What Is Salt & Light Christian Coaching?

By: Mike Stack, Director Salt & Light CLI

To set the tone and establish what sets Salt & Light Christian Coaching apart from both secular coaching and therapy, we must first identify what it is not.

It is critically important to state that Salt & Light Christian coaching is not therapy and is not qualified to diagnose or treat trauma or medically recognized mental illnesses. In fact, a Christian coach has both a moral and professional obligation to refer a client who presents symptoms of mental illness to a qualified mental health practitioner. Can Christian coaching serve as a companion to mental health treatment? Absolutely. However, its role must be clearly defined and carefully distinguished. A Christian coach cannot treat mental illness and would be operating outside the proper bounds of coaching by attempting to do so.

What, then, separates Christian coaching from secular coaching? The distinction is clear.

Secular coaching generally focuses on helping clients live their best lives, accomplish personal goals, and achieve success as they define it. Coaches partner with clients to pursue objectives based on the client’s desires and aspirations. Those goals may certainly be honorable or even Christian in nature, but the methodology typically emphasizes the client’s strengths, abilities, and potential rather than his or her identity in Christ.

Is it possible for secular coaching or therapy to help someone draw nearer to God? Yes. However, if that occurs, it is usually an unintended result rather than the stated purpose. Success is commonly measured by worldly standards—career advancement, financial gain, athletic achievement, improved performance, or personal fulfillment. While those accomplishments are not inherently wrong, they can easily become centered on self, encouraging pride, self-esteem, and personal satisfaction rather than submission to Christ. Christian coaching begins with an entirely different objective.

The purpose of Christian coaching is to help the client grow in his or her relationship with God, pursue Christlike character, and become both a faithful disciple and a disciple-maker. Success is not ultimately measured by worldly achievement but by increasing obedience to Christ, spiritual maturity, and faithfulness to His calling.

King David provides an excellent example of this truth. Few men experienced greater worldly success than David, yet few also experienced such devastating failures. When David’s heart was fixed on the Lord, he recognized the true source of every blessing.

“Therefore David blessed the Lord in the presence of all the assembly. And David said: ‘Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.’” 1 Chronicles 29:10–13 (ESV)

David understood that every success, every victory, and every blessing came from the Lord. Although he possessed wealth, power, and military success, his life was also marked by sin, heartbreak, and great trials. When David drifted from God, his desires increasingly turned toward the things of the world. When he drew near to God, he found strength, wisdom, and peace regardless of his circumstances.

This pattern is evident throughout the Psalms. David often begins in despair, fear, or discouragement, but somewhere in the middle he remembers who God is. His perspective changes, and by the end he is praising the Lord because God has not changed, even if his circumstances have not. This distinction also requires discernment.

Then in 2 Peter 2:1-3 ESV we are warned that false teachers would arise within the church:

“But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.”  

The warning is ominous because false teaching exists, and just as it can enter the church, it can also find its way into Christian coaching. Many practitioners simply apply secular coaching techniques with a coat of Christian language or ideals. Depending on the coach, this can be deceptive and may lead the client down an unintended path.

For that reason, it is important for the coach to clearly explain the methodology they will be using. It is equally important for the client to ask questions and understand exactly what they are receiving. If a coach presents their services as Christian but in reality delivers a secular methodology, they are acting unwisely and will ultimately be accountable to God for how they represented themselves and the counsel they provided.

Here at Salt & Light, our coaching is founded on biblical principles and firmly rooted in the Word of God. Our ultimate goal is to help our clients become stronger, more faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. We seek to equip them to impact their homes, churches, communities, and workplaces for the sake of the Gospel.

Our measure of success is not worldly achievement, but whether our clients are growing in obedience, engaging in intentional discipleship, embracing biblical accountability, and pursuing the Lord in every aspect of their lives.