Catalyst Magazine: April 2024

We’re growing in diversity and facing the real

of drawing people from various backgrounds into one family.

Catalyst Magazine: Issue 13

Catalyst Magazine is a termly connection point for our Catalyst family: sharing news and stories, upcoming events, and highlights from around the world. It’s a way of keeping connected as a movement, keeping us focused on what we’re called to and a place to celebrate all that God is doing.

Let’s get inspired together for all that the Lord is doing as we seek to train and release 1000 church planters over the next few years.

With love, Simon

Simon

Holley Leads the CatalystTeam

New to Catalyst?

Not connected with a Catalyst church yet? Visit the About page on our website to find a church near you and get plugged in!

Catalyst is an apostolic movement, starting and strengthening churches that multiply disciples to see God’s Kingdom fill the Earth.

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A Community of Worshippers on Mission Together

We desire to cultivate communities that declare the word of God and demonstrate His Kingdom

In a few weeks, we’re baptising a lady who recently became a Christian. Her story was quite inspiring. Eighteen months ago, during a discipleship course, we set a challenge for everyone to offer to read the Bible with someone who isn’t a Christian.

One lady had put this off for several weeks until the deadline finally arrived. Not knowing who to ask, she texted her neighbour at the last minute and told her that she had homework from church, which meant reading the Bible with someone. She asked her, ‘Would you be that person I read the Bible with?’, and to her surprise, her neighbour said ‘Yes’.

Over the coming weeks, they studied the Bible together, and their neighbour became increasingly open to the possibility that Jesus loved her and died for her sins. She started coming to Mosaic and invited different members of her family along. A little later, they did the Alpha course together and asked another neighbour to watch the videos with them and read the Bible. Wonderfully, she also became a Christian.

I love this story because it illustrates both the power of the gospel to change lives and how God uses our simple acts of obedience, however flawed, to reach people who otherwise would never hear about Jesus.

This, among other things, should be a hallmark of our Catalyst churches. We want to build communities on mission together where we’re learning how to declare and demonstrate the kingdom of God.

Many of our churches are also seeing an increasing number of people from different cultural and economic backgrounds join our communities. We’re growing in diversity and facing the real challenges of drawing people from various backgrounds into one family. They may have certain expectations of what church should be like or be totally new to faith and wonder what church is all about.

This means we must constantly help people understand our commitment to building churches with biblical and apostolic foundations. Knowing what you are trying to build and the story

“We want to build communities on mission together where we’re learning how to declare and demonstrate the kingdom of God.”

into which it fits is essential for everyone to play their part.

To this end, Catalyst has launched a helpful and memorable tool to teach our seven apostolic foundations under the broad categories of worship, community and mission. This is more than just a list of essential qualities; they represent the magnificent story of God reconciling us to Himself and each other.

Our church in Leeds is currently preaching through each of the seven foundations, and we hope that by the end, if anyone is asked what the biblical foundations are to every church, they can draw this diagram and (hopefully) name them all!

This issue of Catalyst Magazine will introduce these foundations and share some of what God is doing as we build churches focused on worship, community and mission.

Matt Hatch

Leads the team at Mosaic Church in Leeds, and also the Catalyst Leeds Hub.

What is a church?

To help our family of churches better understand our shared vision, we’ve been working to define the apostolic and prophetic foundations that we stand on.

We explored the question, ‘What is a church?’, delving into scriptures for insight.

As a result, we’ve developed seven foundational pillars that illustrate how we see the church as a community of worshippers on mission together. Our aim is to equip both our church leaders and members with these insights. Watch the video to learn more about the Catalyst Apostolic Foundations.

Festival 2024

New venue. New festival. Same passion.

Stafford Showground

23 - 26 August

Catalyst Festival is all about gathering, loving God, and mission — empowering us to make a difference in our workplaces, communities, and nations. Every two years, our network of churches gather together to worship Jesus, hear from the Bible, enjoy one another’s gifts, and get caught up in the bigger picture of what God’s doing.

Secure your spot today and be part of an powerful experience!

BOOK YOUR TICKET >

Discover What’s On

Multiply Equipping Day

Saturday 22nd June

Get ready to be inspired, equipped, and empowered at our conference featuring speakers Steve Nicholson, Martin Tibbert, and Richard Whightman. Worship, ministry, inspiring teaching, and time to connect with others.

BOOK NOW >

Releasing Artists to Renew Culture

Monday 29th April

Release artists to renew culture! Join Sputnik’s new course empowering Christians to engage with the arts. Come to the launch on Zoom.

BOOK NOW >

Cultivating multi-cultural churches

Tuesday 14th May

Reconciled is an event by Kings Arms church designed to equip leaders to cultivate multicultural churches that reflect the community of the kingdom - moving from just being visibly multi-coloured to tangibly multi-cultural.

BOOK NOW >

Hosting God’s Presence

Book by Wendy Mann

Wendy Mann’s new book will help you increase your faith for God’s manifest presence and grow in confidence to host the Holy Spirit when He comes. Sign up to receive updates on the release.

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The Message of Worship: Celebrating The Glory of God In The Whole of Life

Book by John Risbridger

>

Church Planting & Discipleship Resources

God has stirred us to train 1000 church planters before 2030. Subscribe to get involved.

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Church Planting & Discipleship Resources

The heart of Theology Club is lots of questions, not so many answers. Tackling the controversial topics, the nuance of the debate and engaging in the conversation. Join this new series, ‘Men, Women & Church Leadership’.

