There is a noticeable shift taking place in the New Evangelization. The era of evangelization-by-programs is on the wane and a renaissance of discipleship and accompaniment is on the rise.
Some of the amazing pioneers in this space offering innovative forms of accompaniment are:
- The Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS)
- St. Paul’s Outreach (SPO)
- Evangelical Catholic
- Catholic Christian Outreach (CCO)
- Catholic Missionary Disciples
- Catholic in Recovery
- Red Bird Ministries
- CatholicPsych Institute
- Metanoia Catholic
Go check them out and be inspired!
While there are new innovative Catholic accompaniment options emerging each day, there are TONS of niche accompaniment needs still unmet. Perhaps God has uniquely designed and called you to fill one of these.
If you are serious about accompanying others, especially if you are looking to do so professionally or through an apostolic business or practice, it's important to invest in your own skills and development to do it well. A Catholic Faith-based Coaching Certification can help.
If you are desiring to make an impact in some niche area personal development (be they exclusive Catholic or open to all faiths), here are some things to consider when evaluating Faith-based Catholic Coaching certification programs.
What makes it Catholic?
There is more to a truly Catholic approach to human growth and development than slapping a Catholic label on the same ideologies and practices offered in secular programs. Specifically, look for the following indicators of a truly Catholic approach.
It approaches human growth from an integrated Catholic understanding of the person
What makes a coaching certification program Catholic is ordering all teaching, practices, techniques, and procedures toward an integrated Catholic vision for human thriving. There are a lot of different definitions and philosophies out there offering a way to happiness and thriving. But, absent grace and a firm understanding of who the person is created in God’s image and likeness, they will always be an incomplete path.
A Catholic coaching certification program needs to be grounded in a firm Catholic anthropology with techniques approaching the diverse social, moral, psychological, bodily, and spiritual needs of the person.
Some programs offering a Catholic coach approach grounded in a Catholic anthropology are:
It acknowledges the spiritual reality of the person.
A Catholic coach approach will consider the spiritual development of the person alongside their human and psychological development. This means having a healthy understanding of spiritual warfare and growth in the spiritual life of the person.
It is ordered towards virtue and morally aligned with the Catholic faith.
While coaching tends to help people towards some tangible goal, what’s most important is the transformation in the client while on the journey. The growth and maturation of the person in virtue and relationship with God must reign supreme throughout this journey.
Providing guidance, exercises, and practices to clients that are ethically aligned with the Catholic faith (there are some coaching practices and philosophies that can be problematic to living the Christian life) is an important consideration when determining the alignment of a coach certification program with the Catholic faith.
Is it helping you build coaching skills, or just learning the theory of coaching?
You’ve probably heard the adage, “those who can’t do, teach.”
You could extend this to coaching–those who learn the theory of coaching will be great teachers and conversationalists about coaching. They’ll get really good at explaining how they would approach someone’s needs as a coach, but in the end they’ll never really coach. They’ll be great teachers and consultants, but not coaches.
What you want to look for in a coach certification is hands-on training and practice in the process of coaching. Professional coaches need intensive training in the practice and habit of coaching. We need our brains literally wired to a coach-approach through intense practice and repetition.
Coaches also need to be practicing what they preach. This means becoming a master in the art of self-coaching. Only then can a coach be a witness of the transformation that their clients wish to see in themselves.
Does it provide a coaching process that you can easily pick up and run with after you’re certified?
W. Edward Denning shared, “If you can't describe what you are doing as a process, you don't know what you're doing.”
A coach certification should provide a clear process for coaching others that you can apply again and again with predictable results.
Furthermore, for new coaches who are focused on getting clients and still discerning their niche and offer, it is helpful to have canned resources, protocols, workshops, or journey paths that your certification organization can provide.
For new coaches you want to maximize your time coaching and acquiring new clients, which means minimizing your time creating resources and building offers from scratch.
Some coach training programs that offer this are:
- Professional Christian Coaching Institute (which offers Catholic cohorts)
- Metanoia Catholic Mentor Training
- Metanoia Catholic Coach Certification
Does it offer post certification support?
It can be a lonely feeling as a newly certified coach. You’ve gained the skills and confidence to coach well, but now you’re met with new challenges of getting clients, making offers, and staying motivated to stick with your coaching dream.
That’s where a post certification support community or mastermind can be helpful. Consider if this is something that a Catholic coach certification program offers, the benefits and resources it extends to members, and the cost (new coaches need a lot of support and encouragement, but don’t have a ton of $$ just yet).
Some Catholic organizations that are standing up to support this need for Catholic coach community are:
At Metanoia Catholic, we offer weekly ongoing support for coaches post certification and a collaborative environment for continued growth and encouragement.
Know that certification is just step one in your journey to experiencing meaningful work helping others as a certified Catholic coach. But with the right community, professional guidance, support network, and a lot of perseverance that dream is more attainable than you’d think.
