Trends in Coaching: Emerging Frontiers

We have reflected on how learning and research from adjacent fields of study have impacted the core theory and methodology of coaching and the growing awareness of inclusivity and relationships in the application of coaching.

Now we turn to what I will term the emerging frontiers of coaching. These topics are growing areas of interest among practitioners—the impact of artificial intelligence, the recognition that neurodiversity requires focused attention, and the role of faith-based or spiritual coaching.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Coaching

It’s here and it is not going away. The role of AI in coaching is both energizing and controversial. It means different things to different people. Using AI in one’s practice may range from assigning administrative tasks to a virtual assistant to using a programmed avatar to do intake interviews.

The integration of AI technologies (such as conversational bots, automated progress tracking, and data analytics) is now part of the coaching landscape.

AI can be used to enhance administrative efficiency, offer personalized client insights between sessions, and expand access to basic coaching tools while, hopefully, highlighting the irreplaceable value of human presence and empathy.

How does it impact coaching?

Coaches can leverage technological tools to responsibly integrate AI into their practice for administrative efficiency, session summaries, and client accountability between sessions. The key challenge is to maintain professional ethics and humanity. The coach must navigate the ethical considerations of data privacy, client confidentiality, and the distinct boundaries between AI utility and human coaching presence.

Neurodiversity-Affirming Coaching

We have learned that individuals process information in different ways. Since this is true, coaches can adapt to communicate effectively with those clients. Neurodiversity-Affirming Coaching is an approach designed to support clients with diverse neurological profiles (e.g., ADHD, Autism, Dyslexia, Executive Dysfunction) by shifting away from "fixing" how their brains work and instead customizing tools around their natural cognitive styles.

How does it impact coaching?

Coaches can learn to adapt executive function strategies, tailoring methodologies for time management, working memory, and focus that honor neurodivergent brains. They can also deconstruct masking and internalized stigma that holds neurodiverse clients back by helping
clients build sustainable habits aligned with their unique strengths rather than forcing neurotypical productivity models that don’t fit.

Faith-based or spiritual coaching

Faith-based or spiritual coaching sits at the intersection of Core Theoretical Approaches (as an overarching framework for human belief systems) and Inclusivity/Relational Contexts (as a key aspect of client identity and worldviews).

A study by the International Coaching Federation Thought Leadership Institute points out that it is typical for individuals to ask existential questions, often focusing on the big questions of human life like purpose, freedom, and meaning. Religion and spirituality enrich the human experience through meaning-making and help people find their place in the word. If we coach the whole person attending to this aspect of humanity can benefit the client in many ways.

Within a modern coach education framework, faith-based or spiritual coaching fits into three distinct structural roles:

As a Specialized Niche Domain.

Unlike generalized performance or life coaching, faith-based or spiritual coaching treats a client's relationship with the Divine, sacred texts, ultimate purpose, or spiritual disciplines as the primary lens for decision-making and personal growth, helping clients explore calling, existential meaning, discernment, values alignment, and spiritual growth. Rather than acting as a pastor or spiritual director who imparts wisdom, a spiritual coach uses powerful questioning to evoke the client's internal wisdom and personal beliefs.

As an Aspect of Client Identity (DEIB & Cultural Humility)

In broad, non-denominational, or ICF-aligned coaching contexts, spirituality and faith are categorized as core components of a client's cultural identity and worldview. Coaches can learn to hold space for a client's spiritual background—whether Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, secular humanist, or broadly spiritual—without projecting their own personal theology or biases onto the client.

As a Grounding Framework for Ethics & Boundaries

Integrating faith into coaching requires rigorous ethical clarity to keep the coaching approach distinct from other modalities like ministry, pastoral counseling, or therapy. Some areas to consider for coach development:

Help coaches to distinguish clearly between faith-based coaching (client-centered self-discovery and goal setting) and spiritual direction, pastoring, or preaching (advice-giving, doctrinal instruction, or spiritual oversight. We honor each as meaningful and distinct form of personal development.
Equip coaches to establish clear agreements regarding if, when, and how spiritual elements (e.g., prayer, sacred texts, or spiritual practices) are invited into sessions, ensuring all integration is strictly client-led.
Teach coaches how to ask powerful questions that help clients align their daily actions, leadership styles, and life goals with their deeply held faith or existential commitments.