TAKE COURSE >

Inspiring Leaders at Catalyst Together

A reminder of God’s purpose for our leadership and the steadfast faith He seeks

Leaders from across Catalyst gathered for a time of connection, refreshment, and encouragement at Together. During the event, the Catalyst team shared insights on new initiatives, such as the Train 1000, and reports from international leaders. Simon Holley shared a message on Joshua 14, uncovering the attitudes and mindset God desires in leaders. He shared four keys to fostering a kingdomadvancing spirit. You can catch up on this message and other inspiring talks on our website.

“Focus on the faithfulness of God, even when the journey is tougher than you imagined.”

Project 24: Cheering on the Next Generation

From bold prayers to stronger friendships, the Project 24 event on March this year, was an inspiring gathering for young adults. Attendees connected with friends, enjoyed music, and learned about bold prayer with Andrey Bondarenko. Stay tuned for updates on 2025 plans!

What is God doing where you are?

From encounters in the streets to people having dreams about Jesus, God is on the move, and we hope you are encouraged to step out in faith through these stories:

Covid Relief Camp in Pakistan Believer in the Middle East

“There was a teenager boy who could not talk since birth and used to come and sit and hang out with us while we talked about politics, Covid pandemic and Jesus and Bible. I think it was fourth or fifth day when our team felt like praying for him. The very next day his father came running to us and started telling us that the teenager boy said “ baba “ for the first time. He was in tears and held Pastor Jeremiah’s feet. We all sat with the newly healed boy and his father and cried and laughed with them at God’s amazing grace.”

“A new believer asks for prayer for her Mother who is very sick in hospital. The next day she calls the nurse to ask how mum is. The nurse says you can speak to her, and passes the phone over. Mum tells her daughter that she is better. In the night she had a dream and a man in white came to her and said she was healed and she could drink a special water that would bring new life. The mother told the man she wants her daughter to drink it too. The man in white replies saying her daughter has already drunk the living water. The mum then asks the daughter on the phone to tell her about the water that gives life!”

Encourage others by telling your story. Email us at stories@ catalystnetwork.org You can also read more stories on our blog.

READ BLOG >

Provision in Turkey

“After a year of incredible unity and serving in Turkey, we are building shelters and containers for those in need and continue to provide essential supplies to over 200 families. We have also witnessed a growing number of people coming to faith and families desiring to openly read the Bible. However, we have also faced opposition, and the threat of closure looms. Nevertheless, thanks to the amazing generosity of our Catalyst family and other dear friends, we have recently purchased a plot of land. This means we are committed to here for the long term, believing in the spread of the gospel in this great city.”

Healed from cancer

“In 2023 a large cyst was found in my pancreas which needed investigating. I was informed there was a high possibility of the cyst being cancerous and the only way to know for sure was to have surgery to remove the cyst and test it. It was a lot to take in but I followed the diet and exercise programme, had phone calls and video calls with a dietician and physiotherapist as well as a pre op assessment.

Throughout this time I sent out prayer requests and asked for friends to send their favourite worship and motivational songs to me. That really helped and encouraged me. as well as several devotionals and scriptures people were regularly sending me.

The booklet I was given listed all the possible complications. The list seemed so long but I decided to focus on being in the percentage of patients that do not encounter any complications and ask for prayer for protection against all of them! This was confirmed in my discharge letter which stated There were no postoperative complications.” I did not even get a sore throat! I was also told no cancer was found in my pancreas fluids or in the cyst. I praise God for His faithfulness and protection and for the prayers of the saints and support of all my friends and family. I had people praying for me all over UK, Oman and India and every prayer has been answered.”

God is on the move across the horn of

Africa

“Last year, we gathered with leaders to highlight afresh the spiritual battle raging around extending the kingdom of God among the unreached in eastern Africa. There were some amazing testimonies: people encountering God in dreams, deliverance from demons, salvations, and baptisms. Here’s one of them: In a dream, a lady saw Jesus, who told her He would heal her father. Jesus said that He had already healed him, but wanted her to know it was Him who did it. When she woke up, her father was better! They wanted to thank Jesus, the only church they knew was an Ethiopian Orthodox church, who pointed them to one of the leaders from our network. When he met with her, she realised that he was one of the people in her dream with Jesus! He was able to share the gospel with her and her father, and they are now on a journey of discipleship.”

Developing African Church Leaders

Emmanuel Rucyuba leads the work of LIfe Ministries Christian Centre in Uganda, supporting various churches across Africa. HIs work includes training and equipping new church leaders to be able to start new churches with sound doctrine. Watch an interview with Him and be encouraged by what God is doing.

Empowering leaders in Pakistan

We are a family of seven churches working in four different cities in Pakistan. We are passionate about our nation and love worshiping God. Our first church plant started in 1998, and with extraordinary apostolic care from our leaders, we were able to reach many with the gospel. Over the last six years, additional leaders have been working in Pakistan to assist churches in training, equipping, and releasing leaders for existing churches and new church plants.

In this new season, we are committed to being led by the Holy Spirit, to build relationships within our wider global family to work together in the expansion of His kingdom. Please be praying for us.

are fluent in another

and would like to help translate our content, we would love to hear from you. Reach out to us at stories@catalystnetwork.org

Laying Apostolic and Prophetic Foundations

Let’s journey together into the heart of what God has planned and purposed for our church communities

f

u o o n n s d a t i

Our Catalyst team recently developed the Apostolic and Prophetic Foundation, shedding light on the core elements that define our vision for the universal church, laid by the New Testament apostles and prophets as they declared the gospel and took God’s message to the nations. This foundational framework, grounded in biblical principles and practical wisdom, serves as a guiding light for each of us as we nurture

our church families and cultivate communities that make a difference in the Kingdom.

