Frequently Asked Questions
General Questions
Encounter Coaching has three key features that distinguish it from other coaching approaches:
It coaches a different brain.
- Encounter Coaching works with the emotional brain, which is the gateway to the heart, to bring change to a person’s inner world of core beliefs, emotional memories and desires, as opposed to their outer world of behavior and circumstances.
It uses a different change methodology.
- Encounter Coaching uses live encounters with Jesus as a core part of the coaching methodology. Jesus speaks life to the heart, which flows outward to create behavioral change. It puts Jesus at the center of the coaching conversation.
It aims for a different outcome.
- The goal of Encounter Coaching is heart transformation. We believe Jesus’ way of change is from the inside out, not the outside in. Behavioral change then becomes a byproduct of heart change, not the primary goal.
Encounter Coaching is designed for mature followers of Jesus who desire to grow in their relational influence. We have participants from a variety of vocations including ministry leaders, business leaders, church volunteers, counselors & therapists, professional life coaches, teachers, cross-cultural workers, parents & grandparents etc. It’s a perfect fit for those wanting a powerful set of tools for generating heart transformation with those they influence or lead.
- You’ll start with Coaching Fundamentals such as intuitive listening, asking powerful questions, goal-setting and action planning.
- Then you’ll dive into the realm of the heart, learning how to quickly and effectively follow emotional brain cues to core issues.
- The MetaFormation Heart Model© shows how beliefs, emotional memories and desires form and guide you, and how different experiences change the heart. You’ll get plenty of practice facilitating encounters where Jesus shows up at a deep heart level and speaks directly to those you coach.
- Module 1 introduces you to the fundamental tools and values of the coaching method. It also covers how the heart functions and how to access it.
- Module 2 focuses on reframing circumstances in light of God’s purposes, rewriting life stories from heaven’s perspective, and bringing experiential encounters into your coaching conversations.
- Both modules include live group sessions where you practice coaching and receive feedback from our certified coach trainers.
- If you’re unsure about committing to Module 1, we encourage you to speak to one of our enrollment coaches to get any of your concerns addressed early. You can also take Intro to Encounter Coaching to get a taste for our training before committing to Module 1 (your investment in the Intro course can be applied to the investment in Module 1 as well).
Yes! Most coaching approaches use a secular methodology that tends to focus on the rational brain. MetaFormation’s training focuses on the emotional brain, and utilizes tools that bring Jesus into the coaching conversation. Therefore, our training is the perfect complement to most any coach training you’ve received. By going through Modules 1 & 2 you can earn your Encounter Coaching Certification.
Although the approach we use is overtly Christian— meeting Jesus in heart desires—we’ve found many people believe in God. They just don’t like religion. So if you invite them to ask God a question and see what He says (instead of telling them what you think God is saying to them), you’ll almost always get a positive response—and often an incredible breakthrough!
The term “Life Coach” is often used as a general term for coaches, with the word “life” distinguishing it from sports coaching. So yes, it is a life coach certification program with some distinct differences from most life coach programs.
By the way… we find that many of our certified encounter coaches are not necessarily pursuing a professional life coach path. They use these powerful heart transformational tools in the context of a wide variety of vocations.
Founder Tony Stoltzfus has been in the coaching arena since 1999, and has launched three professional coaching schools, coached and trained thousands of coaches, plus authored 20 books on coaching (with over 300,000 books sold!), including Amazon.com’s best-selling Coaching Questions.
Our coach trainers are hand-picked Encounter Coaches who have logged in hundreds of encounter coaching hours, ascribe to our core values and have completed (or are in the process of completing) our year-long Trainer Certification Program. Those coach trainers that are in-progress with their certification are paired up with our senior Coach Trainers.
MetaFormation attempts to “major in the majors” when it comes to working with our Christian brothers and sisters, so we align with the historical Christian creeds like the Apostles’ creed:
I believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; he descended into hell; on the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty; from there he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting.
