How to Become a Certified & Profitable Christian Life Coach

Want to know how to become a Christian life coach? 

Maybe you want to do something truly fulfilling, while creating a life of freedom and flexibility for yourself. And get results like this:  

Sound like you? 

I’ve helped thousands of people start their coaching businesses, and today, I share the exact steps that’ll help you start a successful Christian coaching business. 

Want to learn more? Then let’s dive in.

Quick overview:

• 👉 If you start your own business, you could earn 6+ figures as a coach
• 👉 You don’t need a certification to be successful
• 👉 Niching down will help you grow faster

What is a Christian life coach?

As the name suggests, a Christian life coach is a life coach who coaches people with a Christian focus. 

For example, say you wanted to help women build successful businesses. 

As a Christian life coach, you could help them by basing your guidance on things like Biblical wisdom, prayer, and trust in God.

That’s what Alexandra Kaval does. She’s a Christian life and business coach who helps women achieve their dreams:

Wondering if you could be a Christian life coach too? You’re about to find out…

Can you be a Christian life coach? 

Technically, anyone can be a Christian life coach. 

You don’t have to jump through any certification hoops to call yourself a coach and start making an impact in people’s lives. ( I’ll talk more about that later).

So what DO you need to be an effective coach? 

It’s simple: You need to be someone who can offer a transformation. 

As a Christian life coach, you’ll help your clients achieve their goals, whatever they may be. 

To accomplish that, it helps to have proven experience. 

For example, if you have a unique story of how you met your Christian spouse, you could coach people who also want to achieve that. 

Put simply: Use your story to your advantage.

7 steps to become a Christian life coach 

Now you know more about the role, let’s look at the exact steps to becoming a Christian life coach.

1. Pick a niche

Think about it: If you were looking for a coach to help you accomplish X, would you want to work with a specialist or someone who helps everyone?

My guess? You’d go with the specialist.

And you’ll want to consider this when you’re coaching people yourself. 

By niching down, you narrow your target audience and attract people who need your specific expertise.

Now, Christian life coaching may sound like a niche in itself, but you could go even deeper!

Consider combining your Christian teachings with: 

• Relationship coaching
• Career coaching
• Grief coaching
• And much more 

I talk more about finding your niche in this video:

2. Get a certification (if you want to)

Certifications are usually optional as a Christian life coach, especially if you work for yourself. 

That’s because results are what your clients are really after. 

Take my student Emily, for example. 

She used her experience as a Fortune 500 recruiter to start a career coaching business.

Ultimately, Emily can get her clients the results they want because of her experience.

So, your experience matters far more than a certification.

And while you’re gaining that firsthand experience, focus on your client’s needs and get really good at solving them. 

I did that myself.

Instead of getting certified, I used my work experience in digital advertising to start coaching people who needed help. 

And within four months of coaching on the side, I had hit six figures.

With that said…

If you still want to get certified, make sure it comes from a respected accreditation body, like ICF. (I’ll cover a few options in a minute).

3. Launch your business

Now, you’ll need to decide what kind of business you should start. 

You have two main options: A sole proprietorship or an LLC. 

Sole proprietorships are simple to set up and don’t involve much paperwork. The downside? You aren’t protected financially if your business fails.

On the other hand, LLCs involve more paperwork and costs, but you aren’t personally liable if you lose your business.

Another thing to consider is building a business website. 

But here’s my take: Early on, you don’t need one. Instead, send people to your LinkedIn page. 

I didn’t have a website until I had hit $20k in sales. 

And even then, it looked like this:

So, websites are nice, but they’re not essential in the beginning. 

Next, let’s start getting you some clients.

4. Land your first clients

What’s the most efficient way to get clients as a new coach? 

First off, ask your network.

Now, look…

You might think you’ll appear needy if you ask people you know. But consider this: You have valuable skills that people are willing to pay for.

So, just explain what you do, and tell your network that you’re offering free help to reach X goal.

Don’t be pushy or salesy. Be genuine, and make it about them. If you do that, people will want to work with you. 

You can also find clients in online communities, like LinkedIn or Facebook groups. 

However, I do recommend that new Christian life coaches reach out to potential clients directly. 

Because yes, you CAN post content on social media and have people find you that way. I’ve done it myself:

But… that strategy takes time. 

If you want a quicker solution, go where your dream clients hang out. 

For example, as a Christian life coach, search for the most relevant Christian groups to join. Then, engage in the community. 

Pay attention to what questions keep coming up, and build a reputation as someone who has solutions to people’s problems. 

You can then offer a free session to show people what you can do for them – no strings attached. 

That’ll make you memorable.

How do I know? Because that’s what happened to me (and I’ll talk about the details in a bit). 

For more on finding your first clients, check out this video:

5. Create an offer

It’s now time to create your offer.

Sound overwhelming?

I’ll simplify it for you…

You have three options: 

• ✅Hourly
• ✅Retainer
• ✅Package 

With hourly pricing, you get paid for every hour you work. The downside? If you want to scale your business, hourly pricing isn’t your best bet.

