America’s legendary Vince Lombardi epitomised for a previous generation the sort of battle-hardened coach it took to put a player with potential in the right place and mindset to succeed.
“The only place that success comes before work is in the dictionary,” he would bellow at his beloved Green Bay Packers.
But it’s no longer just athletes who are searching for this sort of challenging mentor.
“Everyone needs a coach,” says computer genius Bill Gates. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re a basketball player, a tennis player, a gymnast or a bridge player.”
Human Resources departments in major companies now look to coaching as a standard tool for developing the potential of entrepreneurs and executives, and the message is sinking into ministry circles.
Australian church planting network Geneva Push says Australian planters are looking for experienced individuals who will help them to succeed in the spiritual arena that God has placed them.
“If we are going to do church planting well in Australia we need coaches who understand and connect with Australian culture,” says Craig Tucker.
Craig is responsible for developing coaches for Geneva Push’s non-denominational network.
As a New South Wales Rugby referee and a coach for up and coming referees, Craig is uniquely situated to reflect on the key parallels between sporting and spiritual mentors.
“The surprising thing about coaching a referee is that the most important thing is character,” he says.
“Its not hard to learn the rules and get fit. What really takes development and coaching is how to make decisions under pressure and deal with conflict. The same can be said of ministry coaches.”
He is in charge of mentoring Geneva Push’s existing network of 55 coaches who are currently responsible for guiding church planters through the challenging decisions associated with the first three years of their new work.
Craig says Geneva’s ministry coaches go through regular training to evaluate ministry problems, pick up on ministry problems, and help the planter head them off before they undermine a ministry.
Like sporting coaches, Geneva ministry coaches build a relationship with planters on the basis of regular meetings that measure a number of criteria including spiritual, relational and physical fitness to gauge a planter’s progress.
But Geneva Executive Director Scott Sanders says like the best sporting relationships it’s not a ‘one-size fits all’ approach.
“Ministry coaching is intensely personal,” Scott says.
“Team coaching can be helpful but experience has shown it’s not as fruitful as an individual relationship based on regular personal interaction where coaches have built up the trust to share ideas and often say the necessary hard words.”
Australian church planters currently have the opportunity to partner with a number of church planting organisations but only Geneva Push offers exclusively Australian coaches with tried and tested planting experience.
As a network, Geneva Push supplies approved church planters with a personally matched coach who has experience with the type of church they are establishing, and the culture they are working in – the ‘game’ and the ‘playing field’.
“The whole genius of church planting is you get to think about, ‘How do I reach people in this particular cultural context in this quarter of the city, state or this part of Australia?’” Craig says.
“And so a church planter needs to think really like a cultural missionary. It is vital that he have a coach who understands that context as well.”
Unlike sport though, Craig says if a planter matches themselves with the wrong person it can lead to more than a bad year.
“A bad referee will ruin your game, maybe your season if it’s a crucial game. But church planting is about the work of eternity. A whole lot more is at stake.”
Craig will be travelling across Australia in February and March to run Gospel Coaching clinics for ministry workers interested in picking up coaching skills.
“Our coaching days will give people a model and some skills for coaching in their ministries in general, in a way that will help them develop leadership and train God’s people for ministry,” he says.
Craig believes that Gospel coaching is not just for congregational leadership but is part of equipping all God’s people to serve.
“What we want to do first of all is, raise the bar on that coaching. Think about the quality of that and the intentionality of that,” he says.
“Also, as the number of church planters grow we really need to recruit and train well another generation of Australian, church planting experienced coaches to coach the next generation.”
The Geneva Push network has supported close to 50 fledgling churches since its foundation in 2009, including the planting of 50 new works.
Craig’s coaching team will be a vital part of that support system as the network prepares to partner in the planting of a further 20 churches in 2015.
“A mentor is usually someone who is older and wiser, but not very intentional and highly relational. At the other end of the spectrum is a trainer. A trainer focused on getting someone skills,” Craig says.
“But a Geneva coach aims to be someone in the middle. The relationship is going to be relational. But it’s also going to be about getting the church plant working. It’s holding those two things together.”
Click here to register for a Geneva Gospel Coaching clinic
Photo courtesy Katie Harbath under a Creative Commons licence
