There are so many life coaches out there. The coaching industry is not regulated. How to choose the right Christian life coach to accomplish your goals and change your life? This blog will equip you to understand what a Christian Life Coach does, common mistakes people make in choosing their Christian life coach, and five types of coaches you should avoid.

What is Christian Life Coaching?

A Christian life coach is a professional who combines coaching principles with Christian faith and values to help individuals achieve their personal and spiritual goals.

In general, a life coach helps people identify where they want to be, and set goals, be accountable for achieving these goals by listening and empathy. A life coach’s most important skill is asking inspiring questions. The clients are motivated to develop an actionable plan to get from where they are to where they want to be.

Lynne Lee, a Christian life coach, wrote a blog post titled ‘Why A Christian Life Coach Is A Better Choice For Christians.’

A Christian life coach approaches coaching from the foundation that

• You are created in God’s image.
• God is sovereign.
• He knows everything about you.
• He guides, equips, and empowers His children.
• You only find real fulfillment when living according to God’s plans and principles.

I received the breakthrough life coach training from Lynne. The Christian Life Coaching that I offer has these five characteristics:

• It is based on God’s word.
• It helps you to define success for you as God sees it rather than how the world sees it.
• It helps you to operate from a foundation of faith in God.
• It enables you to grow and achieve without compromising your dependence on God and Christian values.
• It is sensitive to the leading and prompting of the Holy Spirit.

Common Mistakes in Choosing a Christian Life Coach

Choosing a Christian life coach is a significant decision that requires careful consideration of your goals, the coach’s qualifications, and the dynamics of your coaching relationship. Avoiding these additional mistakes can help you make a more informed and effective choice.

Here are eight common mistakes people make in choosing a Christian life coach:

1. Make decisions solely based on the marketing sales mechanism (Facebook ads, offers)
2. Don’t consult the wisdom of God. If you are a Christian, you want to seek God’s counsel.
3. Follow the crowd or the trend. How often do people sign up for a coach based on word of mouth and then regret it?
4. Make decisions based on price only. The coaching industry is not regulated, and pricing can be everywhere. Some fall for cheap, and some fall for high-paying coaches because they believe the more you pay, the better the coaching you will receive. Pricing has much to do with the coach’s self-confidence and selling ability.
5. Fail to consider coach-client compatibility.
6. Failure to set expectations and assess these along the way.
7. Failure to set your own goals before hiring a coach.
8. The eighth mistake is to hire based on the coach’s Christian faith. I was trying to hire a business coach. However, I decided to hire a coach based on this coach’s Christian faith and neglected this coach’s competency in delivering tangible results for my business. It was a valuable lesson!

Most Christian life coaches do not know how to tune into the holy spirit, and they follow their process that might have worked before or borrow other people’s process. Therefore, it is more formulaic. The outcome is hit-and-miss. Few people might see results, while most group members struggle to achieve desired results. I have been to a few of these kinds of Christian coaching.

After investing in a few Christian Life coaches that did not help me achieve my goals, I reflected on the process and criteria I used to choose a Christian Life Coach. I learned to choose the right Christian life coach by avoiding these six types of Christian life coaches.

Avoid these six types of Christian life coaches:

1. A coach who only spotlights a select few from a large group of people exhibits immaturity in their ability to recognize the worth and potential in everyone. Often, you pay for access: the more you pay, the more time and attention the coach provides. These coaches excel at selling themselves but may not be proficient at delivering coaching that yields tangible results.
2. A coach lacking testimonies of concrete outcomes but boasting about good personalities or processes may mean you’re paying for an attractive process that doesn’t translate into tangible results for your life or business. It’s beneficial to conduct an interview. Frequently, the coach will interview potential clients for compatibility, and you should certainly interview the coach to determine if it’s a good fit for your investment in coaching.
3. A coach who uses promises to attract clients but fails to deliver results (over-promising and under-delivering) will eventually be seen through by people. In general, coaches of this kind often prioritize acquiring new clients over nurturing relationships with existing ones.
4. A coach who primarily has one-time clients and lacks repeat customers doesn’t place value on long-term relationships but instead focuses on short-term financial gains.
5. There’s a significant gap between a coach’s personal and professional life, such as having broken relationships with their family while coaching others on building healthy family relationships. Discerning is challenging because people don’t always reveal their true selves to others. You need to rely on the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
6. My mentor and friend, Pastor Mark, once said, “God uses things to reach people, while the world uses people to obtain things.” This distinction might help differentiate between a genuine Christian life coach and one who merely bears the Christian label or relies on worldly methods. Always avoid the coaches who use people to gain things (money, influence, impact).

Choosing a Christian life coach is a significant decision that requires careful consideration of your goals, the coach’s qualifications, and the dynamics of your coaching relationship. Avoiding these additional mistakes can help you make a more informed and effective choice.

Seven ways to discern if a Christian Life Coach is right for you.

In summary,

Ways to discern a Christian life coach is for you:

1. Tune into the Holy Spirit and ask God to guide you.
2. Ask for confirmations from the Holy Spirit.
3. Schedule a free consultation and interview the coach to see if the coach is a good fit.
4. Check out the potential coach’s website for clients’ testimonies, and the testimonies are for tangible results.
5. Ask for references before investing.
6. Join this coach’s free group and assess the coach’s client interaction.
7. Many coaches offer free resources; you can subscribe to them and find out if the coach can help you grow.

I don’t believe you found this blog post by accident. If you’re ready to turn your life around and go for what matters most, call me at 1-480-779-3077, and if I’m free, I’ll take your call.

If you want to learn more or explore how coaching can help YOU, please get in touch with me. I welcome your questions.

If you’re convinced that a Christian life coach is the best option, you’ll find details of my coaching services here. I pray that the resources you find here will help you search for God’s best in your life.