Another option is offering a retainer, where you get paid a set amount every month. The issue there? It can be tough to set boundaries. 

And let’s be real here…

I’m guessing you don’t dream of answering client questions at 3 a.m. on a Saturday.

So that leads us to your third option: A package rate. 

💡 Pro tip: Early on, I recommend charging $1,500 for three months of coaching. 

Why am I such a fan of this option? Because with a package, you can sell your clients on the end goal you’re going to help them reach.

Remember, that’s what they want.

Ultimately, they don’t care how much you work or what your offer includes as long as it helps them reach their goal.

Which means? Packages benefit you and your clients.

👋 High five to that! 👋

6. Give free coaching calls

When I was just getting my coaching business started, I joined Facebook groups in my niche and helped people for free.

Why? Because I didn’t have a reputation yet. 

Sure, I’ve since been featured in major media outlets like Business Insider, which has helped build my credibility:

And I’ve even spoken at a Gary V Live event:

But early on? No one knew me, so proving my skills by working for free made sense. 

That’s how I got my first paying client. And it wasn’t a $200 gig, either – I told her my rate was $5,000, and she immediately agreed:

So, bottom line: When you’re starting out, working for free can help you build your reputation. 

7. Market your Christian life coaching business

Finally, to maximize your results, find a marketing strategy that works for YOU and stick to it until you get traction. 

For example, you could choose email marketing, SEO, and webinars. 

If you’re more advanced, you could go with ads:

I’ve used all of these options at one time or another, so I know they work. 

Just don’t do them all at once!

So there you go, those were the steps to becoming a Christian life coach. Let’s now look at some possible certification programs. 

5 best Christian life coach certification programs

As I mentioned earlier, a certification isn’t necessary to become a Christian life coach.

However, you may still want to consider one, as they can benefit you.

So, here are the top Christian life coach certification programs to explore… 

(Quick disclaimer: I haven’t taken these programs myself, but they have a good reputation.) 

Program	Organization	Accreditation	Duration	Price
Christian Life Coach Certification Course	Life Coach Training Institute	ICOES	6 weeks	$495
Christian Life Coach Training Program	Christian Coach Institute	ICF	16 weeks	$5,200
Professional Christian Life Coaching Certification	Light University	None	Self-paced	$634
CCC Certification Path	Center for Christian Coaching	ICF	6 months	$3,795
Certified Christian Life Coach Program	National Association of Christian Counselors	NACC	Self-paced	$700

Christian Life Coach Certification Course

Life Coach Training Institute 

The Christian Life Coach Certification course includes live online sessions where you can practice role-playing and apply your skills to real-world scenarios. 

The goal? To give you the skills you need to help your future clients make progress in their lives through spiritual growth. 

Cost: $495

Course length: 6 weeks

Accreditation: ICOES

Christian Life Coach Training Program

Christian Coach Institute

Want to invest in an in-depth certification program? 

The Christian Coach Institute offers a 16-week program with mentor coaching, small class sizes, coaching labs, and more. There’s even an alumni group on social media for continual support after the program ends.

Cost: $5,200

Course length: 16 weeks

Accreditation: ICF

Professional Christian Life Coaching Certification

Light University 

If you like the idea of getting a specialized certification, Light University offers three options: 

• ✅Crisis Pregnancy coaching
• ✅Life Recovery coaching
• ✅Marriage & Family coaching

One possible downside? This training isn’t accredited. BUT if you’re doing it for the learning experience, it could be worth it. 

Cost: $634

Course length: Self-paced

Accreditation: None

CCC Certification Path

Center for Christian Coaching 

Want to become a great Christian coach AND learn how to build a business? The Center for Christian Coaching offers a comprehensive program that will guide you through both. 

Here, you won’t just learn coaching skills – you’ll also get business support to help you succeed long-term.

Cost: $3,795

Course length: 6 months

Accreditation: ICF

Certified Christian Life Coach Program

National Association of Christian Counselors 

The National Association of Christian Counselors program strongly focuses on becoming an effective Christian coach. 

Here, they cover topics like leadership, building a good coaching relationship, and using SMART goals to help your clients succeed.

Cost: $700

Course length: Self-paced

Accreditation: NACC

How much can you earn as a Christian life coach? 

You now know all about how to become a Christian life coach, but one thing we haven’t tackled? Your earnings.

As with any career, your earning potential as a Christian life coach could vary based on things like your offer and where you live. 

According to ZipRecruiter, the average salary for a Christian life coach is $41,764.

But that’s for employees. 

As a business owner, you could make significantly more than that because you set your own rates. 

And the thing is, starting your own business isn’t just a question of making more money… 

It also makes you feel more fulfilled and gives you the freedom to decide when you work and who you work with. 

What’s next? 

Now you know how to become a Christian life coach, you can start the journey to leaving your boring 9-5 and having a bigger impact.

Since you’ve read to the end, I’m guessing you’re ready to hit the ground running.

Yay, you! 🥳

As a former engineer, I’ve created an incredibly methodical course to help you skip the trial-and-error and get your freedom business off the ground a lot faster.

Find out more about Employee to Entrepreneur in my FREE PDF.

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