If we knew precisely what factors cause movements, we could focus all our attention on developing exactly those factors. By deliberately neglecting many others crying for attention, we would increase the chances of catalyzing a movement.
The problem is that we lack clarity in identifying the precise movement-boosting factors. Even thought-leaders don’t share a common understanding of these factors. That is why I researched these factors systematically and empirically across 147 movements worldwide in the broadest-ever movement research.
This blog presents the findings, verified by this empirical research: 11 factors that boost movements and how strongly each of them contributes. The great news is that eight of these 11 are internal factors. They are in our hands to develop and influence. At the end you will find a step-by-step guide to assessing them in your own ministry.
Lack of agreement in the movement community
It has bothered me for years that we haven’t reached more agreement among movement thought-leaders and practitioners regarding the key factors that contribute to catalyzing movements. The lack of agreement is startling. Once, when attending a high-level meeting of seasoned catalysts, I listened to a presentation of one senior leader. He presented the audience with 10 factors most essential to catalyzing movements in his opinion. Later on the same day, another movement leader presented his 19 factors, based on his personal experience. Stunningly, when I compared these lists of factors, there was very little overlap. Hardly any factor appeared on both lists of these two movement thought-leaders.
Our journey to create more clarity
Dissatisfied, I decided to add into my previous research an investigation into factors that boost or block movements. Wanting to stand on the shoulders of giants, and build on the insights of others in the movement community, I considered factors that other authors have mentioned as essential. I built my research on previous publications. In my own doctoral research, from 2011 to 2016, I had considered factors contributing to movement referenced by other authors (Prinz, 2016; 2022:103-104.117-118). I also considered the factors that New Generations’ “Internal Qualitative Assessment” (IQA) has researched from 2019 till today. (These factors are in the unpublished “IQA Codebook” that we as a research team developed, and IQA findings are yet to be published.)
So, based on these previous insights from others, my research team and I developed a list of 21 (CUT: movement-boosting) factors. Eleven of these were grouped as “contributing factors,” and ten as “inhibiting factors.” We also categorized these 21 factors as either “internal” or “external.” Internal factors are those that can be influenced by the pioneers themselves and their teams, while external factors are those outside their immediate control, which cannot be influenced directly (other than through prayer). Of the 21 factors, we classified 13 as internal and eight as external. The following table presents them.
Table 1: Factors Contributing to Movements Categorized
INTERNAL | EXTERNAL | |
BOOSTING | Prayer Specific guidance from God Effective ministry strategy Contextualized ministry approach Compassion ministry Discovery approach/groups Raised up leaders effectively Reproducible disciple-making Signs and wonders | Prior openness to the gospel Conversions w/o human involvement |
BLOCKING | Time limitation due to family challenges Time limitation due to tentmaking Personal character issues Conflicts on team or with partners Money misuse or corrupting character Lack of funding | Lack of prior openness to the gospel Persecution by society Government opposition Key workers recruited away |
11 factors verified
The effective catalysts who participated in the survey rated, on a Likert scale of 1–5, the extent to which each factor had impacted their ministry. We asked the effective catalysts: “How much did this factor contribute to/inhibit the catalyzing of your movement?” The following Figure shows how significantly catalysts assess each factor to have contributed to the catalyzing of their movements. These are shown in descending order of impact. The “I” in parenthesis denotes an internal factor, the “E” an external one.
Figure 1: Factors Contributing to Movements, as Rated by Catalysts
Understanding the 11 factors more deeply
Prayer ranks at the top of the list. The survey question included the personal prayer of catalytic leaders as well as their corporate prayer with team, partners, and mobilized prayer networks. Effective catalysts consider prayer a major contributor to catalyzing movements.
Effective catalysts report the specific guidance they received from God as the second-most-significant factor in their movement catalyzing. This relates to the expectant faith they exhibit, grounded on specific revelation they received from God. Many catalysts report that God spoke to them about his plans for them and their ministry and/or his plans for what he desires to accomplish among the people they serve. A number reported receiving such revelation through a dream, vision, or prophetic word; others through a specific Scripture God gave them. In each case, expectant faith arises from catalysts receiving specific guidance from God.
A noteworthy finding is that the external contributing factors all rank low (signs and wonders) or even very low (prior openness to the gospel, and conversions without human involvement). This indicates that factors internal to the catalysts – those over which they have some measure of control – were most significant in catalyzing a movement.
Comparing the 11 factors among effective catalysts versus non-catalysts
We also wanted to understand how movements differ from ministries that have not catalyzed a movement. Therefore we also surveyed non-catalysts who did ministry in the same or similar ministry contexts where the movements occurred, to provide a comparison.
