The issue of catalytic leadership has prompted lots of discussion around our denomination. Missionary Church Today decided to go right to our top leadership to find answers to some of the questions people are asking. We believe you’ll find Dr. Hossler’s responses quite helpful.

For about two years now, we’ve been hearing a lot about our need for catalytic leaders. What exactly is a catalytic leader?

A catalytic leader is basically one who is able to jumpstart work in a new area. For example, Paul says, “I want to go to areas where the gospel has not been preached, I don’t want to build upon another man’s foundation.” A catalytic leader is just one who is able to start things from nothing or from very little. Not everybody can do that. That doesn’t mean that others aren’t good leaders, it just means that they’re not able to lead in that capacity. Specifically, we say that a catalytic leader is characterized by being spiritually passionate, missional--meaning primarily focused on the great commission--and entrepreneurial.

You mentioned the apostle Paul. Who are some biblical examples of catalytic leaders?

Certainly Paul was a catalytic leader. He wanted to go where the gospel had not been preached. He was able to start something from nothing. He was an entrepreneur, and he was constantly going to new towns and starting churches where none existed. Peter was also a catalytic person, wanting to go places and start things. Certainly Moses was a catalytic leader, and so was Joshua. They simply went into brand new areas and created new opportunities.

Why all of a sudden is this type of leadership so important?

It’s not really all of a sudden. While we are very strongly committed to strengthening the local church, in our five-year vision we are also focused on church planting. What we want catalytic leaders to be able to do in this phase is to plant 250 new churches. We recognize that to really get the Missionary Church growing and expanding, it will require catalytic-type leaders.  That doesn’t say that they’re better than anybody else. It doesn’t say that that’s the only type of leader we’re going to focus on. But it does say that they’re going to receive a primary focus as the ones who are going to get up and get things started. If we’re going to start 250 new churches, we need catalytic leaders to get them going. If we’re going to start 25 new mission districts, those are going to require catalytic leaders. If we’re going to start 25 new global disciple-making movements, those have to be led by catalytic leaders. It’s just a major part of our focus in this five-year vision phase.

How would a catalytic leader’s church be different from that of a more traditional pastor?

Depending upon the traditional pastor, there maybe no difference at all—because some very traditional pastors are also catalytic by nature. But there are others who are certain of their calling and who everyone would affirm as having pastoral gifts, who would not be characterized as a catalytic-type people. They may not choose to be involved in a lot of expansion or outreach, but they are just super pastors. We need both.

Are we talking just about needing pastors who are catalytic leaders, or about needing catalytic lay leaders as well?

We’re talking about both. We’re talking about caring more for the people we have; we’re talking about expanding beyond where we already are. To do that, we’re going to need passionate, missional, catalytic leaders within churches. I want to be careful here, stating over and over again that this does not make one leader better than another. In Romans, Paul says if your gift is administration, practice administration; if your gift is leadership, then do that diligently. We understand all about various gifting, but somehow we get into the area of leadership and we don’t see the variation in the gifting of leaders. All we’re saying is that in this vision phase we’re looking at an area that we’ve not looked at sufficiently in the past. And that is the start-up type leader. 

Then is being a catalytic leader purely a matter of gifting, or can any leader become a catalytic leader?

I guess if we could answer whether leaders are made or born, we could probably answer that question.  I think it’s a combination. There are some who—if coached, if directed, if given help in defining their vision—can move forward beyond where they are as catalytic leaders. There are some, however, who have a head start. For example, let’s take basketball. I like basketball.  But Michael Jordan was way ahead of me. I could have practiced 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and I would never have gotten close to him. Could I have improved? Yes, I could have improved. But I couldn’t jump like he jumped; I didn’t have the hand eye coordination; I didn’t have the speed that he had. So I think it’s the same for catalytic leadership.

So you would say that a 50-year old pastor or leader who hasn’t been one in the past could become a catalytic leader?

I think so, yes.

What does it take for pastors or lay people to develop into catalytic leaders if they catch the vision for it?

I think they need to look at a bigger picture than they’ve looked at in previous years. They need to begin to look outside of the box, where before now they’ve just been looking inside the box of the local church or maybe another defined category. It may mean that they need to be around people who are catalytic in their nature, to let some of that rub off on them.  They need to spend time with the Lord, letting him put some of that into their hearts and lives. I think they need to read biographies: they can read about others who’ve been catalytic leaders. And at times I think they need to begin to step outside their comfort zones and try new things.