There are many other areas where coaches, educators, and researchers have and will enter as the profession develops, matures, and adapts to the needs of clients and the contexts in which they seek to thrive.

(Researched with Google Gemini)

The Tragedy of Willow Creek Community Church

File photo of Steve Carter, Heather Larson, and Bill Hybels As Christian brothers and sisters, we need to pray for Willow Creek Community Church. On the eve of the Global Leadership Summit, a worldwide conference sponsored by the church in cooperation with the Willow Creek Association, church leadership imploded as a result of further allegations against former pastor Bill Hybels. Last year, Hybels introduced the team who would assume church leadership upon his retirement--lead pastor Heather Larson and teaching pastor Steve Carter. Although the founding pastor planned to stay on to assist in a time of transition, reports of sexual impropriety involving Hybels surfaced early this year. He accelerated his departure from the church and left the board of the Willow Creek Association. When other charges emerged last week, teaching pastor Carter resigned. On Wednesday evening, Larson and the entire elder board--lay leaders who provide accountability ...

Confessions of a Recovering Southern Baptist

I am grateful for my heritage as a Southern Baptist. I was exposed to the Bible and worship from a very young age. I grew up in a church in south Alabama that supported the Cooperative Program of missions giving. This meant that our church had the benefit of being part of a supportive group of local churches and the educational opportunities that afforded. Our state convention provided varied and effective ministries with groups like orphans, ethnic groups, and college students. We supported missionaries at home and abroad. We had good Bible study and training literature (which we paid for, of course). I went to an accredited seminary and paid a remarkably low tuition. Wherever you went on a Sunday morning (in the Southeast and Southwest, at least), you could find a church that sang the familiar hymns and studied the same Bible lesson. In hindsight, I realize that this Southern Baptist utopia was imperfect. There were significant...

Metaphors of the Kingdom of God

In a recent blog , consultant Seth Godin addresses the power of metaphor. He points out, “The best way to learn a complex idea is to find it living inside something else you already understand.” In other words, “this” is like “that.” “When you see a story, an example, a wonderment,” says Godin, “take a moment to look for the metaphor inside.” Jesus turned this around. In the use of parables, he told a story or provided a metaphor and challenged his hearers to see the truth within. For example, in his teaching on the Kingdom (or Reign) of God in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus compares the Kingdom to such things as a mustard seed, yeast, a hidden treasure, a net, a king, and a landowner. His hearers are encouraged to use their imaginations to understand something that they had never experienced. He also attempted to shift their perspective so that they might see signs of the Kingdom breaking into their present reality. These are metapho...

The Bible Tells Me So

As I read the story of the Good Samaritan during my devotional today, I was reminded of the times that I have heard the story in the Christian education setting of the local church--as a youngster in primary and intermediate classes (old terminology), as a young adult in college classes, and then as an adult, often teaching the passage myself. The characters and story line are very familiar due to these experiences of Christian education. These are challenging times for Christian education in the church. Like so much of what is happening in the church today, the old forms do not seem to support present needs. What once worked no longer seems to be effective. Christian education or the formation of believers is in a state of flux. In an article on ethicsdaily.com , retired professor Colin Harris addresses this issue. He points out that the period of the 60’s and 70’s “saw the beginnings of a loss of vitality within the educa...

A Future for the Global Leadership Summit?

Craig Groeschel, the founder and senior pastor of Life.Church. The Global Leadership Summit which began as a project of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, and its founding pastor, Bill Hybels, over 25 years ago was held this week without Hybels. For several years, the GLS has been now produced by the Willow Creek Association, a spin-off organization and a loose network of churches but Hybels has been its driving force. Attended by thousands at the church facility in South Barrington and broadcast to thousands more at satellite locations, the annual meeting brings together not only evangelical leaders but outstanding speakers from business, charitable organizations, politics, and business. For the first time, Hybels did not appear due to allegations of sexual impropriety brought against him over the past year by former employees, staff members, and business associates. He has already left the church and resigned from the board of t...

Barnabas File

Search This Blog