A two-year training course for leaders, developing your leadership skills, theology, doctrine, and character. Wherever you’re called to lead – in your church, your workplace or your community – Leadership & Theology Training is designed to help you develop your gift to become the leader you were called to be. Led by the phenomenal Andrew Wilson, with a team of national-level speakers and onsite hosts, this course is a critical foundation for every new and existing Catalyst leader!

About

The Leadership & Theology Training programme is made up of three key components:

Training

Forty days of theological and leadership training, including: a comprehensive biblical theology programme, teaching modules in systematics and church history, and training in Ephesians 4 leadership: vision-casting and team-building, preaching skills, pastoring people, cross-cultural evangelism, prophesying and hearing from God, and so on. This is followed up by written assignments.

Discussion

Interactive sessions and open forums to discuss leadership issues with experienced leaders in Catalyst and elsewhere in Newfrontiers.

Mentoring

To discuss the issues raised in the sessions and help develop your skills as a leader. Guidelines and questions for how this works can be found here.

Certificate

We are in partnership with Moorlands College which endorses the principles of our course. We are able to offer a Certificate in Theology and Leadership to those on the course who want to take up this option. Students are required to write 6 assignments over the two year course, including two set assignments (each of 5,000 words) and four other assignments chosen from a wider selection (each of 2,500 words). There is a small additional cost for those taking this option to cover administration fees

Team

We are privileged to have a phenomenal selection of leaders providing the teaching on the Leadership Training programme. Below are the main contributors:

Andrew Wilson

Andrew is the course director, and teaches a number of the theological modules. He has taught on Newfrontiers courses for over ten years, and holds a PhD in New Testament Studies from King’s College London. Andrew is on the leadership team at Kings Church London, and has written several books.

Simon Holley

Simon leads the Catalyst Team, is the lead elder of the King’s Arms Church in Bedford, and teaches a number of the leadership modules on the course. A popular conference speaker and the author of Sustainable Power, Simon has seen his church grow in size, community impact and evangelistic effectiveness as they have pursued more of the power of God.

Andy Johnston

Andy oversees training for Catalyst and is responsible for overseeing the accreditation via Moorlands Bible College. Andy also teaches several of the historical modules and has responsibility for hosting, leading discussion and for pastoral support of students. He is an elder at King’s Community Church, Southampton, and holds a PhD in Church History from the University of Southampton. He is also the author of several books and academic articles on the Reformation.

Judith Barnett

Judith is the course administrator, and worships at Kings Church in Eastbourne. She has co-ordinated both Leadership Training and Impact Training for over a decade, and is responsible for the logistical and administrative aspects of the course.

Syllabus

Our theology training takes a narrative approach. In twelve days of biblical theology we go through the story of the whole Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, tracing the key themes of God, Gospel, People and Mission through the Scriptures. We then have eight days of historical theology, in which we study Christian doctrine through the story of the Church, from patristic Christianity, through the medieval period and the Reformation, to the present day.

Our leadership training is structured around the five types of leadership gift we find in Ephesians 4:11. Apostolic leadership involves leading with faith, vision and skill, both in leading and in managing. In four days on prophetic leadership we cover prayer, spiritual warfare, prophecy, and the pursuit of a supernatural culture. Evangelistic leadership features two days on evangelism in a UK context, and two days with a more cross-cultural emphasis. In pastoral leadership we look at character, ethics, discipleship and pastoral skills, and finally in teaching leadership we consider how to preach and teach, how to handle theological debate, and Paul’s leadership instructions to Timothy and Titus.

You can find an overview of the 2021-2022 syllabus here.

Key information

Dates

The course runs over two years and takes place in ten two-day blocks per year on Fridays and Saturdays. The dates for the upcoming year are as follows:

2021/2022

2021: 24th-25th Sept, 15th-16th Oct, 19th-20th Nov, 10th-11th Dec

2022: 14th-15th Jan, 11th-12th Feb, 11th-12th Mar
22nd-23rd Apr, 20th-21st May, 10th-11th Jun

Location

Training is hosted at New Life Church, The Ridgeway Centre, Featherstone Road, Wolverton Mill South, Milton Keynes, MK12 5TH.

Cost

The course costs £1000 per year for students wishing to take the Certificate option, or £850 per year for students who do not wish to take the Certificate option.
Payable by cheque or bank transfer (details available on request). Cheques can be made payable to Catalyst Network of Churches, and sent to Judith Barnett, Kings Centre, 27 Edison Road, Eastbourne, BN23 6PT.

Accommodation

Overnight accommodation in Milton Keynes may be available for a few students who apply (£20/night) but the costs of staying overnight in a “Travelodge” should also be considered.

Testimonies

For me, the Catalyst Leadership & Theology training course has been invaluable. As a youth worker who had previously engaged in the Impact training course, it seemed like a no-brainer to develop a deeper understanding of leadership and theology when I was made aware of this 2-year programme.
Upon starting the course, I felt like I knew less than most of the others in the room, so it was helpful when Andrew Wilson, who heads up the course, encouraged us to ask questions at any point for clarity if we needed it. This is one of the benefits to how the teaching is structured, by allowing Q&A time after most hourly blocks. Those teaching us have also been good at providing response activities to what we’ve been learning. This has helped to both consolidate and expand upon the teaching. Such response activities are often varied, whether it be a group discussion about a Bible passage, or a drama of some sort. Having a variety of learning mechanisms like this and regular breaks in-between teaching sessions helps to make two full days of teaching more manageable. The breaks also give you time to have either a mental breather, or an opportunity to digest a thought process that has been provoked from the teaching.
What has been particularly helpful for me on this training course, is how the Biblical teaching on subjects like predestination has been taught in a balanced way. Andrew used ‘the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart’ to show how it was both Pharaoh and God who hardened Pharaoh’s heart, not just one or the other. I have found this balanced style of teaching to be a constant theme throughout the many subjects we’ve covered, by weighing up everything the Bible says before jumping to conclusions. This has also helped to facilitate more open discussions about subject matters which people may disagree on.
Since lockdown due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, we have continued having Catalyst training sessions online by using Zoom. This has honestly worked really well, even for a time of worship at the start for those who want to. We have still managed to have good discussion times in ‘breakout rooms’ and opportunities for Q&A. Regular breaks between sessions have ensured that ‘screen-ache’ isn’t an issue.
Whether you have been studying leadership & theology for years, or feel theologically inadequate at times like myself, the Catalyst Leadership & Theology training programme will definitely benefit you! We are so blessed nowadays to have so many gifted leadership & theology teachers around, and this course is effectively structured to make the most of them. I’m grateful for how they’ve equipped me.
James Hickman, Catalyst LTT Student, 2020

Apply

To apply for the Leadership & Theology Training programme, download and complete the Application Form. Please also download the Mentoring Guidelines and Questions document for your Mentor.

If you’re interested in finding out more about the course, please email: leadershiptraining@catalystnetwork.org

Contact

If you have any questions or you’d like some more information we’d love to hear from you – just email leadershiptraining@catalystnetwork.org and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.