Coronavirus Response

  • Home
  • A-Z List
  • About
    • About the NCC
    • Connectional Table
    • Staff
  • Calendar
    • Events
    • Google Calendar
    • Past Events
  • Churches
  • Contact
    • Find Us
  • Districts
    • District Office
    • Beacon
    • Capital
    • Corridor
    • Fairway
    • Gateway
    • Harbor
    • Heritage
    • Sound
  • Employment
  • Search

NC Conference

Healthy Congregations and Effective Leaders in Every Place Making Disciples of Jesus Christ for the Transformation of the World

  • Discipleship
    Developing Disciples
    • Christian Formation
      • Children
      • Church & Society
      • College
      • Differently Abled Persons
      • Educational Ministries
      • Older Adults
      • Status & Role of Women
      • Young Adults
      • Youth
    • Church Revitalization
      • Coaching
      • Disciple Making Way
      • Evangelism
      • Grants
      • MissionInsite
      • Real Discipleship Survey
      • Shift
      • Spiritual Life
    • From the Bishop
      • Bishop’s Bookshelf
      • Bishop’s Sermons
      • Church Transformation
      • Conflict Transformation
      • Connections
      • Discipleship & Learning Plan
    • Multicultural
      • Asian
      • Hispanic/Latino
      • Native American
      • Strengthening the Black Church
    • Stewardship
      • Apportionments
      • District Remittances
      • Financial Discipleship
      • Grants
      • Insurance
      • Mission & Service
      • Pension
      • Treasurer Training
  • Leadership
    Strengthening Leaders
    • Bishop’s Office
      • Appointment Book
      • Bishop’s Sermons
      • Church Transformation
      • Conflict Transformation
      • Connections
      • Discipleship & Learning Plan
    • Ministerial Relations
      • Board of Ordained Ministry
      • Called to Ministry?
      • Extension Ministries
    • Board of Laity
      • Certified Lay Minister
      • Lay Servant Ministries
      • United Methodist Men
      • United Methodist Women
      • United Methodist Youth
    • New Faith Comm.
      • Called to Plant?
      • New Room Society
      • Our Communities
    • Conference Offices
      • Center for Leadership Excellence
      • Christian Formation
      • Communications
      • Conference Secretary
      • Connectional Ministries
      • Information Technology
      • Multicultural Ministries
      • Outreach Ministry
      • Treasurer’s Office
  • Service
    Ministering To The World
    • Local Outreach
      • Church Construction
      • Church Loans
      • Restorative Justice and Mercy
      • Disciple Bible Outreach
      • NCC UMVIM
      • Seed Funds
      • Mission Projects
        • Health Ministry
    • Global Outreach
      • Imagine No Malaria
      • Love for Liberia
      • Missionaries
      • Project AGAPE
      • Sierra Leone: Mission of Hope
      • ZOE
    • Disaster Ministries
      • Donate to Storm Response
      • Hurricane Florence
      • MERCI
      • Response Plan
      • Response Team
      • UMCOR Kits
    • Giving
      • Advance/Rainbow Covenant
      • Apportionments
      • Give to Storm Response
      • Mission & Service
      • The Gary Wayne Locklear Mission Endowment
      • New Room Society
      • Special Sundays
    • Ministry Partners
      • Camps & Retreats
      • Partners In Ministry
      • Robeson Co. Church & CC
      • UMF
  • Resources
    Supporting Ministry
    • Conferences
      • Annual Conference 2019
      • Annual Conference 2020
      • Charge Conference 2020
      • General Conference
      • Pilgrimage
      • SEJ Conference 2016
    • Media Center
      • Catalog
      • Labyrinth
      • Ministry Tools
      • Online Resources
      • Weekly Newsletter
    • Online Resources
      • Archives & History
      • Church Lookup
      • Online Data Collection
      • Online Learning
      • Pastor Lookup
      • Podcasts (NCCUMC.FM)
      • Ramus: Web Hosting
      • Video (Vimeo)
    • Publications
      • Advent 2020
      • Appointment Book
      • Bible Study
      • Conference Directory
      • Conference Journal
      • Every Day Grace
      • Lenten Reflections
      • Mission & Service
    • From UMC.org
      • Agencies
      • Communications
      • Discipleship
      • Finance & Administration
      • Global Ministries
      • Graphics Library
      • Relief
      • Status & Role of Women
  • Bishop’s Office
  • About Bishop Ward
    • Biography
    • Bookshelf
    • Calendar
  • Appointment Book
  • Events
    • 2020 Asia Mission Initiative Summit /Vietnam Consultation
  • Reports & Rulings
    • Episcopal Rulings
  • Sermons
  • More
    • Conflict Transformation
    • Discipleship Plan
    • Emmaus
    • Lenten Reflections