Key Understandings
We believe different persons, church bodies and organizations each highlight different facets of God’s truth. Here are some that we uniquely emphasize:
The Heart
The ultimate source of behavior is the heart: “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Mt. 12:34). Biblically, our ‘heart’ is everything that goes on inside us: thoughts, feelings, desires, decisions, etc. We believe that God’s ultimate agenda is the reunification of our hearts with his (Eph. 1:10); and that our hearts are more important to him than what we do for him (Mt. 11:28-30; II Cor 12:14-15). Therefore, we believe the most important part of the person to coach is the heart, not the behavior.
Desire Fulfilled
We believe according to James 4:1-4 that desires are designed to be filled in relationship with God—that true desires are ours from him for the asking. We believe that one of the fundamentals of Christian maturity is the cross: the lifelong process of detaching our hearts from things and outcomes in this world (twisted desires) and attaching them to Jesus (Mt. 16:24-25). We further believe that fulfilled desire is often the key to change from the inside out (Jn. 7:37-38), and that without it is impossible to live the Christian life (Jn. 4:14).
God Speaks Today
We believe that God still speaks to us today, through rhema (the personal, experiential Word). In fact, “faith comes by hearing, and hearing the word (rhema) of God (Rm. 10:17).” We test every rhema against the logos (the Bible; the revealed, rational word) to make sure that the word we experience aligns with the words of Jesus recorded in scripture. What Jesus believes about us is that his sheep hear his voice (Jn. 10:27), so we choose to agree with him that we do hear, both experientially (rhema) and through scripture (logos). The experience of hearing Jesus speak personally to us is the primary way we find our desires fulfilled in relationship with God (James 4:2), and our key tool for transforming the emotional brain and heart.
Change is a Process
A Flatlander is a Christian who sees life as a series of right and wrong choices he or she must get right. When we elevate works over the heart, we always end up living in fear in Flatland (Rm. 3:20). We believe the Christian life is better described as a process of growth (Eph 4:15) than a test of whether we are doing things right. God arranges people and circumstances to draw us to himself—without God initiating a change process in this way it is impossible for us to make right choices (Phil. 2:13). When Jesus says, “the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing” (John 5:19), we believe he is saying that change can only happen when we see that Father has already set his process in motion in a person’s life.
Heaven
To live for heaven instead of earthly ends (Mt. 6:19-21) requires having a living picture of heaven—something Jesus referred to frequently (i.e. Mt. 5:34, 10:32 or 18:10). So we eagerly study the scriptures that speak of heaven and intentionally cultivate our view of eternity (Hebrews 11:16).
Heaven’s Perspective and the Three Beliefs
Seeing from heaven’s perspective is the key to understanding the meaning of life on earth, because heaven has the power to make all things well and complete the purposes of God (Is. 55:11).
Our understanding of this perspective is summed up in what we call The Three Beliefs:
God is for us,
Redeeming circumstances to form us;
and his plan is a process.
“God is for us” means that he is a good God, his plans for us are good (Jer. 29:11), and he is always working to bring us more into the orbit of his good Kingdom (James 1:17). The foundation of our relationship with God is that he first loved us, and that in his goodness he came not to judge the world but to save it (Jn. 12:47).
While we will suffer persecution (I Tim. 3:12) and adversity (Hebrews 12) in this life, his promise is that he will take anything that happens to us and redeem those circumstances to form us in the image of Christ—in other words, to plant his goodness in us (Rm. 8:28-29).
God’s plan to change our hearts is not primarily a function of human will, but a God-initiated process (Eph, 1:4-5, Phil. 1:6) that leverages the people and circumstances in our lives to catalyze change. We believe change is a matter of God working in us, creating both the motivation to change and being the primary driver of the change itself (Phil 2:13). In other words, we are not the primary agent of our own change: it is God changing us.
Suffering
Suffering is part of the Christian life, and while it does not originate from God (James 1:17), in his goodness he leverages it to produce good in those who engage him in it (Rm. 8:28). We believe that in adversity we can win a victory not just for ourselves, but for many others (Rm. 8:27), because God births ministry out of adversity. We also believe in the Fellowship of Sufferings: that there is a unique intimacy with Jesus that can only be known by those who have shared in his sufferings (Phil. 3:10-11). And ultimately, in heaven our suffering and sacrifice becomes our glory (Rm. 8:17), the tangible reward for walking through it with him.
