Coaching Articles - The Power of Questions

Series: On Congregational Redevelopment
Title: Part 5 - The Power of Questions

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Powerful questioning is key in effective congregational coaching. After actively listening, the coach should ask questions that evoke discovery, insight, commitment and life changing action (e.g., those that challenge the congregation’s assumptions.

Open-ended questions are especially helpful in creating greater clarity, possibility or new learning. These are not questions that ask for the congregation to justify or look backwards; rather they are questions that move the congregation toward what they desire. (1) Jesus asked some powerful questions of those He was coaching. In John 6:66-67, 12:27, 13:38, He used a series of questions which called those He was coaching to commitment and to count the cost of that commitment.

In Luke 14:28, 31 Jesus uses a question to focus the disciples toward their need to count the financial cost of their commitment to follow Him. He uses questions in Mark 6:38, 8:19-20 to remind them He is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that they could ask or even think. When congregations are making changes, it is often necessary to point out available resources. Coaches ask questions about resources such as “Who do you know that can help?”, “What resources do you need in order to do this?”, and “What resources do you have?” In His questions, Jesus pointed out resources that often exist which He can multiply, and resources need to be assessed before proceeding.

In coaching, the same challenges are presented. The CBC is asked to determine the cost in terms of barriers to remove, issues to release or energy to expand, and to make commitments to action. Jesus knew that people will not follow through on actions until they have counted the cost and until commitment is present. It is helpful for the coach to remember his/her commitment to be unattached to the outcome and continue loving the congregation and to recognize that not everyone will respond to the self-discovery process in a positive way or in the way one might have hoped. This is merely an affirmation of the free will that God designed. Everyone is free to make his/her own choices. If God places such a high value on free will, should not we?

In Matthew 7:3, 11 and Luke 6:39-41, Jesus used questions to provide clarity to the principles He was teaching and to spur those He was coaching to action. Jesus used questions concerning identity in Matthew 16:13, 15, John 20:27, 29 and Mark 5:9. His purpose was to gain clarity before proceeding. This was not because He did not know who He was; rather, it was to help the hearer identify who He was. In congregational coaching, it is often helpful to deal with identity issues of all types. Unlike Jesus, churches are not always in touch with their own identity.

Questions that focus churches on identity issues are used to free them to become the church they were created to be. In other cases, the CBC needs to identify people who can contribute to the church’s journey of change and action. When Peter identified Jesus as the Christ, Jesus was able to articulate the foundational principle for freedom from sin through salvation. It is interesting to look at how Jesus used questions in Matthew 5:46-47, Mark 4:30-32, and Luke 6:32-34 to challenge, make huge requests, and expand the vision of His disciples. The purpose was to stretch them to greater excellence which needs to be the goal also in congregational coaching.

Everything I have discussed thus far hinges on the coach’s ability to communicate effectively. The first priority in this communication is active listening—focusing completely on what the CBC (congregation being coached) is saying and is not saying, understanding the meaning of what is said in the context of the CBC’s desires. This means getting in tune with the congregations agenda and steering away from the coach’s agenda for the congregation. The coach must hear the CBC’s concerns, goals, values and beliefs about what is and is not possible and so he/she must be able to distinguish between the words, the tone of voice, and the body language of the congregational leadership.

The coach’s job is to summarize, paraphrase, reiterate, and mirror back what the leadership being coached has said to ensure clarity and understanding. He/she encourages,accepts, explores and reinforces the client’s expression of feelings, perceptions, concerns, beliefs, and suggestions and integrates and builds bridges from those ideas and suggestions to the vision the congregation has formed.

The coach should also help the congregation get to the biblical image of a healthy church. The coach allows the congregational leadership to vent or “clear” the situation without judgment or attachment in order to move on to the development of the future of a healthy church. Also, the coach should strive to continually focus on identifying and strengthening the strengths of the CBC. He/she should build on the foundation of 1 Corinthians 12:14-20 that each congregation has a specific God-given job to do. He/she must remind the CBC of Matthew 25:14-30 which says that we should make the most of whatever we’ve been given. All through the coaching relationship both the coach and CBC should adhere to Isaiah 40:31 and renew their own personal strength on a regular basis.

The coach must be direct in his/her speaking, communicating effectively during coaching sessions and be able to use language that has the greatest positive impact on the CBC. The language used must be clear, articulate and direct in sharing and providing feedback that reframes and articulates to help the CBC understand from another perspective what they want or are uncertain about becoming.

A coach needs to clearly state objectives, lay out an agenda and purpose techniques or exercises. The coach has a great tool in the use of metaphors and analogy to help illustrate a point or paint a verbal picture of what the desired goal looks like. The coach’s job is to facilitate learning and results. This is done by creating awareness after accurately evaluating multiple sources of information. The coach makes interpretations that help the CBC to gain awareness and thereby achieve agreed-upon results.

The coach also identifies for the CBC underlying concerns, typical and fixed ways of perceiving themselves, differences between the facts and the interpretation, disparities between thoughts, feelings and action, and helps the CBC to discover for themselves the new thoughts, beliefs, perceptions, emotions, moods, etc. that strengthen their ability to take action and achieve the vision.

The coach communicates broader perspectives to the CBC and inspires commitment to shift their viewpoints and find new possibilities for action. He/she helps the CBC to see the different, interrelated factors that affect them and their behaviors (e.g., thoughts, emotions, body, background), expresses insights to the CBC in ways that are useful and meaningful. The coach identifies major strengths and contrasts them with major areas for learning and growth, and what is most important to address during coaching. He/she asks the CBC to distinguish between trivial and significant issues, situational vs. recurring behaviors, when detecting a separation between what is being stated and what is being done.

1. “The Coaching Process and Skills,” International Coach Federation, n.p. [cited 3 December 2004]. Online: http://www.coachfederation.org/credentialing/index.asp.