
indispensable part of all successful congregational leadership and
reproduction. The power and the spiritual gifts to do the work of the Lord
come supernaturally and are always enough. Dependence on money and foreign
methods usually eclipses the very power that the Lord Jesus promised to us.
Thus, when churches commission new leaders by laying hands on them, they
affirm their reliance on the power of the Holy Spirit. To find mentoring tools and sites, visit <http://www.MentorAndMultiply.com>. To obtain information on Train & Multiply®
(pastoral training combined with church planting) To obtain information on how to obtain T&M®,
visit <http://www.TrainAndMultiply.com>. To obtain free, reproducible training materials for new leaders &
missionaries, To download or purchase “Come, Let Us Disciple the Nations” (CD-ROM),
To order Church Multiplication Guide visit <http://www.WCLbooks.com>
or a book shop. To subscribe to MentorNet or download earlier MentorNet messages,
visit <http://www.MentorNet.ws>. * |