the 5 c’s of discovering leaders by tim catchim

The 5 C’s of Discovering Leaders By Tim Catchim

In 2002, the most talented basketball team in the world finished 6th in the Olympics. Despite being overloaded with talent, the USA Men’s basketball team lost three games in what seemed like the biggest flop in the history of basketball. How could such a competent team of professional basketball players go home without a medal? The answer is simple, yet all too familiar: they couldn’t figure out how to work as a team.

Anyone who has ever been on a team knows how challenging teamwork can be. Tensions between unity and diversity, strengths and weaknesses, leadership and followership – to name a few – often pose significant challenges. However, if the right people are willing to lock arms and press through those challenges, they can overcome any obstacle.

The Right People Who you lock arms with will determine the sustainability of your venture. As a developing leader, Paul understood this principle. On his second missional journey, Paul had to make some tough choices about who he was going to team up with. Let’s take a look:

Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.” Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the believers to the grace of the Lord.1

Paul and Barnabas faced significant challenges in the Galatia province during their first journey. Now, as they were about to go on their 2nd journey and re-visit that same province, they had an important decision to make:

Who are they going to invite to be a part of the team?

Barnabas wanted to give John Mark a second chance by inviting him to be a part of the team again. However, having previously bailed on them in the first journey, Paul naturally had reservations about bringing John Mark with them again. Paul needed someone on the team that he could trust; someone who would be willing to lock arms with him and not back out when things got difficult.

1 Acts 15:36-40 NIV

©2015 The ideas and information in this document are the intellectual property of Tim Catchim, and are not to be shared, copied, sold, etc. with other parties without expressed, effective permission.

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The Right Team As the story goes, Paul and Barnabas could not come to an agreement. Think about how Paul must have felt after Barnabas chose to leave him and lock arms with John Mark. Where was Paul going to find another team mate? How long would it take to find them? What about the work that needed to be done in Galatia? Notice Paul did not let these concerns effect his decision. You can’t build the right team with the wrong people. It’s better to wait for the right people than to start with the wrong people.

Paul ended up choosing Silas instead, a well-respected prophet from the church in Jerusalem. Silas was a recognized leader among the Apostles, elders and church in Jerusalem, which meant Paul could trust him.

Paul and Silas launch out together, and come to Lystra and Derbe. At that point, they invited Timothy to join the team. Notice what Luke says about Timothy:

Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was Jewish and a believer but whose father was a Greek. The believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.2

Paul learned some valuable lessons about teams from his first venture with Barnabas and John Mark. At this point in his development as a leader, we see Paul being more selective about who he locks arms with.

The 5 C’s Using Paul’s story as an example, every leader should develop a criteria by which they assess potential team members. These 5 C’s help you pay attention to important factors in a person’s life that that can either help or hinder you from achieving your mission.3

Character Character is developed over time and is evidenced by a pattern of actions. Did you notice that Timothy was well spoken of by other Christians in both Lystra and Derbe? Paul felt confident about Timothy’s character because he had a good reputation among other Christians, in more than one setting.

When discerning someone’s character, you have to use a standard of measurement. We suggest using the fruits of the Spirit as a standard to help focus the discerning process. For example, on a scale of 1 to 10, if 1 represents very immature and 10 represents very mature, where would you locate this person at this point in their journey in relation to each fruit of the Spirit? You can start with the following questions:

Love: have they demonstrated a genuine concern for other people, or is there a pattern of being self-centered?

2 Acts 16:1-3 3 These 5 C’s are adapted and expanded from Hybels, Bill. Courageous Leadership: Field-Tested Strategy for the 360 Leader.


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Joy: have they demonstrated an ability to see things from God’s perspective, or have they easily been swayed by their circumstances?

Peace: do they have an inner peace about who they are, or is there a nervous anxiety that seeks external validation?

Patience: have they demonstrated the ability to handle challenges in tempered ways, or do they have a pattern of over reacting or quitting when things get difficult?

Kindness: have they demonstrated the ability to adapt to the needs of others, or is their kindness conditional on others meeting their standards?

Goodness: has their presence typically made situations better, or has their presence typically created unnecessary challenges?

Faithfulness: have they been reliable and trustworthy in fulfilling their roles and responsibilities, or do they have a pattern of breaking their promises?

Gentleness: have they demonstrated the ability to be sensitive to others in their interactions, or do they tend to discount how their words and actions affect other people?

Self-Control: have they demonstrated the ability to make choices based on future outcomes, or do they tend to be impulsive, giving priority to their own present desires and circumstances?

