Top 5 Christian Life Coaching Frequently Asked Questions

In this post you will learn the top 5 christian life coaching FAQ or frequently asked questions along with their in-depth answers. I will be candid about our Christian life coaching industry and how you can excel with Christian coaching. I'll even discuss benefits if you don't open a coaching or counseling practice. 

Top 5 Christian life coaching FAQ

Most life coaches have a foundation of life experience prior to becoming coaches. They may have specialty knowledge or a background in a particular industry that enhances their ability to help others.  Or, perhaps they sense God has been using them for a long time, to speak into the lives of others and they are ready to formalize their work by gaining training and a credential.

Although not required, a good, biblically based coach training program can shave years off your learning curve to becoming a people-helping professional.  We suggest you begin with biblical training because it is powerful, effective and God-honoring. Then build your niche or specialty. (More on niches later.)

As an unregulated industry, there are no educational requirements in coaching, hence no degree or license is needed. Further there is no official governing body in our industry. Sometimes those newly entering the profession become confused by the propaganda disseminated by some organizations and begin to believe there is a legal accreditation needed. This is NOT true.  As long as you don’t stray outside of the scope of coaching, into therapy for example, you are entirely free to provide your coaching services.  Remember, coaches are not mental health care providers, so we can’t diagnose or give mental health advice. Cases needing those services must be referred. 

Within our CCLC/CPLC course, we train on the differences between coaching, therapy and other modalities as well as how to make referrals to qualified mental health providers. Making referrals can be a delicate process and you need to know how to manage these situations gracefully so that your client / prospective client is referred with dignity and love.

​Certifications are provided by many organizations to validate that the individual has successfully completed their course of study. This simply validates that you have working knowledge about the educational material that the school teaches. It is up to you whether to get certified or not. However, the benefits include increased capacity to help others, industry knowledge, understanding of tried and tested methods and models to achieve results, confidence in your own abilities, respect of clients and peers.

But let’s not confuse certification with accreditation. There are groups that claim to accredit or govern life coaches. You need to know that life coaching is unregulated and no organizations have any legal authority over this industry. Period. For nearly two decades, they have disseminated fear-mongering propaganda, saying regulation is coming and you must join this group or that group or else (you’ll be put out of business or other frightening prospect). This has all proven to be nonsense. More and more independent schools and coaching practices are thriving.

Coaching won’t be regulated any more than consulting will be. The main reason is that there are so many types of coaches, it’s literally impossible to create uniform standards for the profession. Legislators know that and have refused to create any regulations for us. (Believe me, if the government could make any money from regulating us, they would have done it long ago.) What’s the worst case scenario? In my opinion the worst that could happen is that existing coaches become grandfathered in if there ever is any regulation.  Still, not likely.

Our authority is God and our directive the Holy Bible. His word is practical, timely and sufficient for all matters of life. The coaches we train are able to work in the Christian community and in secular environment.  The dual certifications we provide support you regardless of where God calls you to work.  

PCCCA's Christian / Professional life coach program gives you two designations on graduation. The graduate receives the Certified Christian Life Coach and Certified Professional Life Coach designations for that express reason. There is no additional fee for the second certification. You have earned it!

No. PCCCA is not in affiliation with ICF (International Coach Federation) or any other secular / new age coaching association or club. PCCCA (Professional Christian Coaching and Counseling Academy, founded 2003) is an independent, Christian, professional education provider. Our proprietary curriculum was inspired by the Holy Spirit in agreement with scriptures in the Holy Bible and I am humbled that God allowed me the privilege of writing this legacy manuscript. This is “the book” on Spirit-led, Christian life coaching, now in its second edition and available on Amazon and other major book sellers.

Matthew 6:33 is the scripture our academy was founded on and this verse clearly describes our priorities and faith in God to deliver His promises. 

There are important reasons we remain independent. The first is to honor God according to Matthew 6:33. If we came under the authority of a secular organization, we would have to alter course content to agree with their philosophies and our academy leadership is unwilling to compromise the truth of God's word.

Secondarily, it would substantially increase our operating costs and manpower needs which would be reflected in much higher tuition costs to you, our students. We do our best to keep our tuition low and support at a 5-star, premium level in order to train as many high-quality Kingdom workers as possible. I encourage you to read our reviews, what our students/grads say about their training experiences.

We are board accredited by ICE (Independent Christian Educational Credentialing - icec.co).ICE validates that the course content here at PCCCA is biblically pure and not integrated / mixed with psychology, humanism or secular thought. Simply, they guarantee your course content product to be what we claim.

For over 16 years our academy, PCCCA, has remained a leader in our industry with thousands of students worldwide, and graduates on every continent. God continues to grow us, as we continue to honor Him first. 

(Interesting fact - The highest earning / most “successful” coaches in the world are not ICF / IAC or other association-affiliated coaches.)

Success is measured many ways but so that we are all on the same page, what I refer to as successful is a God-honoring, thriving, sustainable coaching practice. After training thousands of coaches since 2003, with graduates on every continent, including many if not most of today’s Christian coaching leaders and trainers, we know exactly what is needed for you to have a successful, sustainable coaching practice.

MASTERY - Become an effective coach, one who delivers the results you promise. 50%

MARKETING - Understand and implement effective marketing tactics, so that those who need you can find you. 50%

These two topics are deep and broad. There is a lot more to building a successful, sustainable coaching practice than meets the eye and we teach you everything you need in the CCLC/CPLC and Advanced coaching certification courses, but it really boils down to these two ingredients.

What about a coaching niche?  A coaching niche is the same as a coaching specialty. Niche coaching is where you are able to provide a very specific solution to a much targeted group of individuals.  This does NOT mean that you can’t coach others as well.  But when you have a niche, you understand the message you need to convey to reach a specific group who has an urgent, pervasive need for the solution you provide. They should be the lifeblood of your coaching practice.

Why is this important?  Your niche is a group who can reliably fill your practice. They are highly motivated to take action and hire you because of their identified need.

Having a known niche helps others refer you because they understand quickly what you do and who you help. If they know someone who needs you, the referral becomes easy.

You can create a good amount of structure in your coaching / programs. This makes delivery predictable and results reliable.

You have greater confidence because you know what works. You can take someone through your process and attain reliable results. This further creates word of mouth referrals that support your practice. 

Want to work less and earn more?  Develop group programs around your niche and once you learn how to correctly deliver your programs to create great group synergy, you will work less and earn more with these programs. If you are not already a certified Group Coaching Facilitator, learn more about this certification program here.

Looking for a viable niche? Here are a couple of the most needed and profitable coaching niches today. We provide training and certification programs for both Stress Relief Coach and Joy Restoration / Christian Grief Coach. Check them out.

SUMMARY

Above I gave you my top 5 Christian life coaching most frequently asked questions and in-depth answers to all of them. I did this so you better understand my heart and the heart of this academy along with our priorities. I also wanted to dispel some misconceptions. As my student and future PCCCA graduate, I owe you the truth. And I owe it to God, to represent our school and industry with integrity.

So what are your coaching goals? Is it a practice? Is it to help in a ministry?

You don't have to want a coaching practice to benefit from our courses. Many of our students want to learn for personal growth, or to enhance their work in another profession. Just as many tell us that if they never worked a day in coaching, their lives were forever transformed by what they learned.  When I hear this, I know I am at the center of my purpose and I thank God for this opportunity to transform lives for His glory.

Love and blessings,

Leelo Bush, PhD
CEO / Director of Training

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“Leelo Bush, PhD is recognized globally as a Christian Coaching thought leader, training curriculum creator, speaker, host of the Christian Coaching School Podcast on iTunes, innovator and marketplace ministry and training expert. Discover your hidden potential with her FREE 5-Minute Success Predictor Quiz at https://pccca.org/welcome/

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