Gospel Coaching Diss
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COACHING CHURCH PLANTERS FOR GROWING HEALTHY, GOSPEL CENTERED CHURCHES By P. Thomas Wood Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New International Version. Copyright © 2009 by P. Thomas Wood All Rights Reserved 3 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION The Problem Church planting in North America is on the rise. In 2001, Tom Clegg reported “Approximately one thousand five hundred churches were planted in the United States in the previous year” (2001:30). In other words, about four new churches were launching every day. More recent research conducted by Leadership Network suggests that as many as four thousand new churches now begin each year, and “more interest and activity surrounds church planting today than has been witnessed in over one hundred years” (Leadership Network 2007b:2). Church planting is a crucial part of God’s plan to expand His Kingdom on this earth. Jesus said, “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing” (Mt 11:12). His invisible Kingdom is advancing in many ways, especially as churches are planted. Church planting, however, is hard work. When I accepted a call in 1984— twenty-five years ago—from the Presbyterian Church in America to start a new church, there was little in the way of training for church planting, nor was there any consideration of coaching which would have provided personal encouragement, skill development, and prayer support. Today coaches are more available and many church planters attend at least one or more training events. Leadership Network’s study found that church planting 4 groups that leverage assessment, training, and coaching, experience higher rates of survivability (Leadership Network 2007a:4). One does not learn how to plant a church in a classroom or at a seminar. Many typical seminars and training events are based on church growth principles that are not gospel-focused. Some churches grow by using certain principles for developing any type of organization, but those principles are not governed by a gospel understanding of the Church or the Holy Spirit, nor are they necessarily signs of spiritual health. Church planter coaching, an emerging field, has a positive influence on church planting and to launching churches. Much is being done to develop coaching methodologies, but it appears that very little is being done from a theological perspective. Is it sufficient to simply rely on a methodological approach, devoid of the theology of the gospel? Most coaching methodology and training is founded upon secular theory and practice built upon the work of Carl Rogers, an American psychologist who was the father of the client-centered approach to therapy and considered one of the founders of the humanistic approach to psychology. Rogers believed “experience is . the highest authority” (1961:23). He wrote, “It is the client who knows what hurts, what directions to go, what problems are crucial, what experiences have been deeply buried” (1961:35). Modern coaching leaders John Whitmore and Miles Downey attribute their theories and work to Rogers, whose humanistic view that every problem is “out there” and the client already has the answer within him is counter to the gospel. Coaches who simply follow the modern view of coaching practices are not applying the gospel well. 5 The ministry of planting a new church is a unique calling that requires a distinctive set of competencies. Many first-time church planters working on the mission field in North America find themselves overwhelmed by the enormous and challenging task of starting a new work. Most overestimate what they can accomplish in the first year of their ministry. The typical church planter begins with a huge vision, grand plans, and an abundance of enthusiasm. However, as the first months of transition wane and the reality of the work begins to settle in, many become disillusioned, distracted, or depressed. The new work suffers, the church planting couple suffers, and often, core team members suffer. The financial loss to donors and core members can also be significant. The result may be an unhealthy church established in a community where it has little or no gospel influence. Loneliness and isolation can become debilitating factors that sink the entire project. The lack of on-going assistance by someone who can lead the planting team through the rough and tiresome waters of starting a new church has been a major complaint of planters who are in the field or have already quit. Tom Clegg noted in a lecture, “Eight out of ten church plants do not survive the first five years” (2001). Some church planting leaders suggest that the loneliness factor can to lead to additional problems. Church planters tend to be loners and more entrepreneurial in their ministry. Archibald Hart notes in an article “the aloneness factor often leads to arrogance, which can lead to addiction and then adultery” (2001:14). When adultery occurs, it often ends the planter’s ministry and possibly the work itself. Another major issue is spiritual warfare, an issue that distinguishes church planting from secular endeavors. The enemy hates the church and does not want more 6 churches to be planted. He will attack the planter, his family, and the core group in many ways, as he attempts to destroy the church plant. The greatest concern though, is the heart. A very real and present danger in the life of a church planter is his heart becoming cold and his life with God losing its vitality, pliability, and centeredness on God’s grace, the Spirit’s work and his own personal holiness. Depending on one’s own ingenuity, natural ability, talents, and fleshly effort is the bent of every human heart. The church planter is not immune to this. In my coaching experience during the past eight years, I have dealt more in this arena than any other. In spite of an increase in the number of churches planting new churches, church planting networks, and denominations that have become more intentional in starting new churches, much of the coaching methodology is not theologically driven, gospel saturated, or grace-centered. Can we expect gospel-centered, theologically rich churches if our methods of coaching the planters are simply technique-oriented, especially if those techniques are from a humanistic foundation? Henri Nouwen offered this critique: Few ministers and priests think theologically. Most of them have been educated in a climate in which the behavioral science, such as psychology and sociology, so dominated the educational milieu that no true theology was being learned. Most Christian leaders today raise psychological and sociological questions even though they frame them in scriptural terms. Real theological thinking, which is thinking with the mind of Christ, is hard to find in the practice of ministry. Without solid theological reflection, future leaders will be little more than pseudo-psychologists…. They will think of themselves as enablers, facilitators, role models, father or mother figures, big brothers or big sisters, and so on, and thus join the countless men and women trying to help their fellow human beings cope with the stresses and strains of everyday living. But that has little to do with Christian leadership (1993:65, 66). 7 Thesis Question How can a church planter use coaching to grow a healthy, gospel-centered church? Definitions The following terms will be used in this study: 1. Coaching: “Coaching is a process of imparting encouragement and skills to succeed in a task through a relationship” (Clinton 1992:76). 2. Gospel Centered: Richard Kaufmann writes, The Gospel is God’s explosive power that changes everything. The gospel makes us Christians…. God forgives your sin, declares you righteous in Christ, gives you eternal life, adopts you as His child, and ushers you into an intimate relationship with Himself, through the Holy Spirit. Secondly, the gospel grows us. The gospel is not merely the way we enter, it is the way we make all progress…it is the ‘way of righteousness from first to last.’… Since the gospel not only makes us Christians, but also grows us as Christians, the most desperate need of both unbelievers and believers... is to hear and appropriate the Gospel to their lives. Thirdly, the gospel empowers us to serve…with a whole new motivational structure…setting us free to love and serve unconditionally in response to God’s grace in Christ (Kaufmann 1997:24). 3. Church Planter: A person called by God to start a new church within a given context. 4. Rogerian: The humanistic, non-directive, client-based method of counseling and caring for an individual that was developed and taught by psychotherapist Carl R. Rogers. Dr. Larry Crabb suggests that Rogers believed and firmly taught that all that is in man is only good and corruption enters from the outside. Through self- actualization, man will become all that he is able to become. All answers are inside the client (1975: 32, 33). 8 5. Church Planting: The task of establishing a new, healthy, reproducing community, by a group of believers who are reaching, discipling, and equipping lost people in their region with the gospel and releasing them into the community to bring their “world” into the transforming power of the kingdom of God. Significance The significance of this study lies in its identifying the importance of the biblical and gospel-centered strategies of coaching for the coach, the church planter, and the church. It will expand the training tools used to equip church planting coaches within the church planting networks in which I serve. It will also contribute to the expansion of coach training resources and materials for Global Church Advancement, Inc., in Orlando, Florida. This study will enable me to deepen my understanding of how the gospel brings renewal and freedom in ministry.