Our volunteer coaches generously offer 10-30 hours per year of coaching to Methodist leaders who are starting new Christian communities and/or seeking to grow existing churches. We ask our coaches to commit to an initial year, with the possibility of carrying on beyond that after a review. They report to the Evangelism and Growth Team and Learning Network leads for coaching, who can be contacted at coaching@methodistchurch.org.uk.
How we support you
We take seriously the support we offer internal coaches. We commit to:
- Provide for you high-quality initial coaching skills training, either online or onsite. (If you have already received coach training, that’s great – we may ask you to complete a refresher if your training was a while ago).
- Match you with a thinker as soon as possible after you have completed initial coaching skills training, subject to a Standard DBS check and two references.
- Provide regular coaching development events, to keep all our coaching safe and sharp.
- Offer a coaching check-in once a year for every coach. You record a coaching conversation (with permission) and then watch it with a more experienced coach and reflect on it to improve your practice. The recording is then deleted.
- Get in touch twice a year with a coaching survey for all coaches and thinkers, asking how the coaching is going.
- Be available whenever we’re needed – email coaching@methodistchurch.org.uk.
What we expect of you
We expect our internal coaches to:
- Work with the thinker(s) assigned to you using a coaching approach in order to help them start new Christian communities and/or seek spiritual, missional and numerical church growth in existing churches.
- Keep simple records and hold them safely and securely, paying attention to GDPR. The thinker’s name, email address, the email address of the agreed safeguarding contact and the dates of your meetings are all that’s needed. You might choose to keep a one-sentence summary of each conversation.
- Co-ordinate times and dates for coaching sessions in partnership with the thinker(s). You might meet monthly, every other month, or seasonally, depending on the needs of the thinker(s). The coach shouldn’t be doing all the chasing for dates – please tell us if this is an issue.
- Work ethically, adhering to the Core Competencies of the International Coaching Federation. These are covered in initial coach training with the Methodist Church.
- Have completed safeguarding training to Advanced Level in The Methodist Church. Report any concerns around safeguarding or the safety or wellbeing of the thinker to a named person agreed between you at the start of the coaching relationship. This is likely to be the Regional Officer for Safeguarding for the thinker’s District.
- Keep your practice safe and sharp by
- Attending a yearly coaching check-in where possible
- Completing one other piece of learning every year