PARTNERING IN MINISTRY LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
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While clergy and ministry leaders are eager to serve, transitions can be hard to navigate. Leadership culture can vary from one parish to the next, or even from one season to the next. What worked before may not be effective again. Doubt and frustration can easily creep in without a strong support system to confidently respond to unexpected leadership challenges. However, ministry development that is supported with intentional practices in self-discovery, reflection, priority-setting, positive change, and accountability, will help parish leaders successfully navigate ministry leadership.
Orthodox Christian Coaching seeks to serve ministry leaders as they face and lead ministry transitions. We propose an introductory six-month robust leadership development practice by which peer group coaching is paired with professional one-on-one coaching services to enable positive ministry development. |
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THE COHORT COACHING PROCESS
Through professional individual coaching and group facilitation, coaches will support participants as they crystalize their own personal and professional goals, implement next steps to achieve those goals, and create a cadence of accountability toward those goals. Professional coaches pay close attention to their client’s areas for self-discovery and opportunities for growth. Through active listening and powerful questioning, coaches help uncover insights, solutions, and strategies for their clients. When appropriate, a coach may suggest content or other resources to help aid in the development of skills or competencies desired by their clients, such as resolving conflict, establishing priorities, or casting vision. However, the professional coach prioritizes WHO, rather than WHAT and HOW; in other words, the coach prioritizes their clients and their own goals and is less directive, prescriptive, and instructive toward their clients. The coaching relationship fosters accountability, responsibility, and self-leadership because the professional coach begins the conversation with the client’s own agenda and goals and circles back to these goals at regular intervals during the conversation, and subsequent conversations, to ensure the goals are being met.
Participant Expectations
- Contact Us with your interest and your current ministry context
- Provide a letter of blessing from your priest or bishop
- Provide a statement of commitment to the six-month coaching cohort
- Complete two initial assessments (apx. 60 min. total) to enrich self-discovery
- Invite and secure three supportive confidants (i.e. spouse, spiritual father, colleague, friend) to provide brief written observations on your leadership style to increase your self-knowledge and support your development goals
- Actively participate in a monthly 90-minute online group coaching meeting, which may include short preparation exercises and topic selections
- Prepare a conversation agenda and attend twice monthly 60-minute one-on-one online coaching sessions with commitment to your next steps articulated at each coaching session
- Consent to participant reporting with respect to attendance, preparation, engagement, and general progress on your goals
- Contribute 10% of the total financial investment for cohort coaching which is just $60 each month
- Provide feedback on the program as requested
Time Commitment: Plan on investing at least 4 hours each month for six months.
The old adage is true with professional coaching . . . The more you put in, the more you'll get out!
The old adage is true with professional coaching . . . The more you put in, the more you'll get out!
Participant Benefits
Surrounded by supportive peers and a certified professional leadership coach (typically also an experienced Orthodox priest) participants will come to discover that vulnerability and perceived failures can be reframed for self-discovery, learning, and resilience. Participants will be better equipped to clarify and discern ministry priorities, to focus on what is important and be less harassed by the urgent, creating a healthy work-life balance. Growing in self-awareness through self-assessments and the observations of trusted confidants, participants will be coached to articulate and work toward their own goals to address their unique areas of weakness and opportunity and to leverage their own strengths and gifts. An emphasis on servant leadership, practiced as a doulos tou theou, will provide a meaningful ministry framework to reduce burnout and self-doubt and increase adaptive leadership. Relationships with brother priests and fellow ministers will be strengthened, providing a continuous learning community and a source of encouragement and accountability for years to come.
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Parish and Ministry Benefits
Not only would a parish receive the immediate benefit of a supported developing leader who serves their community, but the leadership development mindset and practice would be cultivated throughout, laying the groundwork for parish health and a thriving ministry. |
Diocesan / Seminary Benefits
A keen sense of goodwill, trust, and gratitude toward the sponsoring diocese, metropolis, or seminary will be fostered among the ministry leaders as they are lovingly supported through the challenges of transition and leadership as they serve the Church and extended ministries. |
"Ranging from small, practical issues that affected parish life, to factors that impeded my development as a parish priest in my own personal life, I was able to find the support that I needed. I was encouraged to find the solution that would be best for the given situation that I was facing, which often times were remedies that I would not have even thought about before joining this cohort. I also gained a much better understanding of what the vision for the parish that I lead should be; whereas before I had a vague idea of how it would look like. Having made the “baby steps” in that direction would not have been such a smooth and easy process were it not for my coach's careful, empathic, and encouraging direction. Given all this, I would recommend this program to anyone who is just starting out in their ministry, to those who are struggling, and even to those who find themselves unsure of what comes next." |
Consideration for ongoing developmentOnce the six-month engagement is fulfilled, each participant would be invited to continue group coaching or individual coaching services, or both, if desired. Participants may seek ways to partner with their coach to further develop their own ministry teams, staff, and parish councils. The participant’s parish or ministry institution would be invited to invest in continued leadership development with a plan that is sensitive to their financial situation.
Partnering in the financial investmentJust as ministry leadership should not be a burden to bear alone, Orthodox Christian Coaching is committed to making our services available to clergy and ministry leaders through a shared financial model. The total investment for one participant is $3600 - that's just $600 per month - which covers professional executive coaching at discounted nonprofit rates, trusted assessments tools, and efficient administration.
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CONTACT US
If you are a Bishop, Chancellor, Dean, Priest, Seminary Head, or responsible for developing ministry leaders, please reach out to learn how Orthodox Christian Coaching is the best option for your continuing education program and ministry leadership development initiatives.
If you are a ministry leader and consider yourself a life-long learner -- as one who is willing to stretch and grow in your ministry vocation -- then please contact us today!
If you are a ministry leader and consider yourself a life-long learner -- as one who is willing to stretch and grow in your ministry vocation -- then please contact us today!