How Movement Catalysts Evangelize with Zeal

What sets movement catalysts apart when it comes to sharing the Good News?They don’t just believe in evangelism—they burn with it.

In our latest blog, we explore how movement catalysts evangelize with zeal. We call this Evangelistic Zeal—a defining trait of effective catalysts. Research shows that catalysts rate themselves highly in this quality—and it’s evident in how they live, speak, and lead. This zeal flows from deep intimacy with God, genuine love for people, and a compelling drive to see Kingdom fruit.

We’ll look at what fuels this kind of zeal, how it shapes the lives and ministries of real catalysts like Batsiloh, and how it was modeled in the lives of Jesus and Paul. You’ll also find practical steps for rekindling your own evangelistic fire.

So let me ask: How strong is your Evangelistic Zeal these days?What might God want to reignite in you?

What Evangelistic Zeal looks like in effective catalysts

Effective movement catalysts have what I call Evangelistic Zeal. This means they are driven by a passionate urgency to see the Good News shared with all the lost, passionately sharing the Good News with everyone possible.

They exhibit this trait strongly. On a 1-5 Likert scale, their self-rating is 4.68 – the seventh highest rating of all 21 catalytic qualities.. Effective catalysts also exhibit this quality more strongly than non-catalysts. See the Table for a comparison.

Table: Evangelistic Zeal for Catalysts and Non-Catalysts

Quality	Catalysts	Non-Catalysts	Difference
Evangelistic Zeal	4.68	4.39	0.29
Average of all 22 qualities	4.41	4.06	0.35

This catalytic quality has three aspects to it:

1. Motivation: driven by a passionate urgency

2. Vision: to see the Good News shared with all the lost in the population group

3. Lifestyle: passionately sharing the Good News with everyone possible.

   
   

Evangelistic Zeal is one of the four motivational traits of effective catalysts. Recalling the other three helps us understand their Evangelistic Zeal more fully. The other three motivators of effective catalysts are:

• Hunger for God: Desiring depth in relationship with God, yearning to know and love him more deeply. 

• Tangible Love: A genuine interest in the lives and welfare of the people they reach out to, genuinely caring for them and expressing love to them in tangible ways.

• Drive to Achieve: Effective movement catalysts are motivated by achieving goals and have a strong drive, both to get things done and to attain results.

The deep hunger for God creates a desire to see God’s power and love manifest in the lives of others.

How Evangelistic Zeal is shaped by other motivational traits

First, Evangelistic Zeal in catalysts is fed by a deep Hunger for God. Batsiloh has started a nation-wide movement in a country in West Africa. More than 100,000 Muslims have become Christ-followers. I have interviewed him and have had coaching conversations with him. I have been in his home, and we have prayed together one-on-one. What characterizes Batsiloh more than anything else is his deep Hunger for God. I can summarize his desire this way:

“Above all else, I want GOD in my heart and life. Then I want God through my life in the lives of others. Then I want people experiencing God to become a chain reaction.”

As with Batsiloh, the deep Hunger for God in other effective catalysts creates a desire to see God’s power and love manifest in the lives of others. Thus their Hunger for God underlies their Evangelistic Zeal.

Second, Evangelistic Zeal is motivated by genuine love for people. Merely wanting to “give them the gospel” is a caricature of biblical evangelism. Real Evangelistic Zeal is motivated by love, and is done lovingly. “Love your neighbor” is Jesus’ greatest and central commandment for our lives. Therefore, genuine love for people is the deepest motivator in catalysts’ hearts that motivates them to share the Good News. 

Third, with their Drive to Achieve and to attain results, effective catalysts are not content to just share the Good News; they want to see a result, hopefully a positive response. They desire to influence people’s beliefs so they will receive the Good News and commit to following Jesus.

How effective catalysts share the Good News

Effective catalysts differ in their personal approaches to evangelism and in their personal styles, the way they open spiritual conversations, and the kind of Good News they share. However, the survey findings make it clear that all effective catalysts share these aspects of their Evangelistic Zeal:

How often they share: Effective catalysts share the Good News with everyone possible. This means as often as possible. Their evangelistic lifestyle is essential to their movement ministry.

With whom they share: They have a passionate urgency to see the Good News shared with all the lost in their population group.

How they share: They share the Good News passionately. They do so with deep conviction in a winsome and persuasive way. They aim for their sharing to influence the beliefs of the person(s) they share with.

Shadow-pastoring or rather active in evangelism?

This finding contradicts the notion that catalysts limit themselves to what some call “shadow-pastoring.” A shadowing approach to ministry may be common among certain missionaries, but our research did not find it among effective catalysts. Effective catalysts take a much more involved approach to their personal ministry.