If a person isn’t that catalytic leader, but a more a gentle-shepherd type leader, what’s the place for that person in the five-year vision?

We probably need 85% of our people to be the shepherds of the flock. You need a lot more shepherds who will take over the things that the catalytic serves up.  So there’s a huge need for those who have other pastoral gifts.

I think there’s a fear among some of our40- or 50-something pastors that they’re going to be pushed out in favor of new, younger catalytic leaders. What would you like to say to people with those fears?

First, I don’t think being a catalytic leader is connected to age. It’s age-neutral. I don’t care if a person is 20 or 60 or 80. Second, as we’ve said, a traditional-type pastor may already be catalytic. So we are not saying we’re just after a new young crop. We’re just zeroing in a little bit closer on entrepreneurial and start-up people. Nobody should feel they’re going to get pushed out. With the number of churches we have and the number of works we want to start, we’re going to need every person we can get to pitch in and get the work done.

What can our churches do to encourage thedevelopment of catalytic leaders?

I think every congregation could begin to develop a strategy of identifying and encouraging potential leadership in their local church. I think that would be huge. Sometimes we do it intuitively. You may have a Sunday school teacher who sees that someone has potential, so she gives him or her little jobs like teaching the lesson or just telling the story one week. In that way we begin to develop them. We do that sometimes in our churches, and obviously when we have kids. But I think there’s more we could do to develop leadership abilities and skills in our kids and youth. One of the things Leith Anderson’s church does is somewhat like schools having a career day and bringing in firemen, accountants, and others. Anderson’s church brings in pastors and missionaries. They really highlight that, because so many people are influenced. So I think there’s a lot more we could do in the local church to focus on leadership development.

How do you harness and help direct youthful idealism among some of our sharp youth and young adults?

Number one is to be a big encourager. Life tends to knock the stuffing out of you. Encourage that youthful idealism. There’s a movie, Dreamer, from a few years ago that was based on a true story. A little girl gets a horse and announces she’s going to get it in the Breeders’ Cup. Her dad and her grandfather are both horse trainers and know that the fees are over $100,000, and that the Breeders’ Cup is only for the elite. There’s a scene where the girl’s dad and mom are together, and mom says, “Why don’t you just let her dream?” He says, “I can tell you right now it’s not going to come true.” But the wife says, “Why don’t you let her dream and let it take her as far as it will?” I think that’s a great line. Let their dreams take them as far as they can. Allow them to dream. Do you need to help them stay connected to reality? Yes. But the truth is, in this story they did raise the fees, they did get the horse in the Breeders’ Cup, and the horse won. “Let her dream take her as far as it will” is a great line. Another important thing is to get them into the right training, so that others can help shape them.

How do you see a new wave of catalytic leaders changing the Missionary Church over the next five or ten years?

The main way I see it changing the Missionary Church is that we will start more new movements or initiatives than we have in the last five to ten years. I think that’s going to be the biggest change that we’re going to see. Two-hundred-fifty new churches in five years is significant. Twenty-five new Mission Districts in five years is significant, especially when you’ve had only ten districts for the last 50 years. That’s going to be the biggest change. 

What else might you like to say to pastors and people in relation to this issue of developing catalytic leaders?

Number one is that the greatest place for the training of catalytic leaders is in the local church. As we’ve dealt with all five areas of the vision—prayer, evangelism, discipleship, strengthening local churches, and developing catalytic leaders—it always comes back to the local church being the best place to do these things—down at the grassroots level. It would be great if churches can begin to really dream about raising up catalytic leaders. When I was at Colonial Woods, we started praying specifically for people to go into full time Christian service. That became a significant thing for us. Since that time, over 40 individuals have gone into full time Christian service. The one prayer request that Jesus gave us was to pray for workers, and I believe he wants to answer that prayer—or he would never have asked us to pray it. If a church will put the raising of leadership for the harvest—whether catalytic or not—at the top of the prayer list and pray that seriously, before they get to the infirmary list, I think that would be significant. Second, a church could purposefully strategize to raise up children and youth to become leaders for the future. I think that’s critical. And I think pastors and congregations could then begin to coach and train people on what spiritual leadership is. We do Bible studies, but we tend to shy away from talking about spiritual leadership and what that means. We need to be asking ourselves, how can people God has gifted in leadership use those gifts to a greater impact for the sake of the kingdom? I have a sign in my office with a quote from John Quincy Adams: “If your actions inspire others to dream more, to learn more, to do more, and to become more, you are a leader.” I like that quote.