I recently had the pleasure of spending time with one of our CAP money coaching “champions”, Hylton Banks. Hylton and his team are part of a new startup church in Baldoyle, North Dublin that has fully embraced money coaching as part of their church’s life and vision.
I was curious to know why this new church had thought that CAP, and money coaching in particular, would be a good fit for them. Hylton explained that it sprang from their heart to have a positive impact on their community:
One of the key things we know of all people nowadays is that financial pressures weigh heavily on people. So as part of our outreach, our commitment to the community, helping people manage their money whilst looking after their spiritual needs really fitted with our ethos.
They approached CAP Ireland about partnering with us and received the induction training to run our money coaching course in December 2023. They were impressed:
We found that the material was just perfect for what we required, it’s really high quality. It’s really proven. It’s delivered in a very slick way, and it allows us, without having huge infrastructure, to really positively impact those coming into our church.
The trainees quickly realised the blessing this could be to people in the community but also that people in the church could benefit greatly from the money coaching. This included those coming to Ireland from other countries and those with varying levels of money management proficiency:
Being able to impact positively people that are in the church is equally a really positive thing.
The newly trained money coaching team didn’t waste time getting started. They ran a small pilot money coaching course in February 2024 over four evenings. A pilot course is a good way to try out the money coaching approach and get really familiar with the material. Money coaching is not difficult, but doing anything new needs practice, and having an invited group to help you with that can be a little less stressful.
So how did they find taking the material off the page and into people’s lives? Were they still impressed?
What we found was that the way the material is presented is really impactful. The quality of the videos and the exercises was really engaging. It had a lovely blend of instruction, video content and activities which will really keep people engaged. That gave us a lot of confidence coming out of it to run it again.
They report that the quality of the material shone through as people responded to it. Even though people were at different stages in their lives and circumstances it met people where they were at. No matter the starting point, they all got something from it:
Whether they are a young student or maybe a middle-aged person that’s been running a household budget for years, they all seem to be able to take something positive out of it, which is really encouraging.
Every one of the seven participants reported that they would recommend the course to others without hesitation.
The Next Chapter
Encouraged by their first money coaching course, the team planned for another in October of this year. They decided to run it within the church to be able to get some more practice. So, how was it the second time around?
Hylton told me that they found it really affirming.
I think the coaches felt a lot more confident around the material. So they were less rigid in terms of the structure they were bringing a lot more of their own information and personal experience. Not that they were giving advice, but they were able to bring colour and bring a lot more depth to some of the discussions so you know people would bring lists of things, of comparison sites or things like that, that that just added additional value to the material.
Cultivating Money Coaching Ambassadors
Hylton said that running the course for the church really added value to the church community and that they were building a group of people who would become the ambassadors for future courses. We all know that word of mouth is such an important way for ministries to grow.
For their second course they extended the sessions by half an hour to allow for more chatting and questions, and this timing felt more relaxed than the first course.
They also made another great change.
We had a few people that were coming in late from work and we realised after the first module that they hadn’t eaten dinner, so in the second, third and fourth sessions what we did was we had ordered pizzas just before we started and that did two things. First of all, they felt catered to and very grateful.
But also it allowed the team to have a bit of a casual chat when they arrived – they didn’t go straight into a training session and that kind of really broke the ice and added a greater depth of people feeling that they could share stuff and participate.
As is so often the case, food and chat are the great building blocks of community. So often in the Bible we find Jesus sharing a meal with people. Even though Hylton knew each participant before the course started, spending the time together over the four weeks allowed him to get to know them much better, developing a heart connection as he and the team prayed for each one during the week. He even told me that there was a hint of sadness that they wouldn’t be meeting again regularly. Hopefully they will connect in other ways.
Once again every feedback form received was very positive about their experience.
Building a Team
We went on to talk about the money coaching team at Christ Church. There were seven trained by CAP, and five of these were involved in the latest course. Was having a team important to them?
