God is alive and working today. The thousands upon thousands of students that will enter into a relationship with Jesus tomorrow, are being prepared today all across the world. He is also preparing people like you to think about their part of the world and enter into a process of asking God to rescue the dying.
What dreams do you have for your part of the world? What would you like to see God do? What kind of picture comes to mind when you compare the current status of the world around you now, and what it could be if God made it better? Your vision for what you want to trust God to do is the first step in entering into Catalytic.
Next, in order to expand your ministry quickly and effectively, 3 things are needed.
1) An Appropriate Scope
2) A Team
3) A Coach
An Appropriate Scope
Expanding to new locations is not a new idea, but over time as we have seen this happen we’ve found that there is a range of locations that blends the best balance of dependence on God, entrusting students to lead, and ability to coach well. In short, where Catalytic works best is around 7-20 schools per person on the team.
That being said, setting a Catalytic scope is not an exact science but a step of faith that is directed at answering two key questions:
- How many unreached campuses are in my reachable area? Some consider their reachable area to be a city, some a nation. Determining this depends on what you consider doable.
- What would be a large step of faith for you? It’s wise to make a choice that more likely than not would increase your dependence on the Lord. If it appears easy at the beginning, you may be relying on your skill rather than the Holy Spirit.
When a team moves to a large scope there is a big change in the style of ministry. Isn’t this a problem? Doesn’t it prevent depth in discipleship? Not at all! The ability to reach this scope does not rest on the individual, but on God. As we go to a large scope, we must depend on God to raise up volunteers in all of these locations that will be doing the work of a missionary on their school. So rather than you doing it all, you are forced into a place of entrusting young disciples to become a leaders on their school. And in doing so, are giving them a great opportunity to grow.
A Team
The second thing needed to start a catalytic ministry is a team. There isn’t one kind of person that does well in Catalytic, in fact, a team of people with varying ministry gifts and abilities might be better. A team is the support system for each member. It provides encouragement, care, and helps keep each individual moving toward reaching the entire scope. Even more, it’s important to model the things we are asking students to do, and a key part of Catalytic is helping student volunteers work toward building up their team.
A Coach
Everyone can benefit from a coach and a catalytic team is no different. If you plan to pursue catalytic and don’t yet have a coach, use the button on the home screen to request one and somebody will get to work on helping you find what you need.
and meet other Catalysts