Paul writes: ‘So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being

joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.’ (Ephesians 2:19-21)

We’ve outlined this foundation by answering the question ‘what is a church?’ and by examining scriptures to provide insight into the prophetic promise, the fulfilment in Christ, the example seen in Acts 2:36-47, and the apostolic encouragement found in other New Testament writings.

“Fundamentally, the church is a community of worshippers on a mission together.”

Fundamentally, the church is a community of worshippers on a mission together. Therefore, in establishing an apostolic and prophetic foundation, we aim to build churches that worship by grace, following Jesus as Saviour and Lord, by being devoted to God, and by being people of the Word and Spirit. Additionally, we strive to cultivate genuine love for one another within their community, foster anointed leadership operating in unity, declare and demonstrate the Kingdom’s news, and make healthy, multiplying disciples.

We have categorised these principles into worship, community, and mission. In this issue of the Catalyst magazine, we delve into each aspect in detail, exploring how they shape the fabric of our church communities.

We’re committed to ensuring every member of our Catalyst family grasps this foundational framework. While not every detail may be remembered by everyone, our shared understanding of this framework will deepen our community and strengthen our ability to work together towards our common vision.As we journey together, let’s allow this foundation to guide us, keeping us in step with God’s word and His Spirit. A special thank you to David Devenish for his invaluable contributions.

A community of worshippers on a mission together

s h p p e r s i w o r

The next section in the magazine will follow the theme of being worshippers and are based on our first three apostolic foundations.

By Grace We Follow Jesus As Saviour & Lord

The Promise: Isaiah 9:6-7

The Fulfilment: Luke 19:10

The Example: Acts 2:36-38

The Encouragement: Eph 2:4-10

May we be people who:

▪ Have responded to the gospel, believing that Jesus died as a substitute for sinners and have repented from sin, followed Jesus into baptism and committed to take up their cross and follow Him.

▪ Believe and proclaim the life, death and resurrection of Christ as the foundation and all the benefits that come from being in Him.

▪ Live in the revelation of the grace of God and enjoy his boundless grace and fellowship rather than legalism or licence.

▪ Have understood that our identity is transformed. We are now not in Adam but In Christ and no longer under the power of sin, the law or death.

▪ believe and receive the reality that we have been made heirs to all the promises.

We Are Devoted To God

The Promise: Jer 31:33

The Fulfilment: John 17:3

The Example: Acts 2:39

The Encouragement: 2 Cor 6:16

May we be people who:

▪ Love the Lord with all our hearts and serve him with reverence and awe

▪ Be a family rooted in the revelation that God is our Father and enjoy fellowship and communion with him as His adopted children.

▪ Live a life worshipping, fasting and praying individually and together.

We Are People Of Word And The Spirit

The Promise: Joel 2:28-29

The Fulfilment: Acts 2:8

The Example: Acts 2:38

The Encouragement: Eph 2:21-22

May we be people who:

▪ Understand that the church is a temple of the Spirit and that we have an expectation of His presence among us

▪ Receive the filling with the Spirit and develop a lifestyle of friendship and walking with the Spirit, growing in the fruit of the Spirit.

▪ Grow in their faithfilled use of the gifts of the Spirit in every context of their lives, inside and outside church gatherings.

▪ Hear, obey and share God’s word with faith and by the Spirit as part of their spiritual growth. Making God’s word the blueprint for their lives.

Celebrating Salvation Worshippers

Read stories of individuals encountering the love of God and experiencing the power of salvation. Join us in prayer for more people to experience Jesus’ life-transforming grace in our Catalyst family.

King’s Community Church, Southampton

On Easter Day, we baptised 17 people. In February, we also baptised 5 individuals. One of those individuals shared their testimony, stating, “I had a very troubled childhood, which left me struggling with many things throughout my life. As a result, I thought God had abandoned me and ended up going down the wrong path, getting into New Age practices like Tarot cards and more. But it didn’t feel right. In fact, it felt like something was missing, so I started looking at the Bible I had. When I hit rock bottom, I had dreams

in which I saw Jesus calling to me. On the back of this, I started coming to church and participating in the Alpha course. In Alpha, I decided I didn’t want to ignore God anymore. I repented of all my sins and want to follow him. That is why I am getting baptised.”

In the last 2 months, a young man who is 16 woke up one morning, felt like God was telling him to go to church, came along, prayed with a member of our welcome team, and put his trust in Jesus. He is getting baptised on Easter Sunday.

Another individual, 25, was an atheist who, by his own confession, hated Christians and Christianity. He watched “The Chosen” and started looking

at all of the evidence for Jesus, amazed by how much there was! He came to church one Sunday, prayed with a member of the welcome team, is getting baptised on Easter Sunday, and is being discipled in one of our 18-30s connect groups.

We are baptising a lady who recently moved to the UK from the USA. She joined one of our social connect groups –a daytime craft group. As some members of the group, who are Christians, talked about Jesus while they did their craft, this lady wanted to know more. After one craft group meeting, she asked to be prayed for and she put her trust in Jesus. They then went on to pray and do a Bible

study after each of those craft sessions –this lady was saved and is now being discipled in a craft group!

City Hope Church, London

At City Hope, we celebrated with 8 people at their baptisms in February. Two young church kids, and six people were saved through Alpha. Pretty much every one gave a testimony of the transforming work of Christ and the transforming effect of finding community and belonging in the family of God. A new Alpha course started in February. It’s so good to see radical transformation before our eyes, with people being set free from

addiction and life controlling problems. Praying for more! We’re praying for more! We had set a target of 24 baptisms in 2024, but we might have to revise our goal.

