Coach Approach to Supervision: Training for Church Staffs

A Summit Coach Training from Pinnacle Workshop

8 hours, offered in segments of 2, 4, or 8 hours via Zoom

Instructor, Laura Stephens-Reed, PCC, CMC

Most ministry leaders enter church work expecting to do the frontline work of preaching, teaching, directing programs, and providing pastoral care, with a side of meetings. But once they are in their contexts, they realize that they have significant responsibilities for other full-time or part-time staff. Not all seminaries prepare ministers-in-training to perform those responsibilities well, and there are few supervisory resources available to pastors who want to build a collaborative staff culture. This training can equip ministry leaders for the hard, holy work of supervising staff. Participants will:

  • Learn the basics of coaching and their usefulness in supervision as well as the limits of coaching in supervision

  • Discover their supervision style and construct their own coach approach to supervision

  • Consider how to shape a culture of supervision that is rooted in coaching skills

This training is geared toward church staffs that have multiple people in supervisory roles.

Note that this class is open to those seeking ICF credit toward a credential or credential renewal and for ministry leaders who are not and do not plan to become credentialed coaches.

Rev. Laura Stephens-Reed

About the Facilitator

Rev. Laura Stephens-Reed attempts to be faithful to this call primarily through coaching clergy and congregations across the ecumenical spectrum. She has been credentialed as a Professional Certified Coach through the International Coaching Federation and as a Certified Mentor Coach. An ordained minister since 2002, she has served congregations in a variety of settled and interim roles, including pastor, associate pastor, and minister with age-specific groups. She is affiliated with the Alliance of Baptists and holds Ministerial Standing in the Alabama-Northwest Florida Region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and she is a member and contract employee of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. In addition, Laura has been on staff and consulted with congregations in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the United Methodist Church and has coached pastors in seventeen denominations. She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Tennessee and her Master of Divinity from Candler School of Theology at Emory University. She is currently enrolled in the Doctor of Ministry program at Lexington Theological Seminary.

Laura lives in Northport, Alabama, with her husband Matt, a United Methodist pastor, and their son. She loves going to the playground, reading, watching tv and movies, and cheering on SEC football teams.