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When I was serving in Yukon, a number of our communities accessed a very successful program called "Life Skills Coaching". A trained coach would come to the community for a fixed period of time to lead workshops in such areas as dealing with addictions, family abuse, and building healthy families. A trained leader would create a safe space for sharing, where people would be able to tell their stories, gain self awareness, and support one another. The process would conclude with a great celebration that would help to bond people into the new supportive friendships, which would continue long after the coach left.
I have often thought what a useful model this would be for churches. Workshops focusing on the practicalities of daily living would connect us with a wider constituency in the community. Workshops with a Christian dimension would also help many of our members access the life of grace in very practical ways.
Many of the programs which in recent years have experienced success, such as Cursillo, Marriage Encounter, Journey to Adulthood, Logos and Alpha, share a common feature. This is that people do not just hear about the life of grace; they actually experience it and share it!
When we are planning our programming for Lent or Advent, what are the ways we could give it a practical spin that would benefit the broader community? Who are our colleagues and ecumenical friends that would make great coaches in areas such as parenting, creative aging, building healthy families, or prayer and inner well being?
Perhaps the pastoral task is not so much leading as matchmaking: putting the right life skill coaches together with small groups of people seeking a better life.
Item XXXIII
©2000 Ronald C. Ferris
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