Connections: Conversation with Beth Hood

September 22, 2020 Leave a Comment

Bishop Ward and Beth Hood talk about the importance of asking questions as we strive to live like Jesus and cultivate a culture of coaching.

Bishop Ward:
Grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus Christ.

It’s a joy to share ministry with Beth Hood, Assistant to the Bishop and Director of Ministerial Services. Among the many gifts that Beth brings is a deep understanding and engagement in coaching. As we in the North Carolina Conference continue to support and strengthen effective leadership, Beth, can you tell us a bit about how coaching became a part of your vision for supporting clergy and laity as they lead? 

Beth Hood:
Thank you Bishop. I’m excited about our shared ministry here in the North Carolina Conference and the opportunity to join you in building a coaching culture. I came to be familiar with coaching as I served as superintendent in the former Greenville district. There was a group of clergy and laity who committed themselves to gathering in an incubator form. We gathered once a month for about two years, discerning God’s call for us collectively. In that context, I came to be familiar and to greatly appreciate Christian coaching.

Coaching is a term we often associate with athletics or we sometimes confuse it with mentoring or consulting. But Christian coaching uniquely involves asking thought-provoking questions to help people discern God’s will and ways because the truth is, sort of our default mechanism, is to be about problem-solving. And in that mindset, we’re often trapped in stress and often limited in seeing possibilities. But I’ve noticed that Jesus asked a lot more questions than he answers. According to one scholar, Jesus asked over 300 questions and he only answers three out of about 183 that’s asked of him. So asking questions was central to Jesus’s life and teachings. It opened up conversations and encouraged people to grow and stretch in their own understanding of God. Like Jesus, we in the North Carolina Conference are asking each other important questions, curious theological questions that survey the scriptures and our souls. These questions are cultivating a coaching culture especially among fellows in the Center for Leadership Excellence Fellows Program, our residents in the Residency and Ordained Ministry process as well as the Office of Connectional Ministries working with congregations in discerning possibilities for their future. The list goes on, thriving Rural Fellows, New Church Planters, Clergy in Seasons of Transition. We’re utilizing coaches and thinking partners in order to walk through significant seasons of ministry. So curiosity is a characteristic of resilient leaders and I think that together, we can expect to hear more questions being asked the North Carolina Conference as we strive to live like Jesus and cultivate a culture of coaching. 

Bishop Ward:  
Thank you Beth and in your description of coaching of what a coaching culture will be like as it continues to develop in our Annual Conference as we ask good questions and as we open up space with one another to hear God’s beckoning, to hear from one another the support that we need to lead, love, and continue learning well. Beth again, welcome, and thank you for your leadership. 

Beth Hood:
Thank you, Bishop Hope.

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn

Filed Under: Connections

connections

connections: There Can Be Change

connections: Generosity

Christmas Blessings

connections: Draw Near to the Light

connections: God’s Complete Gift

connections: The Call to Social Holiness

connections: Voices in the Wilderness

connections: Advent Season

connections: Celebrating Justice for Our Neighbors

connections: Pilgrimage 2020

NC Conference of The United Methodist Church · 700 Waterfield Ridge Place · Garner, NC 27529
Phone: 919.779.6115 · Toll-free: 800.849.4433 · Fax: 919.773.2308

Copyright © 2021 · Privacy Policy · Powered by WordPress · Site Admin

  • Español
  • 한국어