Sue Willis sue@abundantlifeministrycenter.org

A gathering for women of all ages who have or sense the call of God on their lives, and desire to grow in relationships, ministry, leadership and effectiveness for God. We have different presenters each meeting speaking on topics specifically geared towards ministering to Today’s Women including our teens, and the challenging issues of life they may be facing.

Requirements~ A heart for God, a call to ministry, and a passion for unity.

Meeting Location: Meeting in different locations

Register for a Western Catalyst meeting:  Western Catalyst Registration Form

Want to receive event email announcements on future Catalyst meetings?

Contact Women of Purpose Administrative Assistant: Heather Glogau at heather@penndelwomenofpurpose.org

Catalyst Groups for Women in Ministry

Purpose

• Encouraging, educating, and empowering women in ministry to find and fulfill God’s call upon their lives.
• To enable women to develop supportive friendships among other women in ministry, discover mentors or to be a mentor.
• To encourage women in ministry to be credentialed.

Guidelines
Three meetings a year where women in ministry can network with other women in ministry, receive training, have questions answered, receive prayer support, and be encouraged in their area of ministry.

• Share resources for ministry
• Advise of conferences available
• Encourage networking among the women outside of meetings
• Offer advice and support in the process of credentialing
• Offer training to enrich their ministries (see below)

Topics

• Identity – Who I Am In Christ
• Personalities – How they affect our ministries?
• Inner Healing – to be healed and to bring healing to others
• Coaching – helping individuals to find direction
• Mentoring – one on one relationships that make a difference
• Men and Women: Equal Partners in Church Leadership
• Go where no one has ever gone before!

Locations
Our Catalyst groups are located in three areas – North East PA, South Central PA, Western PA

• Groups can divide and multiply as additional leaders develop and areas are defined.
• Groups can meet according to areas of ministry – writing, speaking, women, children, etc.

Guiding Scriptures
2 Tim. 2:2
And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.
1 Cor. 4:15-17
Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I urge you to imitate me.  For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.

A Catalyst Leader’s Story

“Ripples” by Ruth E. Puleo
As a young girl, my Dad taught me how to skip rocks across the surface of the lake.  One of our favorite past times during our annual northern Maine vacations, was to see who could make their rock skip the most times.  It required great skill to pick the flattest, most circular rocks, that with just the right flick of the wrist, would give enough momentum to glide, but not too much to cause it to dive beneath the water’s edge.  The remarkable results of rock skipping is that with each skip, a ripple would occur until the ripples from the next skip would invade the first and on and on until the rock sunk out of sight.
Ripples don’t only occur while rock skipping, they occur as we live this life and set an example for others who are watching our lives.  When a positive influence is there, the ripple may thrust others forward to do great things.  When a negative life style is modeled, the ripple effect can lead others to a destructive downward spiral far from God.
“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” I Timothy 4:12   This admonition to young leaders is pertinent; yet even more necessary for those of us who have ‘gone before’ is to remember there are others following behind.  No one is exempt from influencing others.  We may not be intentional about it, but it is happening whether planned or unplanned.
We can readily recognize the profound influence of Billy Graham’s Christ-like character that has reached global proportions spanning several generations.  We also attest to the painful ramifications brought on by the poor choices of popular Christian personalities.  Whether good or bad, they have a ripple effect that either inspires growth or provides excuses to those caught in the wake.
The eternal influence of truly great people is usually not measured until after they are gone.  It is often at the funeral service that people appear to recount stories of the deceased person’s impact on their life.  In reading the account of Jesus’ death and burial, there are several who share their personal transformation due to their encounter with Christ.  I am reminded of the man who was asked to assist Christ in carrying the cross.  Luke recalls in chapter 23(NIV) that “As they led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus.”  This opportunity for influence was not planned by Jesus, but it definitely left an impact that Simon would never forget.  I want to be able to say to others, like Paul said in I Corinthians 11:1 “Follow me, as I follow Christ.”
As a woman in ministry, I felt compelled to make a positive ripple in the lives of others who were swimming in the ministry pool with me.  God has blessed me with several female friends who are also serving in fulltime ministry positions.  Together we formed a Catalyst Group for Women in Ministry as a part of the C3 leadership program in the Pennsylvania-Delaware District of the Assemblies of God.  The C3 represents Connect, Coaching and Catalyst groups throughout our district.  Catalyst Groups provide opportunity for significant spiritual relational mentoring and guidance from ministry mentors across the district.
We started with one group and have multiplied to three – all being led by women in ministry.  We have also partnered with a professor at Valley Forge Christian College who did her doctoral thesis on Mentoring.  In order to assist her in gathering data for her thesis, we developed a mentorship program between women in ministry and female students studying for the ministry.  This teacher was able to match up students with women who were actively fulfilling the call of God in their lives.  The female pastors were willing to share experience, wisdom, spiritual insight and emotional support with their student for a commitment of one year.  For many of these students this has become their source of courage and strength to go forward and follow the call of God on their lives.  So many of them wonder how it will work once they graduate from school.  Will they be accepted?  Will they find a job?

This Catalyst program has also provided a resource for women in ministry as well as those studying for ministry.  We have been amazed at the growing numbers of women who are employed in ministry, in the process of getting ministerial credentials or work within the local church in a ministry role.  Here are some of our goals, guidelines and topics of discussion for our group meetings.