From the Classroom
An excerpt from Denise Massey’s book in progress, The Coaching Minister: Guiding the Spiritual Journey
I am in a unique position to integrate life coaching with pastoral care. While my primary work is as a seminary professor of pastoral care and counseling, I am also a coach. In my coaching, I assist people in a three-part process: 1) to discover their true goals and priorities, 2) to tap into their motivation and resources for change (even resources they didn’t know they possessed), and 3) to take practical steps in everyday life toward their desired change. My experiences in being trained and working as a coach convinced me that bringing the knowledge and skills of coaching into dialogue with the knowledge and skills of ministry will make the work of ministry easier and more fulfilling. My colleagues in ministry who participated in coach training with me have testified that the methods and processes of coaching have assisted them in everything from leading committee meetings to doing pre-marital counseling. Having conversations that more easily and effectively facilitate change was for me the most rewarding aspect of becoming a coaching minister. A primary task of the minister is to address the spiritual needs of persons. This ministry by definition means facilitating improvement in their relationships with themselves, other people, and the Divine. Coaching is useful for this work precisely because coaches assist people to move from where they are to where they want to be. Coaching is about facilitating change and growth through purposeful conversations. This book will explore the skills and processes of coaching conversations that facilitate growth, change and transformation. It will also offer case studies and examples that illuminate and add to the theory and skills presented. Developing your skills, learning a predictable process of structuring conversations to lead to change, and following the experiences of others will make you a better coach for change. In England, a “coach” is a mode of transportation. In the American West, a “stagecoach,” was a vehicle that people used to travel to new frontiers. Likewise, conversational coaching is a skill that helps people move from where they are to where they want to be. This is a metaphor that people who do life coaching for a living utilize regularly. Being able to efficiently and effectively help people travel from where they are to where they long to be is a tremendously useful skill that ministers can master. Coaching ministers can gracefully and effectively help people travel to new frontiers in their lives. Helping people close the gap between where they are and where they want to be is a metaphor I use in my coaching work. It is an equally effective image for my work as a ministry supervisor and as a teacher and preacher. In my ministry, “closing the gap” is often explicitly about making changes in spiritual aspects of life. At other times, I help persons remember or discover their spiritual resources that will help them make the changes they seek. _Denise Massey Associate Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling
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