Have you ever struggled with how to talk with someone who is in the middle of a crisis? Do you ever feel that you don’t know what to say or how to respond, afraid that you will say the wrong things making matters worse or possibly give bad advice? The church should be a place where hurting people can go and share their burdens with someone willing to carry their sorrow but frankly, most of us feel inadequate in how to respond. Our goal with Hope Coaching is to equip the church to be able to respond well to those in crisis.
Fresh Hope is excited to introduce Hope Coaching which is designed for the church and ministries to offer certified coaches to be able to talk people in crisis. This is a short-term relationship that guides a person in crisis from hopelessness, being stuck and not seeing a way forward, to having hope and seeing a way forward. Our Hope Coaches are certified and trained in compassionate listening, asking meaningful questions, helping participants self-discover solutions without giving advice or fixing their problems.
This ministry within a church can also be of great help to a pastor who often feels overwhelmed and inadequate in ministering to the hurting people in the congregation because of lack of time, with all other pastoral duties, and sometimes lack of knowledge of how to really help these people. When a church has developed a Hope Coach Ministry, this team of trained and certified congregants, walk along side of the pastor, relieving him/her of much of the load of this time consuming portion of the ministry. Often pastors feel they are not adequately handling people in crisis and feel those that he/she has been called to shepherd are falling through the cracks. The Hope Coach Ministry has select congregants go through the training and set up a plan for the church to handle those in crisis, thus lifting the burden for the pastor.
You can contact a Hope Coach on Fresh Hope’s website. There will also be trainings for churches and ministries that would like to have Hope Coaches available through their organization.
Click here to book an appointment with a Hope Coach!
How do I become a Hope Coach? I will complete my Peer Support Specialist Certification in mid-August. Was planning to present FH to our pastors when COVID hit; it’d be nice to present Hope Coaching to them also. I am a trained FH Facilitator.