Absolutely. First of all, just the camaraderie and the shared vision and then secondly, it just lightens the load, you know, instead of one person running everything, you’ve got a team. We had a young lady a young business professional delivering Module 2 and a mum of two boys delivering Module 3. I think they bring a different perspective and I think it’s just lovely you know, different people can connect with different people and it was just lovely for the group that was attending the course to be able to see people from different walks of life applying the CAP principles and endorsing what CAP stands for.
I noted that they had two Befrienders, not every church has this but Hylton was enthusiastic about them.
If you can have a Befriender, have a Befriender because you know our Befrienders were really great. They were there early, they helped set up the teas and the coffees, they were chatting in amongst. They also participated in the course as if almost they were doing it. They were very encouraging. I mean the feedback that we received was just how encouraging these people are.
It’s easy to think that befriending is a lesser role but Hylton was adamant that it shouldn’t be that way.
The Befrienders’ role is so critical and added so much value. So I would encourage anyone wanting to do CAP training to put as much emphasis on getting your Befrienders as the trainers.
Part of the Vision
Now that the team has completed two money coaching courses and is feeling comfortable with it, I asked Hylton how he sees money coaching fitting in with the future life and ministry of the church. It was encouraging to hear that they see CAP and Money Coaching as one of their four key areas of outreach ministry,
- Kids ministry
- Outreach events (the Christmas carol service, for example)
- CAP Money Coaching
- A benevolence ministry to those in need financially or otherwise
CAP is is part of the four strategic pillars of outreach, certainly with the prevalence and the pressure that people feel around budgeting and managing their finances and also frankly just the lack of education that is out there. And so the church has a has a real opportunity to help people in this area of their lives. And let’s face it, it impacts everyone, so we feel that it’s absolutely one of the four strategic pillars.
Clearly this is music to our ears at CAP Ireland as it’s been our heart and fervent prayer over the last 12–18 months while establishing the work in the Republic! Money Coaching is a unique way of connecting with people who may not think to step into a church meeting or be actively seeking God but who are interested in getting help with managing their money. Connecting with Christians from a local church who are offering this service for free inevitably raises questions of motivation. At that point we can share the heart of God, that he cares about people and the stresses they face day to day.
Some people may say that money coaching is only a practical way to serve people and not very spiritual. I wondered how Hylton felt about this.
He felt strongly that being a practical service did not mean that it wasn’t also spiritual:
If you think about money and its impact on us spiritually and mentally and emotionally, money has a far greater impact on people than just in the practical day-to-day living of their lives. People will have deep anxieties around their finances. It could impact them spiritually. It could impact them mentally and emotionally and so if you’re thinking about how God views us as being complete beings and if you think his desire for his children to live lives that are full and rewarding now, money becomes one aspect that we look at now. Obviously you don’t just look at that as a church, you’re looking at the whole person.
Speaking about the fact that churches often shy away from talking about money because it is very personal he had this to say:
Yes, it is personal, but it has a great impact on people and we saw such a transformation in this last group that that attended. You saw them as the lights came on as they understood the basic concepts.
When we got to the CAP money management system… you almost saw them breathe a collective sigh of relief as they realised, actually, you know what, this is not difficult. We can do this. And so, we saw them really step on in terms of their own personal confidence, which can only have a positive effect on them, you know, emotionally and mentally and spiritually.
As they see God as their as their provider, but also how they can take great care of the gifts that he sends.
As our time together drew to a close, it was clear that Christ Church North Dublin has no regrets about partnering with CAP to provide money coaching. It fits with their vision to care for those in the church and in the community. They have taken their time to form a team and become comfortable with the content. Now, having run two courses, they feel confident to advertise their next course in early 2025 to the wider community and to run regular courses into the future. The team are all volunteers offering money coaching on top of family, jobs and other church responsibilities.
We pray that as they continue their money coaching, they will help many people who need practical assistance with their finances. We also pray that these individuals will feel God’s love and realise that He cares more about their lives, than they may have believed.
CAP is very grateful to be partnering with CCND and with Hylton as a money coaching “champion”.