I will:
Honor Jesus.
Act in ways that honor Jesus Christ and bring credit to his name.
Maintain Integrity
Make clear, fair agreements and keep them.
Deliver what is promised.
Pay what I owe and maintain integrity in all my financial dealings.
Be clear and accurate when presenting my qualifications and credentials as an Encounter Coach.
Give credit and attribution where credit is due. Only claim ownership of my own material. Adhere to applicable copyright law.
Pursue Healthy Relationships
Practice honesty in my communication.
Apologize when appropriate and take steps to resolve interpersonal conflicts in accordance with Scripture.
Work to preserve and deepen relationships within the MetaFormation Community.
Keep My Own Heart Healthy
Deal with my own heart when my personal issues impair my ability to train and coach to a high standard of excellence.
Seek help when I need it.
Attach my desires to Jesus instead of objects and outcomes in this world.
Avoid Impurity
Maintain clear, appropriate boundaries that govern interactions, physical or otherwise, with trainers, coachees and workshop participants.
Be faithful to my spouse. Avoid any sexual or romantic relationship with clients or workshop participants.
Look Out for My Clients and Workshop Participants
Use appropriate discretion with what is shared with me in coaching or training settings, except in cases in which disclosure is necessary to prevent harm to persons and/or is required by law.
Refer clients to a professional who can provide appropriate therapy when appropriate.
Promote Unity
Respect differing values and beliefs among my clients and workshop participants.
Put no obstacle in anyone’s way. Refrain from partisan political statements, divisive lingo or theological controversies in training or coaching settings.
Treat other MetaFormation Community members as partners in the work of God, not competitors. Refrain from publicly disparagingly the person or work of any other member.
Work to improve MetaFormation and further its mission.
Honor this Code
Report it if I am aware of serious misconduct by another MetaFormation Community member.
Require all those who work with us at MetaFormation events to adhere to the MetaFormation Code of Ethics.
Core Training - Modules 1 & 2
Fun, intense, interactive, authentic. You’ve probably never been to a workshop like this before. The heart learns best from experience as opposed to words and concepts. So we use a lot of learning games, demonstrations, group exercises, coaching practice sessions, encounters, mentor coach feedback sessions and more. You’ll work through the core training in cohorts of 3 or 4 like-minded leaders, which provides for you a ready-made team of supporters to sustain your progress through the journey.
Each of the 20 weeks looks like this:
- Pre-Session Work – 60 to 90 minutes comprised of reading, personal meditations, working through short video demonstrations, and/or practice exercises you can do with family and friends.
- Weekly Live Session – We meet together for 2 hours over Zoom. These are highly interactive sessions where you’ll learn new content, observe live coaching demonstrations, practice the skills within breakout rooms, and debrief your experience.
- Post-Session Cohort Follow-Up – You’ll meet with your cohort of 3 or 4 people to celebrate progress, discuss challenges and practice the skills taught in the Live Session. Eight of the twenty follow-up sessions will be with a Mentor Coach, where you will receive personalized feedback on your coaching skills.
Yes, start with Module 1 and then move on to Module 2.
We built our training knowing our participants often have full-time jobs and other priorities that come up. If you miss two or perhaps three sessions, you’ll be fine. Each session is recorded so you can watch it later. If you know you’ll miss more than three sessions, please don’t sign up. Our learning methodology relies heavily on you being there for your fellow cohort members. If you repeatedly don’t show up, it deteriorates the learning experience for your team members.
Our learning methodology relies heavily on you being there for your fellow cohort members. If you drop out, it affects the learning experience for your team members. If you go in with some doubts as to whether or not this is a good fit, we strongly encourage you to take the Intro to Encounter Coaching course first to get that assurance. Also speak to one of our Enrollment Coaches, who can pray with you to discern if now is the best time for you to participate with us.
We do understand that life happens. If there’s an unexpected significant life event that occurs prior to Session 3, which prevents you from participating, we’ll work with you and your cohort team to make it work for you and the team. You can either apply the amount paid to a future workshop offering or we will refund 80% of the total fee paid for the Module.
If you drop out after Session 3, we cannot provide a financial refund.
