Two recent experiences have caused me to reflect a bit on the coaching and mentoring phenomena. There’s no doubt that coaching and being coached has become so common that they are the “in thing” these days.
Coaching and Mentoring in North America
I just spent three days on retreat with the staff of a church dealing with a variety of ministry issues related to growing past their current plateau of 1,200 in worship attendance. At one point we were reviewing the hot trends in the church of North America over the past 70 years. Among other things we talked about the centralization of denominations, the Christian education (Big Sunday Schools) era, the Jesus movement, the rediscovery of worship, and the ensuing worship wars. We noted today’s trends of church planting, community engagement, multi-venue, multi-site, coaching, and mentoring.
We noted that each hot trend had a life span of about 30 years. We talked about how some of the hot trends were nothing more than fads while others have had a more lasting impact on the church even though they can no longer be considered one of today’s “in things.” One staff member asked me if I thought coaching and mentoring were just another fad. While answering I was recalling my recent experience in Latvia.
On-line Coaching Cohorts
A cohort is a group of companions and supporters who share common interests and activities. A cohort might consist of people who fill the same or similar roles; like Lead Pastor, Executive Pastor, Staff Pastor, Denominational Executive, or Board member. A cohort might consist of people in similar situations or facing a common issue, transition, life situation or initiative. These cohorts might be dealing with declining attendance or giving, the need to align staff and ministries with the current Mission and Vision, or launching a new ministry initiative.