By Allen White
Every small group pastor wants healthy groups, right? Healthy groups, of course, need healthy leaders. But, how do you keep your leaders healthy? Training plays a part, but not everyone comes to training. You could give out a phone number and let leaders call when they have a problem, but that’s too hit or miss. Then, there’s coaching. Even the mention of the word brings anxiety to a lot of small group pastors. You are not alone.
Recently, I took a survey of a few hundred small group pastors. These were churches of all sizes including some of the largest churches in the country. Here’s what they said about coaching.
65% struggled in identifying and recruiting coaches.
54% felt a lack of communication between coaches and leaders.
47% had questions about training coaches.
37% were uncertain about supervising coaches. They also weren’t sure exactly what coaches were supposed to do.
34% had some great prospective coaches, but they didn’t want to leave their groups to coach others.
Does any of this resonate with you? It sounds a lot like where I used to be.
Then, we got into some more specific issues. These pastors told me they also struggled with:
Recently, I took a survey of a few hundred small group pastors. These were churches of all sizes including some of the largest churches in the country. Here’s what they said about coaching.
65% struggled in identifying and recruiting coaches.
54% felt a lack of communication between coaches and leaders.
47% had questions about training coaches.
37% were uncertain about supervising coaches. They also weren’t sure exactly what coaches were supposed to do.
34% had some great prospective coaches, but they didn’t want to leave their groups to coach others.
Does any of this resonate with you? It sounds a lot like where I used to be.
Then, we got into some more specific issues. These pastors told me they also struggled with:
- Some leaders not wanting to be coached.
- Finding the right span of care.
- Coaching toward discipleship and not just group leadership.
- The Length of the Coaching Relationship.
- Coaching across Multisite Campuses.
- No wonder coaching is a challenge for everyone.
Now that we understand the problem, let’s get to some solutions.
Tomorrow you will receive the second email in this three part series, which will begin to address these problems.
I would also like to invite you to a Live Webinar,
The 10 Biggest Coaching Mistakes (and How to Solve Them)
offered this Thursday, January 18 at 11am Eastern/ 10am Central/ 9am Mountain/ 8am Pacific and,
Tuesday, January 23 at 2pm Eastern/ 1pm Central/ Noon Mountain/ 11am Pacific.
