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Developing the Coach Role

By New Churches Team

When you are building a leadership pipeline in your church, it is common to not have enough coaches. The coach position is a leader who leads other leaders.

Span of Care

When you look at the proper structure and span of care, frequently there is a structural issue because not enough coaches are in place. There is no person between the director of ministry and the leader. The result is that the director of ministry has far too many direct reports. It is impossible for one person to be directly responsible for that many people.

But you can’t raise someone up properly to the coach level unless you have defined the role and what the competencies of the role are. The role definition and competencies create clarity for both the ministry leader and the coach.

Finding Coaches

If you already have existing coaches, they should be looking for new coaches all the time. They should be the ones recruiting and developing new coaches. But, if you don’t have coaches currently in place, take your top leaders through the competencies of the role and create that coach role. If someone is 80% ready, you can develop them into that role.

Good Judgment

If you are desperate for a coach, but don’t have someone who is 80% ready, look at them in these four areas.

1. Do they have good judgment when it comes to your vision and values?
2. Do they have good judgment during a crisis?
3. Do they have good judgment when it comes to people?
4. Do they have good judgment in how they spend their time as a volunteer?

Adapted from the New Churches Q&A Podcast Episode 536: Raising Up Coaches. Click here to listen to more to church planting, multisite, and multiplication tips.