Hope Church Worcester From Disciple Makers Training

A person came in off the streets, and a volunteer in the church cafe went through the gospel with them, and they responded. We are aiming to have baptisms every month in the church, and it is really spurring the congregation on to make the most of every opportunity to share faith with others.

and very happy about it. We exchanged phone numbers and are still in touch. Some weeks later at church, one of our elders had a picture of a coconut. I messaged my Sikh friend with a prophetic word, and I was very bold to share a gospel message with him of repentance and faith in Jesus. I thought I might have overdone it, but we are still messaging each other, and I know Jesus is calling him. Please join me in praying for my friend.”

“We had a great cWe had a great conversation with a Sikh family in a youth hostel. The chat started in the kitchen over a coconut and how they are a sign of purity in Sikh culture. We shared the gospel with the husband. As I was sharing, I felt the Holy Spirit powerfully with us. We prayed for him, and he was touched

What is God doing in your community?

Let’s encourage our Catalyst family! Send your stories to stories@ catalystnetwork.org

You can also read more stories on our blog.

READ BLOG >

My Walk with Jesus: Betty from Uganda

Betty encourages us on how to deepen our relationship with God

In this issue’s devotional series, Betty shares insights on deepening your relationship with God. She encourages everyone not to rush but to make time for God. Betty shares, “Some of the most amazing experiences that I have had came from just making time to spend with God.”

We’re thankful for our Catalyst global family and the opportunity to learn from the wisdom and experiences of believers worldwide. To hear Betty’s message in full, click on the image above.

Share your story

What are you learning in your walk with Jesus?

Share with us in video format (less than 5 minutes), in English or your native language. Send it to stories@catalystnetwork.org

“You seek God. You pray. You read His word. Make time for Him. Sometimes you have to just be still in His presence and hear Him. So, you’re not in a rush.”

Worshippers Following the Voice of God

Catalyst is a large movement of churches around the world and we take seriously the need to keep following the lead and call of God to us. Once a year we gather prophetic voices from inside and outside our family of churches asking them what they feel God is saying to us about the coming season.

Sometimes gathering prophetic voices can feel like uncapping a fire hose! When prophets come together they begin to spark off one another in a way that leads to a build of passion and excitement about the things God is saying. As someone who needs to try and untangle common themes and discern a way to communicate about a way forward together, it can feel a bit like being hit with a holy force of gushing water! We have attempted to condense and summarise some of the strongest prophetic themes below. May they encourage us all as we continue to obey the leading of the Spirit.

What is God doing now? What season are we in?

Prioritising the Bridegroom and being pruned ahead of a heavy outpouring

“Don’t be sidetracked from being captivated by Jesus. 2024 is a year to fasting from appetites and other distracting affections and feasting on the presence of the Lord. It’s a honing, cleansing, preparatory season. A sabbath rest season.”

Ben

Armstrong, Bethel

“We need to prune the unnecessary things in our lives that once the heavy glory of God comes will be pulled down (like heavy snow on the branches of unpruned trees). Ask God where His hand is in everything we are doing.” Ben Armstrong, Bethel

“Leaders need to make sure their lives are pruned and yielding in fresh ways in obedience in their own lives. The more of God will be born out of obedience to God.” Paul Worth

“It’s a season of surrender. Surrendering to being realigned, this is a season of repentance. Out of our surrender we’ll be assigned to care more for others.” Phil Withew

Worshippers

Release of Roles for everyone

“God is releasing resources of people. Release of people into roles (not titles), roles for male and female. Free from contention and history. I see God raising up men and women into the roles of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Into these roles to do the work God has prepared for Catalyst to do. Coworkers with God for the gospel. As a movement you will pioneer something different and will model something that others see and want to follow when they see the beauty and fruit.” Ian Ormesher, Munich

“Attitudes need to and are already shifting. Global/diverse nature of the church coming to the forefront and repent of us being blind to it. Kingdom manoeuvring to make sure everyone gets to play. Men,women, married, single, working class, black, white.” Abi Flavell

“Path up the mountain being opened up to all people, like Mount Everest becoming more accessible to climbers. Now there are huge queues to the top because it’s no longer beyond the reach of many.”

Matt Hatch

Season of multiplication

“The wind of the spirit that is opening new ways, it’s a new season of spring, of new life, of multiplication.”

Charlene Frammingham

“I saw a little spinning top, but as I was looking on, I saw that it was

getting bigger into a Whirlpool . Then there was 1, 2, then 3, then many people in this whirlpool (I was counting as I saw people coming, swirling into the whirlpool). I felt God say, when many get involved, things are going to take off... gathering and joining together things will take off. It will be bigger than you can imagine.”

Kath Adler

“Prepare the nets for the miracle catch that is on the way. Teaching our people to be obedient and getting our people ready to know how to disciple those that will wake up and come to know Jesus. Time to cast our nets into new places.”

Matt Weedall

“Prophets being stirred and reawoken, undomesticated - not politically correct but prophetically correct!” Phil Withew

New move of God coming

“Move of God will be about the Fathers Heart for the lost. God will break out hearts for the lost, there will be tears and grief for the lost.”

Rob

Davey

“Those that have experienced Father Heart of God and been restored by his love will be compelled to love others into the kingdom.”

“Urgency to get ready. Kingdom growth is coming and we need to be ready. Nets will break if our people do not know how to disciple all those that will come.”

“There is a season coming when all those prophetic promises will come to pass. Reawakening is coming, many, the many will turn, repent and rest will replace striving, refreshment

is coming from the presence of God to go radically.” Charlene Frammingham

How to prepare and join in:

“Prepare the nets (our people) for the miracle catch that is about to come in. Changing our structures so that they can cope with many who will come to Christ. Teach our disciples how to make their own disciples.”

“Learn a new level of obedience in our lives as leaders and training others to be obedient.”

