If you have been following Verve Lead for even just a few weeks, you will know that I am a strong advocate for the work of mentors, coaches, and professional supervisors. Personally, having a mentor has brought me closer to God and my calling, and I believe that developing a relationship with a mentor is crucial for all ministry leaders. Given its positive impact, let us encourage everyone to participate in the process. There is, however, a hard truth: mentoring costs…

If you ask any marathon runner, they will tell you that running as hard as you can the entire race is impossible. There may be moments for sprinting and pushing yourself, but what is really important is finding a pace that you can maintain for miles at a time. There are times to slow down, drink water and find your breath. It’s about using your energy in a sustainable manner. This is also true for our professional lives; working hard constantly will only lead you to run out of steam before the race is over, compromising your goals, mental and emotional health, and making you much more susceptible to injury. A person who prioritises work over everything will likewise face risks over time; this can cause stress on relationships and negatively impact one’s physical, mental, and emotional health…

The word “boundaries” is being used more and more in current discussions of well-being, from licensed professionals to people wanting more control over their lives. It can feel like boundaries are just any reason to say no to something in order to avoid unpleasant feelings. However, truly healthy boundaries take more into account. It’s not all about saying no, but also about curating habits that support your needs, and prioritising them over distractions. Creating healthy boundaries means taking serious inventory of your values and reflecting on your personal and professional limits. The goal of boundaries for a mentor, supervisor or coach is to prevent harm coming to yourself and your clients…

In my last blog, we looked at how to better listen to the Holy Spirit. How we can make the time and space to sit with God and learn to hear His words. However, this is just the first step. After we can see and understand the Lord’s plans, we must then take action. What is the point of listening if we don’t use our new understanding to make transformation happen?

The life and work of a mentor, coach or professional supervisor, really any career in Christian leadership, comes with many different seasons. There will be beautiful warm springs full of hope and productivity, and long hot stretches of summer full of life and passion for the calling. However, there will also be chilly autumns full of uncertainty and doubts, as well as cold and harsh winters that may give in to depression, stress and burnout. Of course, the seasons of a Christian leader’s life rarely line up with the annual changes of weather, but the awareness of the good times following the bad, the difficult seasons following a happy and hopeful one, is an ongoing pattern. This is a truth that all leaders need to accept and anticipate…

It seems natural to contemplate what makes a seasoned Christian leader during this season. Easter Sunday was an excellent reminder that our leadership should always come from a humble imitation of Christ. Christ calls us to take our cross and follow him as His disciples. The seasoned Christian leader participates in understanding the wonders that God brings us and the comfort that we receive in Jesus’s ministry, in His grace, and by welcoming and including others into our community…

Being a mature disciple comes down to two primary commitments: the commitment to the Great Commandment – loving others and loving God and the Great Commission – spreading the good news of Jesus. Of course, these two commitments are linked because if you genuinely love others, you want them to experience the same blessings that you experience. If you are having a great meal, you want to share your food with them. If you read an excellent book, you want to pass that book onto them, and if you love Jesus, you want to introduce them to Him, too. However, if you try to follow the commission of spreading the news without loving the people you want to reach, you come across as arrogant, manipulative or judgmental. These two commitments should always be lived out together…

Last week, we introduced three foundational qualities needed to become a Christian mentor, professional supervisor, or coach: Mature Discipleship, Seasoned Christian Leadership and Healthy Well-being. Each is essential to the work, and in the coming weeks, we will look at the behavioural expressions of each of these qualities, beginning with Mature Discipleship and the expression Love God with Wholehearted Intentionality. This is a great place to start because a sincere love for God guides most Christian leaders to becoming a coach/mentor/supervisor in the first place. It is the cornerstone of why we do what we do…

As we continue exploring what it means to be a Mature Disciple, I want to chat today about the importance of curiosity. Curiosity is an often underrated quality in a leader because leaders often fall into the trap that they have a deeper understanding of the world, people, and God than those around them. Without curiosity, a leader can become arrogant, and their growth can be stifled…