I totally forgot about my coaching time with Doug* yesterday.  That is I forgot, until my computer beeped.  My ten minute reminder. Now why did I schedule a coaching appointment in the first week of the school holidays?  Must be important.  Oh, yes.  Doug was on holiday last week and we need to keep moving forward.  

I grabbed a blank sheet of paper and wrote down my outline: CASA.  

What did I need to do for each of these letters?

C – Caring

 Doug has been on holiday.  I should see how that went

A – Accountability

Last week Doug sent me a list of the things he expects all his leaders to do.  Now where did I put that?  It looks reasonable, but let’s hear about the process.

S – Selecting a new topic

I’ll let Doug choose this.

A – Application

Let’s see what comes out of our discussion

OK.  I’m ready.  Let’s see if Doug is.  

Doug is starting new churches in rural Queensland.  He has three up and running and a fourth one in the works.  There is such a critical need.  The churches which have been there for a hundred years or more are closing down.  It is hard to keep things going in a town of 450 people.

Our conversation loosely follows my outline. After a time of Caring for Doug we move to Accountability and talk about the things he expects of his leaders.  Here is Doug’s list of expectations for his Life Group Leaders:

1. Has a personal relationship with Jesus
2. Capable of facilitating discussions
3. Able to relate to non-Christians
4. Able to identify pastoral needs
5. Is able to facilitate the delivering of pastoral care
6. Able to apply the teachings of the Bible to their life
7. Has regular devotional times
8. Is growing in their ability to reflect the Fruit of the Spirit in their life
9. Willingly shares their faith with others
10. Able to lead someone into a relationship with God
11. Is able to explain the meaning and purpose of baptism
12. Is able to identify potential leaders

That's a lot more than I expect of my leaders when they start.

Doug tells me that making the list was helpful.  He reallzes that his leaders may not start with all these skills, but these are the areas in which he wants them to grow.

We then move on to Selecting a New Topic.  Doug wants to know how to select the Bible passage for each of his meetings.  I tell him that each of our groups do it differently.  In one, my wife picks the passage based on the needs she sees in the group.  In others we use pre-defined series. I send Doug links to my two favourite collections:  Discovering and Journeys.

As I'm listening to Doug it seems that what is deepest on his heart is equipping the members of his groups to talk with their friends about Jesus.  I check out this assumption and ask Doug if we can meet for two hours next time so I can show him something I had worked on  the week before called MyFriends.  

I close off our time by asking Doug how I can pray for his groups.

 I think we accomplished a lot in 37 minutes.

I am so glad my computer reminded me of my coaching time with Dan. He is doing something significant in an area which has been neglected for too long.

Please join me in praying for Doug and the other people who are starting new faith communiites.