Steve Elzinga


Signs of Trouble

- Client is hurting themselves

- Client is hurting others

- Client seeks to do something unbiblical


How to gently steer them:

Give applicable verse and ask them to tell you what they think it means

"Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” (1 Corinthians 6:16)


How to gently steer them

Ask for permission from the client to take the coaching hat off and put on the hat of …

- Pastor

- Counselor

- Mentor


If client is open to this change of role …

- Simply make the “issue” the area in the client’s life where change needs to happen.

- Proceed to help the client figure out what action step he or she wants to take.

- Help the client make a plan of action necessary to accomplish this new goal.

- Help the client manage the plan.


Make sure you make a big deal about switching hats

- The success of coaching is dependent on your relationship with your client.

- The success of coaching is making the client take responsibility for his or her life.

- The success of coaching is found in the coaches consistency in doing the coaching things – not pastoral care, not teaching, not counseling, not mentoring.


Last modified: Monday, June 26, 2023, 10:40 AM