In Figure 2, each front bar gives the average rating for the non-catalysts, with the catalysts’ average rating behind them. The figure only shows the seven factors for which the difference between catalysts and non-catalysts showed a statistically significant difference. The remaining four factors were not significantly different between catalysts and non-catalysts. The factors are presented in descending order of difference between catalysts and non-catalysts, from left to right, beginning with the greatest difference.
Figure 2: Contributing Factors in Comparison
When comparing these seven internal factors, note that effective catalysts experience each one as contributing more significantly than non-catalysts. Overall, the contributing factors score higher for effective catalysts by an average of +0.40. The difference is most apparent with the following factors: raising up leaders effectively (+0.81), effective ministry strategy or method (+0.80), and use of a discovery approach (+0.72).
Note that six of these seven contributing factors are internal. Even the one that is not— signs and wonders—is often significantly impacted by the catalysts and their teams, due to the exercise of their faith and prayer (or lack thereof).
Conclusions and applications
We can draw two conclusions from the comparisons the graph illustrates. First, the ratings for the two factors most closely related to the supernatural realm—specific guidance from God and signs and wonders—show the least difference between effective catalysts and non-catalysts (average difference of 0.28). Thus, it would seem that what some call the “God factor” of his supernatural intervention may not offer enough explanation for what sets apart effective catalysts from their peers. Second, the five factors that show the most significant difference (average difference of 0.67) all directly relate to ministry behaviors. God worked supernaturally through the ministries of both effective catalysts and the control group, but what set the former apart had to do with their personal actions.
Interestingly, we found no statistically significant difference between the groups for the contributing factors “prior openness to the gospel” and “conversions without human involvement,” even though effective catalysts rated these factors slightly higher than non-catalysts.
Eight of the 11 contributing factors are internal to the pioneers and their teams. How well practitioners develop these internal factors reflects significant difference between effective catalysts and non-catalysts. Therefore, generating and developing these contributing factors is paramount. This challenges practitioners to focus on fulfilling their human responsibility and work on all internal factors under their influence, in a posture of dependence on God’s guidance.
Assessing the boosting factors in your current ministry situation
Your assessment will yield the most reliable results if you do it with your team or partners. Assess how strongly each factor listed in Table 1 above has so far contributed to your ministry fruitfulness, rating it on a scale from +1 to +10 (+1 denoting “not at all significantly”, +5 denoting “moderately significantly,” and +10 denoting “very significantly”). In your assessment, focus on the actual contribution it has already made, not on what it might theoretically contribute.
Identify the factors with the lowest rating and circle them. These minimum contributing factors are your bottlenecks. Focus on addressing one, maximally two, bottlenecks initially.
Coaching questions: Assessing current realities
How would I describe in my own words what this factor looks like at the moment? Try in 2-3 sentences.
What aspects of this factor are well developed already? What aspects need further development?
Exploring Options
What could be done to address this factor? Come up with several options.
What needs to be changed in the gatherings/churches of the movement?
What should the disciples change in their every-day life? Be as specific as possible about the change you want to see.
Determining Action Steps
Of all the options we have now listed, what are the few that will be most impactful?
Who will contribute to implementing these most impactful action steps: me personally? Our team or partners as a group? Others?
What are suitable ministry situations (or challenges) in the coming weeks, where we can take these action steps?
What will be the greatest challenges or obstacles that we will face as we take these action steps? How can we address and overcome them?
What action steps are we committing to before the Lord?
You can learn more details about these 11 movement boosters in my upcoming book, What Actually Starts Movements, due to launch on May 28. In the next blog post, I will share with you another chapter: the essential factors that impede movements, or “movement blockers,” which the research has identified. Stay tuned for more pre-publication releases on this channel.
Toward action
I would love to hear back from you! What is your experience? Leave a comment below. If you prefer to private message me, you can use the contact form.
Learn more about the Best Practices of effective catalysts in my book Movement Catalysts. You can order your copy here.
If you found this blog helpful, who in your network would benefit from your sharing it with them?
Emanuel Prinz – Father’s Beloved & Movement Activist
Sources
New Generations IQA Research Team. 2022. “Internal Qualitative Assessment Code Book: Codes and Subcodes.” Los Altos: New Generations. (Unpublished).
Prinz, Emanuel. 2016. “The Leadership Factor in Church Planting Movements: An Examination of the Leader Traits and Transformational Leadership Competencies of Pioneer Leaders Effective in Catalyzing a Church Planting Movement among a Muslim People Group.” Doctoral dissertation, Columbia, SC: Columbia International University.
Prinz, Emanuel. 2022. Movement Catalysts: Profile of an Apostolic Leader. Walsall: Amazon.