Coaching, Counseling, Mentoring, and Discipleship

  Coaching, Counseling, Mentoring, and Discipleship

By Jake Kohl

The difference between coaching, counseling, mentoring, and discipleship is that coaching “is the art and practice of enabling individuals and groups to move from where they are to where they want to be.”  (Collins, 2009, p. 14)  For example, pushing someone in the employment industry to advance towards the position of the CEO of that particular company would be ideal of what would be considered coaching – to walk alongside someone that could help a person avoid making mistakes that would limit the potential of reaching that goal.  Collins states “…the coach is not there to give expert advice or direction, but to guide as nondirectively as possible while the person looks at their own situation and reaches a conclusion of what to do after looking at their own situation.”  (Collins, 2009, p. 18)

            A mentor on the other hand is someone who “provides (italics mine) modeling, close supervision, on special projects, and individualized help; which includes encouragement, correction, confrontation, and accountability.”  (Collins, 2009, p. 18)  Mentoring someone would be seen as an adviser or someone training someone else by way of explanation, regardless if it is constructively speaking or in an nonconstructive tone.  Discipleship relates more to teaching biblical truths and spiritual disciplines in a more focused manner.  (Collins, 2009, p. 20)  Coaching is more of a broad term but goes beyond the scope of teaching biblical truths and spiritual disciplines.  Coaching is a “set of skills and techniques that can be used effectively to help accomplish the goals of discipleship…”  (Collins, 2009, p. 20)  The skills of coaching are not focused on a set of particular issues, but on avenues of obstacles, hurdles, and pitfalls that a person needs to avoid by looking at their own situation and reaching the conclusion on what to do next until they reach their ultimate goal.

            Christian Life Coaching is distinctive from secular life coaching primarily because of the use of a biblical concept as a foundational truth incorporated into life coaching.  Even though we use some of the same techniques as the secular side of coaching, we do indeed see concepts that are incompatible with the principles of God – mainly the fact that Christian Life Coaches bring a biblical worldview to the table.  While Christian Life Coaches “…encourage others to find God’s vision for their lives and to move from following their own agendas to pursuing God’s purpose…”  (Collins, 2009, p. 23) secular life coaches focus on everything else outside of God – often incorporating New Age or Eastern Spirituality (Collins, 2009, p. 22) into the mix.  That being said and with the growth of professional Christian Life Coaches and a drive that isn’t slowing down for the need of these skills – we will see an even greater number of people reaching their goals to become better men, women, families, employees, employers, pastors, leaders and a people that has a greater love for God.

References

Collins, G. R. (2009).  Christian coaching: Helping others turn potential into reality.  Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress.