Christian Life Coaching & Goal-Setting

Course Syllabus

Course Description

This course trains you to walk beside another woman as a Christian life coach: a forward-focused helper who listens well, asks wise questions, and helps her turn hopes into prayerful, practical steps. You will learn how coaching differs from counseling, mentoring, and discipleship; practice a simple five-step coaching conversation called the Bridge Conversation; and help others clarify values, set clear goals, plan around obstacles, and follow through with grace. You will also learn the limits of coaching: when to pause, when to refer, and how to protect the people you serve. (This is a lay ministry credential, not a clinical license.)

Faith Integration

Christian coaching rests on a simple conviction: God is the One who directs our steps, and He often uses other believers to help us hear Him. A coach does not hand out answers. She prays, listens, and asks questions that help another woman seek God's wisdom and take faithful next steps. We plan with humility (“If the Lord will”), we carry one another's burdens, and we know when a burden belongs with someone more qualified.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

1. Explain how Christian life coaching differs from counseling, therapy, mentoring, and discipleship.
2. Recognize when to pause coaching and refer to staff, a chaplain, a case manager, or emergency help.
3. Help a client reflect on calling, gifts, and God's guidance while planning with humility.
4. Ask open, powerful questions and lead a complete Bridge Conversation (Focus, Explore, Plan, Commit, Pray).
5. Guide a client through values, vision, and a life balance wheel.
6. Help a client write clear, measurable goals with action steps and plans for obstacles.
7. Use a coaching agreement, brief session notes, confidentiality guidelines, and follow-up.
8. Coach re-entry goals and small groups with appropriate boundaries and referrals.

Course Materials

• This student workbook
• Pen or pencil
• Printed coaching forms: Coaching Agreement, Session Notes, Life Balance Wheel, Goal Plan (all paper-based)
• A Bible (King James Version)

Weekly Schedule

How You Will Be Graded

To pass this course: earn 70% or higher overall and attend at least 80% of sessions.

Classroom Covenant

• We begin and end each session in prayer. Participation in prayer is always welcome, never required.
• What is shared in class stays in class. We protect one another's stories.
• We speak with respect, listen without interrupting, and disagree with grace.
• We come prepared, do our own work, and ask for help when we need it.
• We follow all facility rules. Safety and security come first.
• We believe the best about one another and about what God can do.

Support & Accommodations

If reading, writing, vision, hearing, or any other need makes a part of this course harder, tell your instructor privately. Materials can be read aloud, enlarged, or completed orally. Missed sessions can be made up using the module pages. If you are transferred or released, your completed work stays on record and you can finish online.

Welcome

Welcome to Christian Life Coaching & Goal-Setting. This companion walks beside you with a weekly reading, five devotions for the days between sessions, and a Coaching Quick Guide you can keep for years to come. As you learn to help others take faithful steps, remember the boundaries of this lay ministry: coaches listen, ask, pray, and encourage, and they pause and refer when someone needs more help.

How to Use This Companion

• Read the weekly reading after each class session. It takes about 10 minutes.
• Reflect on the questions. These are for you; you do not have to turn them in.
• Meet with God through the five daily devotions between sessions.
• Keep the Quick Guide at the end to carry home after release.

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.— Psalm 119:105 (KJV)