Coach? Mentor? Mentor-Coach? Coach-Mentor?
Are we confused yet? Over the past number of years, we’ve seen a deep dive on the words coaching and mentoring in leadership books, blogs and podcasts, including Christian ones. Honestly, they contain a baffling array of contradictory definitions, and differing priorities. It’s become crucial therefore, to define these words every time they’re used. For the sake of clarity, in this piece, mentoring is the approach to leadership which asks open-ended questions, and seeks their answers collaboratively, while coaching is the more direct, advice-driven approach.
Of course, disciple is a more important word than either mentor or coach, yet how churches perform discipleship is an integral part of their witness.
Humility reflects the heart of Nicola Valley EFC, in Merritt, BC. Not having a pastor can be a challenge to many churches, because so many resources are geared to the patterns and expectations of church leadership which involve a pastor. This particular congregation in Merritt isn’t letting that stop them, however. With guidance and support from Steve Sharpe, the EFCC’s Missionary of Church Planting, they are doing a lot of important work within their church, and within their community.
When a self-aware church is working in a 60% Indigenous population, it needs to embrace humility. This church grieves the way that Indigenous people were introduced to Jesus Christ – “we brought our culture, not our God.”
This church believes that God is always talking — it’s our job to explore what God is saying to us. Nicola Valley EFC is operating from the truth that discipleship begets discipleship. It is working to enlarge the vision of what’s possible, recognising that there is a lot of work to do, outside and inside as well.
The perspective this church embraces is that God is always talking, so its people are encouraged to explore what God is saying to them. When the answers involve something that is outside of the gifting or skillset of the assembly, they make a point of finding someone who knows more. In the conversation I had with Burt Bergmann, who serves on their leadership team, he told me that it’s about linking where people are at, and where they feel called to go.
A rule of thumb that Burt uses is “If it’s worth doing well, it’s worth doing poorly.” For people not familiar with that sentiment, it means it’s better to innovate and iterate than to wait until something is perfect before starting. If you wait for perfect, you’ll be waiting forever!
The way of Jesus means that the greater the leader wants to be, the more focused-on-others they need to be. 
When building a culture of mutual support, there are moments when it gets weird. Even when they’re not rigid or stark, expectations of certain structures and approaches have influence on what ministry is engaged in, and how. Mentoring spotlights and challenges those expectations, and the differences in perception we need to be aware of. When done right, mentoring questions all of our norms and presuppositions on its way to building viable, harmonious, robust com-munity. As you may well imagine, this necessitates a high value of trust and safety. Norms must be questioned mutually, or the exercise can become merely a tool to justify some pre-existing bias.
This is in line with Jesus’ mandate to meekness. Historically, his church messed up; we continue to mess up. If we want honesty and vulnerability, a good place to start is confession and repentance.
Nicola Valley EFC is operating from the truth that discipleship begets discipleship. It is working to enlarge the vision of what’s possible, recognising that there is a lot of work to do, outside and inside as well. It presents a vibrant example of what mentoring looks like in real life.
*Main mage by Annie Pratt from Unsplash
