I talk to a lot of coaches and would-be coaches on a wide range of challenges in their coaching journey. Conversations occur in the classroom context, coaches reach out to me via email, and some start the conversation via a comment on the CAM blog. No matter the context, one concern that stands out among Christian coaches: charging money for helping a fellow member of Christ’s body.

The most recent such question came as a follow up from one of our webinars. Mind you, the content of the webinar had zero connection to the issue of charging for coaching, but this coach had been wrestling with the challenge for a long time and some people in her sphere of influence were criticizing her for charging for her coaching. Their criticism took the form of shaming: “How could you charge money for helping a fellow believer grow in her faith? We Christians are called to help one another, not try to make money off one another.” Ouch.

This kind of criticism can often come from a good place. Typically, it stems from not knowing much about coaching, but this isn’t always the case. I know coaches who struggle with the whole idea of charging when someone really needs the help and support provided by the coach. So how should we think about this? Of course, you can think about it however you’d like, but since this is my blog post, I’ll share with you how I think about it. Hopefully these thoughts will be helpful.

Let’s start with a blunt statement: the fact that people really need coaching is the reason you charge for it, not the reason you don’t.

To be clear, I’m not saying the reason you charge is so you can make a buck off of someone’s need. Instead, I’m saying that if you don’t charge, there won’t be much coaching available for those who need it. Why? Two reasons:

a) Without payment there will be less coaching available. Coaching is based on a fixed commodity: the amount of time available from persons with the ability and desire to provide coaching. Relying purely on generosity restricts the amount of coaching, while payment allows the coach to offer more and more coaching. If you give away coaching, your supply of coaching time will be severely limited, but once you start accepting payment, you can afford to lift some of those limitations and bring more coaching to the market. This is simple economics; some Christian do-gooders who think they are helping when they clamor for only free coaching are actually pushing for less coaching to occur.

b) Without payment, clients are less likely to engage a coach. Let me be clear that I’m not making the argument that clients will take the coaching relationship more seriously if they pay. While there is often some truth to that, it’s not what I’m saying here. Instead, I’m saying that payment gives the client permission to access your time by reducing the social awkwardness of impending on someone’s (your) time. In a study described by Malcolm Gladwell, a daycare in Israel decided to charge parents who picked up their kids late. They did this in order to reduce late pick-ups. But the opposite thing happened: parents felt freer to be a few minutes late since the awkwardness of imposing on the daycare workers was now mitigated by the late fee. Only close friends and moochers are eager to receive the value of your time without compensating you for it. Friends because the equity of exchange tends to work itself out over time and moochers because, well, they are selfish and don’t mind taking advantage of you.

So far I’ve made the economic argument for accepting payment. Now, let me make a theological argument. Many churches are familiar with the argument made in 1 Timothy 5 concerning teachers and preachers being paid. Nobody wants a Christian minister who is in it ONLY for the money; rather, we all recognize that in order for a pastor to have the time and energy needed to serve well, he or she must be paid. While there is certainly room for bi-vocational pastors and unpaid volunteers, there’s no rule against paying those who serve and there’s actually encouragement to do so. The same principle applies to all sorts of helping professions: counselors, professors, advisors, and (yes) coaches.

Before leaving this topic, let me say that while there’s nothing wrong with charging for coaching, there’s also nothing wrong with not charging. If your life circumstances are such that you can afford to give away your time and you have a ready supply of coaching clients who willingly and fully engage the coaching relationship without paying, then by all means coach away! But if you need to earn some income in order to have the time to coach fellow Christians, then don’t be shamed out of charging.