“Keep pursuing remaking the wineskin of the church ready for the new wine of the spirit. Keep making sure we have rooted out cultural blindspots and doing the work of reconciling towards unity.”

“Seek God in this season and allow him to root out of us anything displeasing. Keep our gaze fixed on Him and rest in Him.”

“There is something for us to prioritise in finding and preparing working class leaders in these communities who are positioned in this season to become community advocates and bridge builders.” Phil Withew

“Prepare leaders/people ready to run with the moves of God.”

A community of worshippers on a mission together

c m o y m u n i t

The next section in the magazine will follow the theme of community and are based on our next two apostolic foundations.

Genuine Love For One Another

The Promise: Psalm 133:1-3

The Fulfilment: John 13:34-35

The Example: Acts 2:44-46

The Encouragement: Eph 4:1-3

May we be people who:

▪ Have a model and culture that enables friendships to form and ‘one-anothering’ to be expressed healthily in a diverse community that expresses ‘one new man’ in Christ. Regularly taking the Lord’s supper together.

Anointed Leadership Operating In Team

The Promise: Jer 23:4

The Fulfilment: Matt 20:25-28

The Example: Acts 2:42

The Encouragement: Titus 1:5-9

May we be people who:

▪ Develop appropriately sized leadership team(s) of elders along with other men and women working in joint partnership together where they feel mutually honoured, accountable and released.

▪ To give to one another financially and serve willingly in a way that demonstrates that people do not just attend a meeting but belong to a family. Help them to know how to resolve conflict healthily and do so.

▪ Welcome and serve guests, newcomers and those of different ages and stages across the church family and have clear and effective ways of doing this.

▪ Develop a culture of healthy sexuality where we equally love and welcome everyone whilst promoting an honour for singleness and heterosexual marriage as God’s blueprint for living.

Want to know more?

Watch the video to learn more about the Catalyst Apostolic Foundations.

▪ Develop spirit-filled servant-hearted teams which have complimentary gifts, commitment to a shared mission and common values for which they are mutually accountable.

▪ Receive and develop relationships with apostolic teams to help them towards unity and maturity. These teams, in relationship with the church and its leaders, help to lay apostolic and prophetic foundations, break new ground, train church and society leaders, serve and care for the church and help to hold the church accountable for the work and culture to which God has called them.

▪ Grow in their connection to an apostolic family of churches giving and receiving resources, accountability, training, support and friendship and partnering in key ventures together.

Embracing Our Global Family

Cultivating communities that display the diversity of the Kingdom of God

We are a global family. In fact, we have vastly more churches outside the UK than we do in the UK. So, we need to have a more global framework of being a family. We are, therefore, shifting our thinking so that as many of us can feel connected together as possible. And, what a joy, that we get to learn from one another and be enriched by each other.

I am a church planter, I have planted two churches in Hull in the last 17 years. When we arrived, about 20 years ago, it was a very white working class city. We were told that having a diverse church would never happen. But, our first church grew and expanded and defied those categories wonderfully. So we became very international. But then when we were planting, very few of our internationals came with us.

We were going into even more of a kind of white working class area with no much diversity within our planting team. So, when we were putting the foundations of the church, one of them we wanted to keep, we are going to welcome everyone. So now,

eight years later, here is our church celebrating Nigerian Independence Day together. We recently had our Nations Sundays, just celebrating the nations among us. And I’ve lost count of how many nations there are. I think there’s upwards of 15 nations.

And we just made a really big point of saying “we’re going to be your friends”. We’re going to open our home. We’re not just here to care for you. We’re here to learn from you.

It is on the heart of God to mix the nations together. And I’m just so grateful for the journey that we’ve been on. I know that some of you are not in this place. I know that it looks different in everybody’s context. But, I would just encourage you, specially leaders, to keep cultivating a personal heart, a personal desire for having the nations among you. And I would just encourage you to keep praying for it.

Use your Sundays or gathering points. Use your preaching time or

small group time to talk about and cast vision for global mission and family. And I also encourage you to use your gatherings to push people out of their monocultural bubble. One of the things that we were very passionate about and did in our first church plant, was to sing in different languages.We sang some songs in French, because we had lots of refugees among us who only spoke French. And it helped us to imagine what they feel every Sunday when they’re here with us, how hard work it is to be working out what is going on.

In my current church, we sing a lot in Spanish because there’s one gentleman who doesn’t speak English. So we’re trying to come to him. Only one. We’ve got a whole church of 160 people, but the one, we’re going after the one who doesn’t speak any English and we’re trying to do as much as we can. So

It is on the heart of God to mix the nations together. And I’m just so grateful for the journey that we’ve been on.

we translate our slides, our scriptures into Spanish on a Sunday and we sing, we’re trying to sing more in Spanish.

And just push the church out of their comfort zone and help them see. If you do that work, God will send you people because your heart’s ready to receive them. It’s almost cultivating something prophetically in the church before you see it materialised. You can do the heart work now. God sees that work and he goes, right, they’re ready, I’ll send them someone.

You can also use Catalyst resources to help your church and communities cultivate a heart for the nations. Through the stories and news we share as Catalyst we can help your church to feel part of something bigger.

Abigail Flavell

Senior leader at River City Church Hull and part of the Strategy Team at Catalyst.

Growing Leaders with Strong Foundations

Raising up men and women as disciple-making leaders is crucial to our health and future as a family of churches. That’s what the Catalyst Leadership and Theology Training Course exists for.

We are a learning community, investing to grow existing and emerging leaders on strong foundations of theological understanding, grace-based spirituality, character integrity and practical leadership.

