by CHRISTEL OWOO—CHRISTIAN LIFE-COACH

In 2021, I felt the urge to enroll in a ministry-related course and thought it would be a post-masters’ theology course or some ministry-related theology courses. I thought I needed an academic background to back my involvement in the ladies’ ministry in my church.

Despite signing up with some schools, I never felt the final push to actually start studying. So, I scrolled the net a bit more and came across life-coaching—the more I read about it, the more excited I became. It was a new world opening for me, finally finding the ‘title’ for what I have been doing in normal life (at home, at work, at church) since I became born again over 25 years ago. I love encouraging women—especially the ones who look down on themselves—and reminding them of their strength and identity in Christ.

I realized that to call yourself a coach, you don’t need to undergo formal training. However, I believe when you do something for God, it must be the best. So, I wanted to be a trained coach. After checking several schools, I said to myself, “If I am going to do God’s work, I need to be trained as a Christian life coach.” That would enable me to lead clients to live in their God-given purpose.

I selected the US-based PCCI (Professional Christian Coaching Institute), a big organization with many teachers, coaches, and courses. A bit expensive, but I never regretted choosing them. Their programs are virtual, which was ideal for me as I work from home, am a mom, and don’t live in the US.

I followed several courses. What I did not know is that I would completely change from the inside out! I was not just attending theoretical classes. The first course especially changed who I am and how I interact with the people around me.

What stood out most for me during the initial orientation class has become my motto for my life coaching: drawing out what God already placed in my clients. As a coach, I don’t tell people what to do. I believe that whatever my clients need, God already put in them. The only thing I need to do is help them recognize it, draw it out, and live according to it. I provide them with the structure to identify what they really want, to gain awareness of struggles and roadblocks, and to take the necessary action steps.

Coaching is bringing people from where they are now to where they want to be. Christian coaching is guiding people from where they are now to where God wants them to be. This is so powerful! To see the positive changes in people’s lives when they embrace who God wants them to be. It amazes me to see how much God can do during a coaching call.

I can’t say the road to becoming a life-coach was easy. I needed to exercise the “coaching-muscle,” but above all, I had to lay down my pride. I did not just want to be a coach, I wanted to be a good coach. This was a hard-learned lesson.

I received the breakthrough during a coaching demo I had to do in class (real coaching with the teachers and other students observing and debriefing!). I was so nervous! Doing it well was my goal, and I was eager to hear that I’d done a great job. To calm my nerves, I prayed before class. But instead of asking for my coaching skills, I asked for God’s will to be done—for God to work out in my client’s life what He wanted to do. My nerves calmed down, and the coaching session went very well (while during my peer group sessions, it completely frustrated me and I cried several times). Focusing on what God wants to do in the person has become my vision since then.

If you are passionate about leading others into God’s will, like me, open yourself up to God and see what He can do through you. It is awesome to walk alongside people and see them transform into positive people, reaching where God wants them to be. 

If you are inspired—or if you always wanted to become a coach—I pray you will find God’s way for your life and step out in your God-given destiny and purpose. I recommend you take professional Christian training so you can provide better help to your clients. As a bonus, you will most likely transform yourself during the course. At PCCI, they train people to become masterful coaches. Masterful in the technical sense, but moreover in a spiritual sense: full of the Master, with the full presence of the Holy Spirit during each session and in the coach. I always remind myself that my coaching is only successful if it is full of the Master.

Now, I have the privilege to come alongside my clients and help them believe in themselves and do the things they thought they wouldn’t be able to accomplish.

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About Christel Owoo

Christel is a professionally trained Christian confidence coach, mentor, women’s ministry leader, author, wife, and mom. Her passion is to help women to become the woman God wants them to be, confident, no matter what life throws at them. She guides them toward addressing any limiting beliefs and mental blocks that hold them back. In other words, she helps them discover the true potential that God has already deposited in them.

She invites you to kindly use the following URL to link to her website: https://www.christelowoo.com/christian-confidence-coaching-for-women/