Batsiloh, the movement catalyst and leader in West Africa, shared with me how he himself actively evangelizes: 

“I'm intentional to share everywhere I go. For example, if I'm traveling by car from the capital to the town where I live, there are times I give people lifts on the road, and I'm very intentional in doing it. I offer a lift to those who would benefit from it. And I'll provide food in the vehicle for them. I get to know them, maybe for the next hour or two. I listen to their stories. Then there's a point we get to, where I tell them my own story. I'm very intentional, and I have modeled this to my movement leaders, and have passed that skill to them.”

Upon reflection, the finding that effective catalysts actively share the Good News themselves should not come as a surprise. A catalyst needs to set an example others can follow. They have to both carry and live out the spiritual DNA of a movement they intend to catalyze. Their behavior leaves a role model for team members and partners to emulate. Specifically:

• The personal passion of the catalyst kindles the passion of the team and the movement.

• The vision of the catalyst inspires the vision of the team and eventually the movement.

• The lifestyle of the catalyst models and shapes the lifestyle of the team and the movement.

Our research did not find a shadowing approach to ministry among any of the effective catalysts.

From my own experience

In my own ministry as a movement catalyst, I have had a deep passion to share Jesus with everyone possible and to turn everyday conversations into Jesus conversations, wherever appropriate. Therefore, when people asked why I had come to their country, I told them I was Jesus’ disciple and He had told me to come to their country and serve them. When people asked what I was doing, I told them I wanted to follow my Master Jesus who always served the poor and met their needs. When people talked about their struggles, I turned the conversation to the Fall and how Jesus came to overcome it. When people talked about their hopes to experience peace, I turned their conversation to the Prince of Peace who made peace with God for us. When they shared a need, I offered to pray for them in the name of Jesus.

At the time I was unaware of the impact it had on the emerging movement we started in partnership with God – and even beyond. Years after I had left the on-the-ground ministry in Sudan, I met someone who had arrived a few years after my departure but had heard of me. Soon after we started talking, he blurted out: 

“Oh, I know who you are. You are the guy, they say in Sudan, who shares Jesus with everyone.”

Apparently, my practice had set an example. That influence, on the movement and beyond, continued even years after I left the scene.

Evangelism in the life of Jesus and Paul

This active evangelizing of effective catalysts matches the example of the movement catalyst St. Paul. He captures his core discipleship practice in the frequent exhortation: “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1; see also 1 Cor. 4:16; Gal. 4:12; Phl. 3:17; 1 The. 1:5-7; 2 The. 3:7; 1 Tim. 4:12; 2 Tim. 1:13). As catalyst, Paul set an example in all aspects of life and ministry, which included his evangelizing. He testified to Timothy, “You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings” (2 Tim. 3:10-11).

The same Evangelistic Zeal that we see in effective catalysts was operative in the life of Jesus himself: “Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few” (Mat. 9:35-37).

Note how clearly the main aspects of Evangelistic Zeal that we find in effective catalysts today are found in the description of Jesus’ here:

• Motivation: driven by a passionate urgency, Jesus viewed the harvest as plentiful (v. 37), ripe now and rotten soon.

• Vision: to see the Good News shared with all the lost, Jesus went through all the towns and villages (v. 35).

• Lifestyle: sharing the Good News with everyone possible, Jesus taught in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news (v. 35). 

The lack of harvest workers to bring Good News to harassed and helpless people, which moved Jesus with compassion, motivated him to call his disciples to pray for more. But it first motivated him to go himself through all the towns and villages and share the Good News.

As catalyst, Paul set an example in all aspects of life and ministry, which included his Evangelistic Zeal and practice.

What other thought leaders say about Evangelistic Zeal

The late Steve Smith also identified Evangelistic Zeal as one of the traits that characterize the heart of a catalyst. In Smith’s experience, catalysts are:

“Passionate for reaching all of the lost in his target group: 

• Single-minded, works diligently, driven until all are reached 

• Tenacious—will not take ‘no’ for an answer

• Sacrificial work ethic; living with a pervading sense of urgency” (Smith, 2014: 39)

Bill Smith, described by Steve Smith as the “man who is probably acquainted personally with more CPMs than any other person on this earth” (Smith, 2014: 38), identified the same trait in catalysts. In his experience, catalysts have (cited in Smith, 2014: 39)

“a passion to see many saved throughout an area, people, or city––their focus is on the lost that have yet to hear the gospel. This results in an urgency to bring salvation to as many as possible as quickly as possible.”

John and Anna Travis, from their wide experience with emerging movements, have discerned as one of the seven roles for catalysts (which they call alongsiders) the role of a “proclaimer” to be essential. They report: “The gospel does not come out of thin air; whenever the good news is proclaimed in a new area, it is because someone or some form of media from the outside has crossed a religious and social barrier. … The growth of the movement can be traced back to one or two insiders who first received the gospel and then persuaded their family and friends to embrace it as well. Although some of these movements began with a dream or vision, the Lord often directed the first insiders to an alongsider who could proclaim to them the full message of the gospel” (Travis & Travis, 2013: 165).” The catalyst’s personal sharing of the Good News is essential to the first insiders becoming Jesus-followers and kicking off the movement.

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