Church planting, cross-cultural mission, post graduate theological study, youth work, leading worship teams, and church leadership are just some of the wide range of things people have gone on to do after completing the course. At present we have 37 women and men on the course, gathered from across the UK. We worship together, pray together, eat, chat, laugh and cry together as well as digging deep into theology and leadership practice.

This year, alongside our year-long exploration of biblical theology, we have had a rich mix of powerful

spiritual encounters as Wendy Mann led us on developing a supernatural culture, pastoral insight from Andrew Bunt on sexuality, gender and singleness, superb input on disciplemaking from Simon Holley and inspirational teaching on justice and God’s heart for the poor from Natalie Williams and Joe Macnamara. Some of the highlights looking ahead include a day with Amy Orr-Ewing on apologetics, Glen Scrivener on evangelism, as well as lots more teaching from leading figures within Catalyst. We have also introduced a new focus on leadership health in terms of character, spirituality and building healthy rhythms of work and rest.

The course was developed in partnership with Moorlands College, with a possibility to receive credits for studying with us. We are considering expanding this relationship and

initiating discussions with Catalyst leaders abroad to explore what the course could contribute to churches in other nations.

Those who join the course include site leaders, youth and children’s leaders, newly appointed elders, worship pastors, and many others. They are supported by their church elders, who recognise their potential and seek to invest in their leadership.

Applications are now open for September 2024. Identify individuals in your church whom you see God growing into leadership of different kinds and explore how the course could be part of their journey. Visit our website or contact our Course Administrator, Alecs Atkinson, at leadershiptraining@catalystnetwork.org.

John and Alison Risbrdige Laders of the Catalyst Leadership and Theology Training Course

The course has 3 core elements:

Classroom learning

Over two years, 40 days of learning on Fridays and Saturdays, at Milton Keynes. It follows three major tracks: Biblical Theology, Historical/Systematic Theology, and Leadership. The Leadership track will be explored through the lenses of the apostolic, prophetic, evangelistic, pastoral, and teaching ministry.

In-church mentoring

To focus personal development and integrate learning into every day practice.

Optional written assignments

To consolidate and extend learning, which lead to the Catalyst Certificate in Theology and Leadership Training.

LEARN MORE > You can now apply to start in September 2024.

“The combination of theological history and practical leadership has given a new depth to my personal faith and a stronger foundation for ministry - excellent!”

Caroline Johnson, Pastor at King’s Church London.

“The course has provided an excellent foundation in biblical theology. Much of what I learned during the course has directly fed into my leadership function.”

David Layen, staff elder at Emmanuel Church, Oxford

“For me it was a place to learn, grow, question, discuss and make lifelong friends.”

Linda Geevanathan, Leader at Hope Church, Luton

“Spirit filled worship times together. Feels we are one big family which I look forward to every month”

Kwame Gelli, youth leader at City

Hope Church London

A community of worshippers on a mission together n

The next section in the magazine will follow the theme of mission and are based on our next two apostolic foundations.

Mission

Declare & Demonstrate The Good News Of The Kingdom

The Promise: Is 9:6-7

The Fulfilment: Matt 3:2

The Example: Acts 2:36

The Encouragement: Col 1:13

May we be people who:

▪ Understand the Gospel of the Kingdom and what it looks like to declare and demonstrate this where God has placed them, particularly remembering the poor.

Make Healthy Multiplying Disciples

The Promise: Gen 12:1-3

The Fulfilment: Matt 28:18-20

The Example: Acts 2:47

The Encouragement: 2 Tim 2:2

May we be people who:

▪ Understand the priority to make multiplying disciples, teaching one another to obey all that Jesus has commanded

▪ Commit to local mission and world evangelism. Sending people and resources to work out all aspects of the Great Commission in their Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and ends of the earth. Declaring and demonstrating the gospel of the Kingdom as they go, baptising those who respond and planting new churches among those people.

▪ By the power of the Spirit undertake spiritual warfare by healing the sick, bringing freedom from oppression, leading people to Christ and doing the works of the Kingdom.

▪ Persevere through many difficulties including persecution and suffering as they take up their cross and follow Jesus.

▪ Develop practical ways that people in the community learn how to be like Jesus and do the things that He did and to make disciples from the lost people that they encounter.

▪ Produce well rounded disciples who are growing in relationship to God and others and the world.

▪ Deliver pastoral care and personal transformation to people in their thinking, emotional and spiritual life and relationships.

Want to know more?

Hope Restored to Communities

Serving families and unlocking pathways to brighter futures

We were originally sent out from a Newfrontiers church 9 years ago, with a toddler and a baby. We now have a 13-year-old and an 11-year-old (Alana and Asa) and a 5-year-old dog called Wilbur. We first moved to Northern Cyprus, which we fell in love with and would recommend as a place to visit, or live! We always felt eventually called to move back as a family to Kurdistan, which Sharo had left as a child. And in 2016 God started to shape what this would look like.

We saw news of people drowning while trying to cross seas to get into Europe and found our hearts breaking. We wondered what it would look like to live and work in these communities,

helping people find hope, so they wouldn’t feel pressured to risk their lives trying to find it elsewhere. Sharo has personal experience as a refugee. In the early nineties, when Saddam Hussein was dropping bombs on Kurdish cities, Sharo and his family made a similar perilous journey, walking across mountains, arriving into Turkey and waiting for asylum in the UK.

We moved to Kurdistan in 2016, and started a UK charity ‘Hope for Communities’, opening a community centre in a refugee/displaced community. We spent time asking the community what would bring hope, and most parents asked us to teach

their children English, as this is thought to open up future job opportunities. Most children asked for Karate lessons. So, this is where we started, and 6 years later the centre is a beautiful, hope-filled environment where our amazing team of local staff invests in, and encourages many wonderful children and young people. We have children who are now fluent in English and are working towards internationally recognised qualifications. We are working to see if we can support some of the young people, to go to university and build a more hopeful future for themselves and their families.

