Christian Life Coaching & Spiritual Direction | Spirit-led coaching for women seeking healing, clarity, and a deeper walk with God.
Coaching You in Freedom
Feeling Spiritually Stuck, Anxious, or Burned Out? There’s a Way Through.
Coaching in Freedom is a network of certified Christian life coaches and spiritual directors who help women break free from anxiety, depression, grief, trauma, and burnout — through Holy Spirit-led sessions grounded in Scripture.
What Is Christian Life Coaching and Spiritual Direction?
Christian life coaching is a biblically grounded, proven process that helps individuals identify and overcome personal, emotional, and spiritual barriers — guided by Scripture, prayer, and the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Christian life coaching and spiritual direction complement clinical therapy but serve a different purpose. Where therapy focuses on diagnosing and treating mental health conditions, Christian coaching and spiritual direction focuses on Holy Spirit’s leading: gaining clarity, healing from wounds, and discovering God’s direction for your life. Many clients find that both work beautifully together.
Spiritual direction is a deeper, contemplative practice in which a trained director helps a person notice and respond to how God is already at work in their life. Sessions often involve listening prayer, Scripture reflection, and creating space to hear God’s voice clearly.
At Coaching in Freedom, our coaches are trained in both disciplines — offering sessions that integrate coaching tools with Spirit-led prayer for lasting transformation.
Persistent anxiety, depression, or fear they haven’t been able to shake
Burnout from ministry, caregiving, or high-demand seasons
Grief or trauma that hasn’t fully healed
Feeling disconnected from God or unable to hear His voice
Navigating a major life or vocational transition
Spiritual oppression or recurring patterns they can’t break free from
How Does a Session Work?
Each coaching session is approximately 50 minutes, conducted via Zoom (available worldwide) or in person in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia. Sessions are private, confidential, and led by the Holy Spirit rather than a fixed script.
A typical session may include:
1. Checking in — What’s alive for you right now? What has God been speaking to you about?
2. Identifying the root — Using guided questions and listening prayer, your coach helps you locate where you may be stuck, wounded, or holding onto a lie.
3. An encounter with God — Rather than just talking about God, sessions create space to hear His voice directly, receive inner healing, and experience His truth replacing old wounds.
4. A step forward — You leave with clarity, peace, and a sense of what your next step is.
“Healing, Deliverance, Peace, and Hope — that’s what I received.” — Nicole G.
Our Coaches
Coaching in Freedom is a directory of independent, trained Christian life coaches and spiritual directors. Each coach brings their own areas of specialty.
[Sue Carpenter] — Prayer Coach & Spiritual Director, Credentialed Reverend (Living Faith Ministries). Specialties include identity in Christ, hearing God’s voice, listening prayer, healing from loss, and guiding children to encounter Jesus. Experience spanning 30+ nations.
[Coral Ross] — Prayer Coach & Spiritual Director. Specialties include spiritual formation, intimacy with Jesus, identity and self-worth, parenting, compassion fatigue and burnout recovery, and exploring dreams with Jesus.
[Merri Ellen Giesbrecht] — Certified Life Coach (LeaderBreakthru), Master of Arts in Spiritual Life Coaching (Christian Leadership University), Spiritual Director, Credentialed Reverend (Christian Ministries Association). Specialties include depression and anxiety recovery, inner healing, burnout, grief and trauma, and pastoral/ministry leader coaching. Coaching since 2003, with clients in over 120 countries.
One-on-one sessions tailored to your specific needs and season.
2. Freedom Coaching Circle:
A group coaching community for women who want to grow together. Weekly encounters with God in a safe, encouraging circle. Includes a growing library of teaching videos and resources.
Invite our team to minister at your women’s retreat, church event, or conference. We bring Spirit-led encounters that facilitate real healing and transformation. Request our team to minister at your In Person event. Contact here…
Not Sure Where to Start?
If you’re unsure whether coaching is right for you — or where to even begin — our free Personal Spiritual and Emotional Wellness Assessment helps you identify specific areas where you may need healing, deliverance, or support.
It takes about a couple minutes and gives you a clearer picture of where God may want to bring breakthrough.
Don’t let another day go by feeling disconnected or burdened.
Discover the freedom and clarity that comes from truly hearing God’s voice.
Frequently Asked Questions
“What is the difference between Christian coaching and Christian counselling?”
“What is the difference between Christian coaching and Christian spiritual direction?”
“Do I need to be a Christian to work with your coaches?”
