Group Coaching Process for East African Leaders

For those who want more details on how we are working with our key leaders from six nations… here is a taste. First, who are these people?  They are experienced church planters who are also training others in multiplying disciples and churches.  They are truly bringing spiritual and practical transformation to neighborhoods, regions, and in some cases even nations and beyond. We are engaging this team in a “group coaching” process which is designed to tap into the experiences, insight, and revelation from each person who is present. We spent the first day building relationships among one another and then identifying, through a facilitated process, the top issues that they want to work on together during the next four days.  The power of setting this agenda as a group is that no one person (myself included) could have come up with this specific list:

1. Best practices for integrating simple church planting with simple development (ways to empower the poor).

2. Developing personal financial support for church planters.

3. How to reach influential people within the community.

4. Mentoring and training leaders on-the-job.

5. Organizing their emerging movements around those who are most productive.

6. Vision casting that can be easily passed on from one leader to the next.

We then spent the next two days working through these topics using a combination approach. We identified those who had the most expertise for each topic and asked him/her to share an introduction to the topic.  We then broke up into groups of four and asked each group to come up with their own strategies for each issue.  Finally, we brought the group back together to pull all of the ideas into one master strategy. The benefit of this approach is that it focuses on the issues that are of greatest interest to those present and it draws on the wisdom from each and every participant. It was incredibly fun to see them huddled around tables in small groups animatedly talking in Swahili (or French), with their hands waving, discussing issues that they deal with on a regular basis and drawing from each other’s experience. With such quality leaders, the outcome was fantastic.  Each leader was extremely energized by the process and left with clear plans and objectives that they feel confident the Holy Spirit has provided. I wish you could meet each one and get just a taste of their passion for God’s purposes and their love for the people they reach out to.