Another group of people that we had always felt a call to work with were orphans. Orphanages in Kurdistan are government-led institutions. Three years ago doors miraculously opened to us going into different orphanages as a team, every week in our city. In this time we have done many different things such as teaching children to swim, and taking out the youngest age group every week for a trip as otherwise they wouldn’t ever leave the house.

As we developed a relationship with the young boys in the oldest home we became aware of a really sad situation. They have to leave the orphanage at 18, but aren’t prepared to live independently. Many have left education as early teens and had already fallen into unhealthy habits. Many of these young men sadly end up in prison. We knew we had to try and help. In 2023, we opened a coffee shop which is an amazing hub for the community, but also is a place where these young men can work and train. Through our mentorship, all of our current apprentices have got back into education and are growing in so many ways.

All our projects could be developed and expanded to do more, but as they are long-term investments, we don’t want to take on anything we can’t continue. Maybe in reading this, you feel either as individuals or in your churches, you would like to consider supporting us every month. You can partner with us in our work in seeing hope restored to communities. Follow us on social media for regular updates, and visit our website to donate, or get in touch.

Could you support this charity?

Hope for Communities is a charity working in the Kurdish region of Northern Iraq. Their vision is to see hope restored to communities where this has been lost due to war, displacement or poverty. They are passionate about bringing long lasting change through our projects – enabling and empowering the community in order to really restore hope.

LEARN MORE >

Alexis, Sharo and family Founders of Hope for Communities: Sharo, a Kurdish nurse from Northern Iraq, and Alexis, a UK doctor

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.نووب ادیاویھ ێب یتەڵاح ەل یەناکڵەخ وەئ ادەراوائ یکەیاگڵەمۆک ەل ەیەھ نامکێرەتنەس ادشیتەمووکح یناتشرەپرەس ێب یەناخ اھەورەھ تسەد نامەزات

We are a Global Family

With a majority of our churches located outside the UK, we want to spotlight and celebrate stories and articles representing the diverse voices and experiences within our international family in Catalyst Magazine. If you are fluent in another language and would like to help translate our content, we would love to hear from you. Reach out to us at stories@catalystnetwork.org

It’s Never Too Late to Be Part of God’s Mission

Julie Hawkins’ story serves as a powerful reminder that God will continue to grow us to impact others

Get to know Julie Hawkins, that together with her husband Robin, leads New Life Church in Salmatino, Spain. In our conversation, she opens up about their exciting journey planting a church in Spain. Julie shares how God has taken her on a journey of growing in the prophetic and evangelism. Her stories remind us that it’s never too late to dive into the gifts of the Spirit and to and fearlessly spread Jesus’ love and truth.

To watch Julie’s interview in full, click on the image above.

Share your story

We would love to hear how God is moving you or your community to reach others with the Gospel. Send it to stories@catalystnetwork.org

“Learning to see what the Father is doing has been the most exciting thing of my life.”

Releasing Artists To Renew Culture

A new course to help you engage with the arts

I often find myself in conversations with Christians about the arts. They often go like this. “I kind of like art. I think it might be important. I wish there were more Christian artists. But, if I’m honest, I just don’t get it!”

It is true that art is a realm of human experience that is incredibly difficult to pin down. I mean how exactly is a painted shed different from a painted canvas or a shopping list different to a poem or the dawn chorus different to a string concerto? But it’s even more difficult to articulate its value. Especially in our Christian mission. I mean, how could making art possibly fit into the clear commission of Jesus to make disciples? We’ve got churches to plant, poverty to relieve, closed nations to open up to the gospel. Art is, at best, a peripheral concern and, at worst, a massive, colourful, noisy, verbose distraction.

But, still, as my aforementioned conversations on the subject reveal, most of us have the inkling that somehow art is important. It’s important to our humanity and it’s important to our Christianity.

So, what do we do?

Well, Sputnik have put together a course to help you to at least have a better chance to ‘get it’. Or at least

to think about this topic a bit more carefully. It’s called ‘Releasing Artists to Renew Culture’ and it consists of 8 short videos, from 8- 15 minutes. The whole course will take a whopping 90 minutes out of your life from start to finish but we’ll also be providing discussion questions and relevant artworks and Scriptures for those in who want to dive in a bit deeper.

It will be released through the Broadcast Network at the end of April and to kick things off, we’re hosting a launch event on Monday 29th April, from 7:30-8:30pm, on Zoom. I’m going to host the launch party, with some of my artistic friends and the plan is to introduce the course, take questions and lead you in prayer for your churches and for the artists in your churches and for the world that art can help us to reach with the gospel. We’d like to pray for you too and maybe even share what we think God is speaking to us about to encourage you.

If you’re an artist, it’s for you. If you’re not an artist, it’s for you. If you’re a church leader who is not an artist, it’s especially for you. So, if you don’t get art but can’t shake off the feeling that it may be more than just the window dressing of life, come and join us. Sign up on the Eventbrite and hopefully, see you there.

Jonny Mellor Elder at Church Central in Birmingham, and leads Sputnik

Do you want to release artists to renew culture? @ sputnikfaithart have a new course up their sleeve. Come to the launch on Zoom on 29th April

The Moses Brothers

Unveiling God’s Vision for the Marginalised

Coming alongside those trapped in poverty

Last week I had one of the most interesting and provoking days at work so far this year. I was at Jubilee+ Voices, one of the most exciting projects we run, hearing about the challenges and triumphs of people who are accessing church-based mercy ministries.

