The Missional Network

I just wanted to ask if anyone has been involved in developing coaching networks within a house church context? Is it feasible? The trend towards developing a coaching culture within our churches in Canada is fairly new. Are there any resources specifically geared towards developing house church coaching networks?

I have not, but two people come to mind.  Randall Neighbour (http://www.touchusa.org/web/Consulting/consulting.html) and Joel Comisky (http://www.joelcomiskeygroup.com/coaching/).  If you're looking for help, these guys are top notch.

At Thrive, we develop missional discipleship networks in house churches, but we have leadership conversation as a support structure.  Not sure if this is what you are asking.

We have a Hispanic Coaching Network for our "house" - "cell" church strategy in the Delta region of Mississippi. The materials from Coachnet.org are the best support system I have found.  Bob Logan knows coaching! The materials are in english and spanish. A yearly fee is necessary however, but incredibly worth it.

Comiskey's and Neighbour's stuff is also good. You can find them at touchusa.org.  Whereas Logan has online training, worksheets and ppts for use by coaches and training coaches, you can get whole conferences and textbooks at touchusa. I find touchusa more focused on the cell church. Logan doesn't care what model you're using, his focus is simply coaching within the church planting strategy.

 

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Su Servidor,
David A Alexander
2 Tim 2.2

I agree that Bob Logan's resources are excellent. If you haven't already purchased his book, Coaching 101, I'd start there. You may also want to look at the Developing Coaching Excellence Handbook.

While not geared specifically for house churches, his coaching certification process is excellent. I have completed the 3-day training and I'm in the six month process right now. My coaching skills have improved incredibly.

The online coaching tool at www.coachnet.org is excellent. I'm using it with several church planters and it has improved our coaching appointments dramatically.

 

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DaveDV
www.missionalchallenge.blogspot.com
www.linkedin.com/in/davedevries

Thanks for the referral there, David! 

In the last few months, I've learned that there's a big difference between coaching and mentoring. Mentoring is all about teaching someone to do something you already know how to do, which could be as simple as living on the planet longer or being a church planter longer than the protege.

Coaching is different. Coaching is helping a person articulate their own next steps concerning most anything and asking them what they would like to be held accountable to follow through a do to make that thing happen. A teenager could easily coach a 50 year old on any sort of issue if both parties understood coaching techniques well enough.

Contrast all of the above with the kind of coaching taught in Bob Logan's excellent resource (<i>Coaching 101</i>) or even my <i>Pocket Guide to Coaching Small Groups.</i> Coaching small group leaders seems to be 90% mentoring and 10% coaching. The coach is held responsible for encouraging the small group leader to love his or her small group and multiply it by raising up a new leader at least once a year.

A coaching network would definitely require some new skills for me... I consult individual churches using coaching skills that I'm always working on and have never coached a group of churches as of yet.

More great coaching resources can be found on this web site: http://www.coach22.com

BTW, I just stumbled on this web site today. Great place to discuss all sorts of great stuff!

-Randall Neighbour

www.touchusa.org <-- My ministry's web site

www.smallgroupfriends.com <-- A free networking website for small group leaders and members. Check it out!