MetaFormation training involves both deep heart change for our participants, plus we are imparting to you skills that are likely very new for you. In our 10+ years of offering this training, we have found that it simply takes time for our participants to grow confident in these transformational conversation skills. Our training leverages adult learning research, which shows that people retain more knowledge when concepts are taught and repeated in bite-size chunks over a longer period of time vs. forcing you to ‘drink from a fire hose’ in a 3-day event. We also know from the research that we are ‘social learners’ in that we learn best when it’s done within the context of human relationships and you have the ability to immediately apply what you’re learning. Our extended training allows time for you to build strong, trusting relationships with your peers and your Coach Trainers.
Each of the two Modules takes 20 weeks to complete. Some people like to go straight into the next Module while others take a short break. Either approach is fine as we review some of the Module 1 concepts in Module 2.
From a content perspective, Module 1: Encounter is largely comprised of material from Foundations of Encounter Coaching and Transforming the Heart. Importantly, Module 1 now incorporates 13.5 hours of Mentor Coaching, which was not part of the historical workshop experience. We see tremendous growth in our participant’s coaching skills as they work through these mentor coach sessions.
Module 2: Grow is largely comprised of content from Coaching the Heart and Living from the Heart, with the addition of 13.5 hours of Mentor Coaching.
If there are open seats left, we do offer last-minute discounts for those retaking the training. Send an email to admin@meta-formation.com to enquire about opportunities to do that.
Certification
The full certification program cost is $3,590 USD and the time investment is typically one to 1.5 years. The investment breaks down as follows:
- Module 1: Encounter ($1,695) & 20 Weeks
- Module 2: Grow ($1,895) & 20 Weeks
- 100 hours of encounter coach experience (35 hours are within the training). You can begin logging hours after completing the foundational coaching content in Module 1 (after week 6). If you coached five hours per month beginning month 2, you can complete this portion by the 15th month after starting your training.
Note: Prices may change without notice. We also offer payment options for each of the Modules.
We consider you automatically enrolled in the certification program when you start Module 2: Grow. There is no incremental cost for certification, simply log your coaching hours and submit that to us once you’ve completed both modules and the mentor coaching sessions. If you choose to do the course work but not complete the certification requirements, that’s perfectly fine as well. You just can’t advertise to others that you’re a certified encounter coach.
Once you complete certification, you can participate in our graduation ceremony, receive a certificate, as well as graphics that you can add to your website / social media.
We offer both physical and e-books. Physical books are included in the Module price and will be shipped at no extra cost once you register for the modules.
We are not affiliated with the ICF and do not offer ICF certification. Since our courses follow a distinctly Christian methodology wherein we invite Jesus to be our co-coach, our content does not fit into the ICF coaching competencies that they require. Our Certified Encounter Coaches have generally found that the lack of an ICF credential has not negatively impacted their ability to secure paying clients.
The difference between our Encounter Coaching Certification compared to the ICF Portfolio certification process are as follows:
Encounter Coach Program | ICF ACC Portfolio requirements | |
Student Contact Hours (live, real-time contact hours between faculty and student) | 80 hours | 48 hours |
Total coach training hours | 107 hours | 60 hours |
Mentor Coaching hours | 27 hours (24 group / 3 one-one) | 10 hours (7 can be group and at least 3 one-one) |
Hours of Coaching Experience | 100 hours* | 100 hours |
*The ICF requires 75 of the 100 coaching experience hours to be with paying clients. Because the MetaFormation program is designed to work for individuals who coach as part of an existing job or ministry role, we do not require that. Also, 35 of the 100 hours required are completed just by attending Modules 1 & 2.
You can:
- call yourself a
- Certified Encounter Coach
- Encounter Coach
- Life Coach
- Coach
- use the Certified Encounter Coach logo in your advertising and/or website.
- choose to receive an Encounter Coaching certificate from MetaFormation.
What you cannot do:
- claim to be a representative of MetaFormation
- call yourself a MetaFormation Coach
- use the MetaFormation logo in your advertising/website
These would infringe on our name.
We celebrate your completion with a special online graduation ceremony you can invite friends and family to! We will also send you Certified Encounter Coach graphic you can incorporate into your marketing materials and website.
