CATALYSE LAUNCH MESSAGE BY PASTOR BEN KC LEE

In the beginning

God’s agape love births passion in us. His Great Commandment passion fuels us for His Great Commission. Then the Lord’s Great Commission brings change and transformation.

God is doing a new thing in our midst and bringing us through a time of transition. CATALYSE is birthed from a desire and passion to bring God’s church towards His agenda. The word CATALYSE means to produce fundamental change in or to transform. This is the name of our global master plan for five years from 2011-2015. This consists of 6 strategic priorities supported by 16 initiatives. This day we launch CATALYSE on the 21st January 2011 at the Passion Global Conference (GC) in Chiang Mai, our first GC in this new five-year window.

A second-generation connectional movement

The premise for the transformational change is that we are a second-generation connectional movement. The Hope movement was birthed in 1981. This happened in the midst of the Charismatic revival that started in the 1970s and continued through the 1980s in this part of the world. Since our inception we have seen two generations in our midst. Today we are the second generation. Second, we are a connectional rather than a congregational movement. This means that we are a family, connected with multiple bonds. We are not linked by methods but by truth, finance, gathering, leadership, organisation, polity, purpose and relationship. In other words, we are a second-generation connectional movement.

What is the significance? In general, first-generation movements emphasise mission and tend to develop rudimentary structures for maintenance. In second and third generations, internal developments become important. Unless the church develops effective infrastructures, it will become progressively less able to continue to engage in mission (Stuart Murray 1998, 109). This is another context why our movement is transforming, to better engage in mission. Hence, the birth of CATALYSE.

CATALYSE – Priorities & Initiatives

The purpose of our master plan is to develop an overarching direction, achieve effective synergy and recapture our cutting edge as a global movement. Strategic planning is a participatory and structured process for setting our future direction by identifying our current capacity, needs and goals. The word CATALYSE means:-

1. To modify, especially to increase, the rate of (a chemical reaction) by catalysis.
2. To bring about; to initiate
3. To produce fundamental change in; to transform

There are two key words in CATALYSE; Priorities and Initiatives. We have 6 Priorities for 2011-2015 and 16 Initiatives to support the Priorities. We have assembled 16 Initiative teams from across the globe.

Priority 1 - From Variable to Consistently Healthy

• Initiative 1 : Cultivate (biblical) church culture, values and philosophy
• Initiative 2 : Develop a Church Health Assessment System
• Initiative 3 : Rejuvenate a growing passion for God expressed through our mission, values and culture

Priority 2 - From a Largely Asian CPM to a Global CPM

• Initiative 1 : Improve cross-cultural church planting in the West, Africa, Latin America and Middle East

Priority 3 - From Basic to Missional Christian Education

• Initiative 1 : Develop an effective discipleship roadmap
• Initiative 2 : Develop Ministry Courses to train leaders for specific ministries
• Initiative 3 : Develop Church Planting Courses
• Initiative 4 : Establish a team of theological writers for GC content and position papers

Priority 4 - From Developing to Fully-functional Five-fold Ministry and Leadership

• Initiative 1 : Develop a unified, fully-functioning five-fold ministry
• Initiative 2 : Re-tool current leaders for growth
• Initiative 3 : Nurture NextGEN leaders for sustainable future

Priority 5 - From Basic to Professional Management

• Initiative 1 : Recruit management team for Global Office
• Initiative 2 : Recommend Global Office blueprint
• Initiative 3 : Develop Global Church Polity

Priority 6 - From Exclusivity to Kingdom Partnerships

• Initiative 1 : Form strategic partnerships with apostolic movement, prophetic movement and Global NGOs
• Initiative 2 : Establish External Apostolic Advisory Board

Preparing for the Next Wave

We are a movement in transition. It has been a tough journey for many of us particularly in the past two years. Some of us may have been stuck for years, even before the recent crisis. Some of us have been waiting for something to happen for years. Perhaps some of us wonder, what if CATALYSE does not work? But, what if it does? Of course we won’t know what the future holds but we are certain about two things.

First, the world is global. Geographical lines are blurring in part due to global migration. Today a third of the world is bi-cultural. We are now talking global peoples. For example, half of the citizens of Turkmenistan are scattered around the world. Twenty million Indians around the world are more educated and have more money than all the one billion in India. Even anti-globalisation movements are becoming global! We need global solutions to global issues. We need global churches to reach global people. We are becoming a global connectional movement.

Second, in the third millennium, Christianity would truly be transcontinental. Today there is transfer of the centre of Christian gravity from the North to the South. Very soon the main centres of Christianity will be Africa, Latin America and parts of Asia. We currently have over 200 churches and mission points in 41 countries in Asia, Oceania, Africa, Latin America and the West. We are building teams and infrastructure as God orchestrates globalisation and urbanisation for the end-time revival.

This movement is of God. We are His people. He will renew His people. He is going to bring change. Let’s get ready for the His next move. It is time to build for the next season as we prepare for the next wave of God.

Being a CATALYST

Let’s support this CATALYSE change process as we pull together and push forward. As we journey forward together, let us remember that:

• God will supply the fire. Our role is to prepare the firewood.
• God will CATALYSE. We get ready to be His CATALYST.

This is a summary of the CATALYSE Launch message on the 21st January 2011 at our Global Conference in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The video recording of this entire message is available at our homepage on www.byHim.org

For more information write to us at

spt@byhim.org

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