One of the most important areas of focus when engaged in coaching for pastors is strategic planning and the implementation of that plan.
Getting them to analyze their church and determine the current primary focus, how the church got to where they are, how they are perceived in the community, and both the pastor's and church's current strengths and weaknesses are the first steps in creating a strategic plan.
It's also crucial to identify the people you are called to reach and their needs to determine those needs your church can address.
Another issue to discuss with someone who is being coached is mission and vision.
Developing a clear mission that defines God's purpose for your church has to be a priority for any executive pastor.
This seems so rudimentary, but often times what churches are doing does not match their mission and vision statement.
The church staff may have spent a long time discerning what the statements should say, but with a new strategic plan may come redefining of mission and vision and there's nothing inherently wrong with that.
In conjunction with mission, developing and implementing a vision for the church that honors God and paints the picture of God's preferred future for the church is just as important as an accurate mission statement.
There are all sorts of other things that a coach needs to advise and speak about such as defining a church's core values, critical success factors, and measurements to ensure that all goals and activities are aligned and integrated throughout their ministry.
Some examples of core values of a church can include service to the surrounding community, missional living, community building, christian spirituality, and truth.
Examples of critical success factors for a church include but are not limited to evangelism, fellowship, worship, bible study, compassion, effective staff, and missions.
In order to reach goals and objectives rooted in these core values and success factors there must be a clear strategy developed.
Action plans, tracking and reviewing processes, and systems of communication are all ways to ensure that the strategy developed is being followed.
This all may seem daunting for the pastor being coached, especially if some of these concepts are new to him or if the church they lead is highly traditional.
In order to combat any difficulty it's helpful to implement a clear organizational structure and simple, repeatable process for organizing ministries for maximum effectiveness and empowerment.