The Core Values of Impact Community Coaching
If a person is unfamiliar with ministry coaching, they may imagine an athletic coach yelling calls from the sideline or even a professor waving a piece of chalk around a classroom. Images like these bring to mind people that tell others what to do, make calls on behalf of athletes, and stand before audiences as experts in their unique fields. Though these roles are necessary at times, they do not accurately define ministry coaching. In the context of ministry, coaching is designed to facilitate the development of a God-given vision through a relational framework. When a leader or church planter engages with a coach, they step into an intentional and compassionate relationship designed to support and sustain their unique calling in their unique context.
At the Impact Community, we pair church planters with a ministry coach for the full length of a year. During these twelve months, the coach guides them through twelve coaching conversations that center around topics critical to church planting success (building a strategic launch plan, evangelism, team development, financial stewardship, budgeting, creating a discipleship pipeline, etc.).
All of our coaches have planted a church, are at least three years post-launch, and have the stories and scars to prove it.
All of our coaches also believe wholeheartedly in the value of coaching. As a coaching team, we define our mission in this statement:
“The goal of Impact Community coaching is to help church planters launch strong, stay healthy, and build a foundation for enduring city impact.”
At the outset, it must be stated that we do not believe that a coach is a vision-giver. We believe that a coach is meant to understand a planter’s vision and to help the planter develop a strategic plan to achieve that vision. We also believe that the right ministry coach can help church planters develop the personal skills needed to cultivate a ministry defined by health, longevity, and team success.
This is why we also offer a three-session team development workshop to help church planting teams prepare for launch. Each team member completes a Leading From Your Strengths assessment in this workshop and learns how their leadership strengths compare and contrast with others on their team.
Our coaches understand that the church planting family is onsite and working in a unique field of harvest, and thus, they will trust the planter to follow the Spirit and make the calls that are right for their church. We will not make the calls on their behalf. The role of our coaches is not to tell planters what to do (though they may share ideas, speak from their own experience, and provide counsel).
The role of Impact Community coaches is to help planters gain focus, solve problems, gain essential training, and implement a planting strategy that works best in their unique context.
A coach will also provide a level of care to the church planting family and serve as a voice of encouragement when times get tough. They will commit to pray for assigned planters and be present and accessible as needs arise.
Our ultimate vision is that church planters launch well, launch strong, and build a foundation for enduring city impact.
We have developed ten core values to help guide and govern our work as ministry coaches.
Our coaches are prepared and fully present for each call.
Our coaches strive to keep a regular schedule of monthly calls.
Our coaches are accessible and responsive to needs.
Our coaches value the spouse and affirm that ministry is a family affair.
Our coaches follow a robust intake process in order to begin the coaching relationship with leverage.
Our coaches ask questions more than they give advice.
Our coaches embrace hard realities and lean into difficult conversations.
Our coaches build faith and affirm the calling of the planter.
Our coaches emphasize implementation and action steps.
Our coaches prioritize the church planter over the church plant.
If you engage with an Impact Community coach, you can trust that they are sold out to your success. Not only do they complete an onboarding process in which these ten values are emphasized, but they receive ongoing coach training throughout the year. Because we believe in these values, we ask church planters to complete an “Exit Interview” after their coaching term and allow them to rate their coach in each of these ten areas.
If you want to learn more, ask a question, or sign up for coaching, click the GET STARTED button below to visit our website's “coaching” page. Your initial steps will be to review our three available coaching tracks and schedule a Discovery Call. We look forward to hearing from you and learning more about your God-given vision for your city.
