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The choice of your Coaches in Training is perhaps one of the most important decisions that will be made concerning your group. Couples chosen as Coaches in Training need to realise that this is a training position for 2=1 Australia. It is not a place to observe and decide if they wish to be Coaches. That decision should already have been made when they accept the Coaches in Training position. If they are uncertain as to their call to 2=1 Australia ministry, they should go through a group as a member couple, not as Coaches in Training. Couples who are Coaches in Training know they are called to coach groups and are in training to prepare for that. Make sure they understand this before they begin a group.
Choose your Coaches in Training in consultation with your Coaching Group or State leaders. It is very important that they are chosen with care and sensitivity to the direction of the Holy Spirit. The following guidelines should help.
1. THE KEY IS POTENTIAL, NOT PERFECTION.
Very often, especially with their first group, a couple tends to seek Coaches in Training that possess skills and experience that they, as Coaches, feel they lack. The logic of this is that the Coaches in Training will be a good source of support and information. Remember, though, that YOU are the Coaches and will be developing THEM over the next three months or so. Asking the Holy Spirit to reveal which couple has the most potential for coaching and following His direction will often bring the blessing of a diamond in the rough. The Holy Spirit knows who will respond to direction and be melded into the Coaches that God has planned. The Lord is your support and source of information as you coach your group. It is your input to your Coaches in Training that will shape them as future 2=1 Australia coaches, not vice versa.
2. A HUMBLE SPIRIT IS REQUIRED.
A couple desiring to be 2=1 Australia Coaches must be humble before the Lord and know that He has more for them. The couple that has nothing to improve and is looking for some tools to help them with their ministry is not a couple that is going to be open and honest before each other and the group. The only way that we can grow and flourish in what the Lord has for us as a couple is for us to be honest with ourselves and with God that there are areas in our marriage that need His touch and His perfection. A couple who refuses to be open and honest concerning their relationship will only intimidate a group, not encourage the couples in their walk with Jesus. Let\’s be honest, nobody has nothing to improve in his or her marriage. No matter how much we grow and mature in the ways of the Lord, we always see that His goals are greater than ours and His ways are higher than ours. There is always room to stretch and grow.
3. A TEACHABLE SPIRIT IS A MUST.
Stubbornness, hard-headedness, and refusal to change have no place in 2=1 Australia. Coaches must be willing to implement in their lives those principles from the Word of God in their marriage. Your Coaches in Training must be willing to take correction and instruction from you with a willing heart. This does not always mean they will welcome it at first. The key, though, is that they will seek the Lord to see the merit of what you are saying. In Matthew 21:28-30 Jesus told the story of two sons who were asked to go into their father\’s vineyard. One of them said he would and didn\’t, the other said he wouldn\’t and did. It is much easier to work with a couple who may resist the will of God at first but then follows His direction when they know it\’s His will than a couple who tells you yes and then ignores what the Lord has instructed.
One of the first signs of an unteachable spirit is one who questions the vessel God has chosen for ministry. Scripture tells us to test the spirits [1 John 4:1], not the people. God will many times choose what we consider a very unlikely vessel to bring His Word and ministry. Many people have missed the blessing of God because they refused to accept the vessel that brought it. All too often people are looking on the outward appearance instead of testing the spirit behind the ministry. Many have accepted what was not God because the vessel was appealing while rejecting the true word of the Lord because they didn\’t like the person. A teachable spirit will receive freely from the Lord through whomever He chooses to send.
4. SOME DEGREE OF SPIRITUAL MATURITY IS NECESSARY.
It is a desire of 2=1 Australia that Coaches in Training be born-again and filled with the Spirit and be open to receive the gift of speaking in tongues. We recognise that there are many people who love the Lord with all their heart and do not speak in tongues. We are not saying that this requirement of leadership makes someone any more spiritual than another or indicates they are superior to others. It is desired that Coaches in Training have the gift of speaking in tongues because it is used weekly in intercession for couples in the group. It is also taught in several lessons and a couple that does not speak in tongues cannot teach the material from experience and conviction. Coaches are also to pray together as a couple daily in both their native language and in tongues.
Some degree of maturity in the Spirit-filled walk is also necessary. A couple that is newly saved and baptised in the Holy Spirit (either partner or both) will be learning to walk together in the Spirit and developing many aspects of their own spiritual walk. As Coaches you must discern whether your potential coaches in training will be able to cope with the responsibility of a group once the training is complete. Be directed by the Holy Spirit no matter what you see in the natural.
5. THEIR HEART MUST BE FOR GOD\’S BEST IN MARRIAGES.
Your Coaches in Training should have the God-given desire to see couples reach all that they can be in the Lord. They should understand that the work of the Spirit is individual in each couple and that they are not there to manipulate or force change in other\’s lives but to do spiritual warfare on their behalf, speak the Word into their lives, and encourage them to become all that God has planned for them. None of us are to set ourselves up as the example to be followed, but we are to constantly point others to Jesus and His perfection. If this is not their motivation, they will seek to fulfil their own desires and the will of God will be hindered concerning the couples in your group.
6. SEEK TO PLEASE THE LORD, NOT MAN.
The selection of Coaches in Training must be based on God\’s will for that particular group, not the desire of man. Sometimes other voices will attempt to sway coaches into choosing a particular couple over the others. This may be a pastor, a friend, or another couple. Sometimes couples will even recommend themselves. All recommendations should be taken to prayer and the decision should be based on the leading of the Lord. Do not feel pressured to please anyone else but Him. If you do not agree with the couple that has been recommended by your Leadership, meet with them to pray together concerning that couple. If God confirms His choice, be willing to receive them as a gift from Him and you will be blessed for your obedience.