Each participant is currently facing poverty, or has only recently emerged from it. One man used to be in the army and, since leaving, has struggled to keep on top of his bills and is now in debt. Another guy suffered a mental breakdown after three friends committed suicide in quick succession. A third man used to be addicted to alcohol and drugs, and is now living in church-run housing after coming out of prison.

One of the things I love about this is that it blows away one of the most persistent myths about people in poverty in wealthy western nations – the lie that people are “work-shy”, “skivers” and “scroungers”, as some of our national newspapers would put it.

But more importantly, it reveals something of the heart of God for people trapped in poverty: it shows how much deeper and richer and broader and more wonderful His vision is for those society would write off.

Isaiah 61 tells us that “the poor… the broken-hearted… the captives… the prisoners… all who mourn… they will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendour. They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.”

Though their stories differ, there are some striking similarities. All three are still facing very difficult circumstances, yet each spoke of finding hope again through the help churches have given them. And each one of them currently volunteers in a project run by the church that helped them.

God’s vision for people in poverty is not just that we should experience the relief of our poverty (as vital as that is), but also that we should know

Natalie Williams Chief Executive at Jubilee+

release from our poverty. And this release from poverty – this lifting up out of our circumstances – leads to a transformation that is at the heart of the gospel.

Change is possible. Acorns become oaks. God choses the weak, the foolish, the lowly and the despised, and delights to make us more and more like Jesus.

“God choses the weak, the foolish, the lowly and the despised, and delights to make us more and more like Jesus.”

When everything around us is available at the click of a button, we can be impatient with the work of God in our own lives and in the lives of others, but He knows what He is doing, and His timing is perfect.

He may work slower than we would like, but He is doing a deep, thorough work in each one of us. Just like the participants of Jubilee+ Voices, each follower of Jesus is being lifted up out of our poverty (economic, relational, aspirational, spiritual) and transformed into someone who brings God glory and makes a difference to others.

Each of us is being changed from one degree of glory to another (2 Corinthians 3:18). Slowly. Even the fastest growing oak trees take 20 years to mature, and most take between 50 and 100 years. (I’m so comforted by this – as much as I’d like to shoot up like bamboo, I find myself growing at an oak’s pace!)

We were rescued for a purpose – redeemed to become oaks of righteousness that display the splendour of God, and rebuilt, restored and renewed so that we can rebuild, restore and renew others. When we are coming alongside those trapped in poverty, let’s not settle for less than the full vision God has for each one of us.

LEARN MORE >

Mission Trainning 1000 Church Planters by 2030

Pioneering into new cities and new nations

Over the past 10 years Catalyst has planted more than 300 new churches in different parts of the world. We have some remarkable brothers and sisters pioneering into new cities and new nations, establishing new church communities bringing glory to Jesus! Recently, God has stirred us to train 1000 church planters before the year 2030. We’d like to keep you updated if you’d either like to be praying for us, train with us or become a coach who could care for future church planters.

This initiative began with Simon Holley sensing God drop into his spirit a challenge. This is how Simon recalls that moment:

Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about what’s next for us. In a quiet moment of prayer, I felt a nudge, a whisper in my spirit, saying ‘train 1000 church planters’. At first, this idea seemed overwhelming – even impossible. But then I remembered that God had spoken to us like this before and we raised far more than the £100,000 he asked us to raise for the Covid fund. If it’s from Him then

He will enable us to not only achieve it, but maybe even to exceed it!”

As Simon shared this with other leaders across our family of churches, quickly there was a rise of faith. There is now a genuine sense that God is speaking to us and challenging us to believe Him for a wonderful church planting advance over the coming years.

You can listen to Simon Holley and Martin Tibbert share more about Train1000 on our blog from our recent leaders gathering.

We feel we have weighed this word and are therefore seeking to train 1000 church planters by the year 2030. We believe this is a global initiative that God is asking us all to own together. Our family around the world are leading the

LISTEN AUDIO

way in spreading the gospel and impacting their communities with the Kingdom of God. Many of the resources that end up being produced for the Train1000 initiative will be in multiple languages and include learnings from across our family.

For more details about how you can be involved in Train 1000, subscribe to our email list. When you join the list, you can opt to pray for us, express interest in coaching or training, or simply stay updated.

SUBSCRIBE >

“At first, this idea seemed overwhelming – even impossible. But then I remembered that God had spoken to us like this before. If it’s from Him then He will enable us to not only achieve it, but maybe even to exceed it!”

As part of the Train 1000 initiative to equip and empower church planters, Catalyst brings back the Catalyst Multiply Conference. Join us as we welcome back Steve Nicholson, Martin Tibbert, and Richard Whightman for inspiring teaching and ministry, accompanied by uplifting worship led by Neal Glanville. Attend in-person or online on June 22 in Bedford, UK.

Our guest speaker is Steve Nicholson. Steve for many years has coached and trained hundreds of church planters in the Vineyard Family. He is man of the Spirit - working closely with John Wimber for many years. We believe his visit is very timely for us.

Visit the website for more details and to book your tickets.

Global initiati ve

Get to know our Apostolic Hubs:

Andy Johnston’s Hub Team

A group of churches connected relationally, meeting regularly in the SouthEast of England and reaching out internationally into East Africa, Europe, and South-East Asia.

A Worldwide Family

Catalyst is a movement of churches building communities that raise disciples who change the world. With our roots in Newfrontiers, we are a family of 800+ churches connected together through genuine relationship and served by a number of apostolic teams who aim to equip churches to raise pioneering disciples that see God's kingdom fill the earth.

Got a story to share?

Send it our way at stories@catalystnetwork.org and it could become a feature in the next Catalyst Magazine.

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Andy Johnston

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