“How long do coaching programs typically last?”
“Is coaching available in languages other than English?”
“What does ‘hearing God’s voice’ mean in a coaching context?”
Answers below…
What is the difference between Christian coaching and Christian counselling?
Christian life coaching and Christian counselling are related but distinct. Counselling (or therapy) is a licensed clinical practice focused on diagnosing and treating mental health conditions — it looks backward to understand the roots of dysfunction and is regulated by professional licensing bodies. Christian life coaching is a forward-focused, non-clinical practice that helps you identify where you’re stuck, hear God’s direction, and take meaningful next steps. It is not a substitute for therapy, and a good coach will refer you to a licensed counsellor when clinical support is what’s needed. At Coaching in Freedom, our coaches are trained in Spirit-led life coaching and spiritual direction — not licensed therapy — and our sessions focus on prayer, inner healing, and discovering what God is saying for your journey ahead.
What is the difference between Christian coaching and Christian spiritual direction?
Christian life coaching and Christian spiritual direction overlap in important ways — both are faith-based, both involve prayer, and both are focused on your relationship with God — but they have distinct emphases. Coaching tends to be more goal-oriented and action-focused. A coach helps you identify what’s blocking you, work through emotional or spiritual barriers, and move forward with clarity and purpose. It is particularly suited to seasons of transition, burnout, anxiety, or when you feel stuck and need momentum.
Spiritual direction is more contemplative and spacious. A spiritual director’s primary role is not to help you solve a problem but to help you notice where God is already at work in your life and respond to Him more deeply. Sessions tend to move more slowly and reflectively, with a focus on cultivating intimacy with God, discernment, and attentiveness to the Holy Spirit over time.
In practice, many of our coaches are trained in both disciplines and will naturally draw from either approach depending on what you need in a given session. If you come needing to break through a specific struggle, the session may feel more like coaching. If you come needing stillness, deeper listening, and a longer view of your spiritual life, it may feel more like spiritual direction. You don’t need to decide which one you want before reaching out — your coach will follow the Spirit’s leading and meet you where you are.
Do I need to be a Christian to work with your coaches?
You don’t need to be a committed Christian to reach out, but our approach is explicitly Christ-centred. Every session is guided by Scripture and the Holy Spirit, and our coaches will invite you into prayer and listening for God’s voice as a core part of the process. If you’re spiritually curious, exploring faith, or somewhere in the middle of your journey, you are welcome — many clients have deepened their faith significantly through coaching. If you are looking for a secular coaching approach without a faith dimension, our coaches would not be the right fit, and we may be able to point you toward other resources.
How long do coaching programs typically last?
Each session is approximately 50 minutes. How many sessions you need depends entirely on what you’re working through — some clients experience significant breakthrough in just two or three sessions, while others choose to meet regularly over several months for sustained growth. There is no required program length or minimum commitment. You can begin with a single session and continue from there based on what feels right for your journey. Our coaches will always honour where you are and help you discern what level of support makes sense for your season.
Is coaching available in languages other than English?
At this time, our coaches primarily offer sessions in English. However, Merri Ellen Giesbrecht has worked with clients in over 120 countries since 2003, and sessions have been facilitated across many cultural contexts. If you have a specific language need, please reach out through our contact form and we will do our best to connect you with a coach or trusted referral who can serve you well.
What does “hearing God’s voice” mean in a coaching context?
“Hearing God’s voice” doesn’t necessarily mean an audible voice or dramatic experience. In our coaching framework, it refers to learning to recognize the ways God communicates with you — through Scripture, through a sense of peace or conviction, through images or impressions during prayer, through the counsel of others, and through the gentle inner knowing the Holy Spirit gives. Many of our clients come in feeling like God is distant or silent. A significant part of what our coaches do is help you remove the internal noise — fear, lies, past wounds, spiritual oppression — that makes it hard to receive what God is already saying. Clients regularly describe this as one of the most practically life-changing outcomes of their sessions.
Coaching in Freedom is a network of independent Christian life coaches and spiritual directors based in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada, serving clients worldwide. Our coaches are trained in Spirit-led approaches to inner healing, Christian life coaching, and spiritual direction.
Sessions are private, non-therapeutic life coaching and spiritual direction. We are not licensed mental health therapists. If you are in crisis, please contact a licensed professional or crisis service.
*Note: We are a directory of independent life coaches. Please contact each coach directly using the links provided for inquiries and to learn more about their services.
Coaching You in Freedom 