Originally released February 16, 2014- Download PDF:  The Fallacy of Coaching.02.16.14

Some of you may be aware of the topic of “coaching” that has been embraced by Church leaders which has spilled over from corporate America.  Some pastors believe they have to have a coach in order to “succeed” in the ministry.  Self-proclaimed and even “certified” leadership coaches, prefer the term of coaching to discipleship because they believe the latter is an antiquated term that today’s society cannot accept, having forgotten that we are not called to be accepted by this world.

Coaches attempt to guide you to a better way to minister, make and accomplish goals, and even to discover truth. In contrast, those who disciple, model the truth by walking by the Spirit who is the Truth. The difference between the two is so vast they cannot be compared.

Having worked in the corporate consulting/coaching arena and now called as a minister of the Gospel, I boldly proclaim that Church leaders, especially pastors and elders, do not need a human coach.  They need the Holy Spirit.  He is our life!  He is not a coach; He is our God!  He is not optional equipment for the ministry.  He is not a nice-to-have; He is The-Must-Have!  We can do nothing without the Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father (Jn 15:26).  Reject the Holy Spirit, marginalize and/or dismiss Him and we do the same to the Father and His Son.  If we reject the Holy Spirit, we reject The One who sent Him.  How many pastors and Church leaders in America and Europe have missed this essential point!

Coaching is yet another vain attempt by Church leaders to find their way and minister without the Holy Spirit.  Ministry is by definition supernatural.  How can we expect to minister without the supernatural, abundant power of the Holy Spirit?  We must make ourselves dependent upon Him, which is the way of the Cross.  Nothing about it is comfortable.  On the contrary, it is the way of suffering and hardship.

How easy it is to strike out on our own and “do something”, relying upon good ideas!  In the desert, leaders long for the leeks of Egypt, the good ideas, rather than wait upon and depend on revelation that comes by the Spirit.  How painful it is to wait for the Spirit to reveal to us the way forward and be dependent upon Him to give us eyes to see what He is doing and ears to hear what He is saying.  And yet it is the way that Jesus modeled to us (Jn 3:11&32; 5:19&30).  Dependence upon the Spirit is what we were called to do.  Self-reliance is rebellion.

A pastor who leans on a coach but does not hear what the Spirit is saying to the Churches, is walking in the ways and the strategies of man.  He has become a blind leader of the blind, where both fall into the pit (Mt 15:14).  This is THE present and certain peril that confronts the Church of America and Europe.  Striving to be relevant to a godless society, the Church of America and Europe has in most respects become irrelevant to Heaven, incapable of embracing what the Spirit is about to release without drastic change.  The cry of the Spirit to Church leaders is simple:  Change or perish!  The Holy Spirit is preparing and calling forth new leaders that will listen to Him.  They will be the ones qualified to bring in the Harvest.  Why?  Because they know the voice of The Shepherd and they co-labor with Him.

For those that will humble themselves before the Holy Spirit, realizing and confessing that they have nothing, that they are blind, naked, miserable and wretched, will find the Holy Spirit is abundantly gracious and forgiving, willing to immediately respond and make them fruitful because they have chosen to be cleave to Him.

To those that have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the Churches, I proclaim, “Cleave to the Holy Spirit!”

Mark Biteler