If you continue to follow the story in Acts, Timothy ends up playing a vital role in the movement. In fact, without Timothy, much of his work may not have been sustainable.4 It was Timothy’s character that allowed Paul to continually entrust him with increasing levels of responsibility.

Compatibility There’s nothing more discouraging than getting to a certain point in the journey and discovering that one or more of your team members have fundamentally different convictions about where you are going, why you are going there, or how you will get there. Unity on the team is critical to have a sustainable venture.

When trying to discern compatibility, we suggest you focus conversations around these three things: team, theology, and tactics. Here are some questions to think about in each category.

Team Does their presence have a negative effect on team members, or a positive effect? Do they know how to be both a giver and receiver?

4 On several occasions Timothy would either be left behind, or be sent at a later time, to the churches Paul, Silas, Luke and other co-workers helped to plant.


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Theology Everyone has a list of core doctrines that they feel are essential to their understanding of God, Gospel, Gender and Gifting. Here are some questions to focus discussion.

God: is their understanding of God Trinitarian? How do they understand the implications of the missio Dei – the missional nature of God?

Gospel: what model(s) of atonement do they subscribe to? Is it a gospel of the kingdom or a gospel of salvation? How will this affect the way they see God, the mission, ministry, evangelism and leadership?

Gender: how do they define sexual sin? Where do they see women in relation to leadership and ministry?

Gifting: are they open to the gifts of the Spirit? Why or why not? Are they open to practicing and promoting APEST in ministry and leadership? Why or why not?

In order to simplify this process of determining theological compatibility, we suggest developing a Rule of Faith that clearly outlines the core convictions of theological truths that you feel are non-negotiable.

Tactics It’s possible to have the same vision about where you are going, but have fundamentally different ideas about how you are going to get there. Tactics focus on HOW you are going to accomplish the vision. For example, just because someone agrees that making disciples is something we ought to be doing, doesn’t mean they will agree with you on how to do it. People use different methods for making disciples. However, at some point you have to settle on particular method, and then organize yourselves around it. This doesn’t mean you have everything mapped out from A to Z at the very beginning. It does mean, however, that team members know what tactics are deemed as being non-negotiable, and that they are willing to promote and participate in those tactics.

In addition to team, theology and tactics, we suggest you also use the 5 V’s (vision, values, vehicles, visuals and vocabulary) as a way to discern levels of compatibility.

Competency Everyone has both strengths and weaknesses. When inviting someone onto the team, you want to know what those strengths and weaknesses are. Notice how Timothy had a Jewish mother and a Greek father? Because of his diverse ethnic and religious background, Timothy likely acquired certain cultural competencies that others did not have. He was also spoken well of in two different towns, demonstrating a pioneering tendency to move beyond his own local geographical sphere of influence. These qualities no doubt signaled to Paul that Timothy had the necessary competencies to participate in his cross-cultural, trans-local ministry of planting churches among the Gentiles.


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One of the ways to discover someone’s inherent competencies is by discerning their gifts and personality. I personally like using the Ephesians four giftings of APEST and the Meyer-Briggs Type Indicator.5

APEST When trying to discover someone’s APEST giftings, I typically start by giving them really good definitions, and have a few conversations with them about how they understand each gifting. Then, I ask them to invite those who are know them best to, based on those definitions, give them feedback on what they think their giftings are. After they have explored it from a personal and relational perspective, I typically point them to an online test to further their discoveries. After they take the test, we then we discuss the results.

MBTI This personality test has been helpful to so many people. There is a wealth of information online about each type and how they function in teams. I typically point people to an online test, then we discuss the results.

Needless to say, you want your team to have a diversity of strengths to meet the variety of challenges that come with pioneering work. However, this doesn’t mean you have to assemble a dream team of perfect people. Sometimes just being aware of existing strength and weaknesses helps you navigate the challenges ahead.

Capacity Someone may have good character, compatibility and competence, but if they do not have the capacity to participate in the team’s rhythm of life, or fulfill their role and responsibilities, then they should not be invited onto the team. Someone’s capacity is largely determined by issues related to season of life and stress-tolerance.

Schedule: Does this person have the margin in their life to carry their weight on the team? If someone is working full-time, staring school part-time and has a baby on the way, it is probably not the best season for them to be on the team.

Stress: Does this person have the capacity to withstand the pressures of leadership? John Mark bailed on Paul because the trip got too rough. Capacity for stress is an important factor to consider.

Confidence If someone is going to join the team, they need to be confident that this is what God wants them to do. One of the reasons why it’s important for them to know that God is calling them to join the team is because life on the frontier is difficult. When things get tough, the one thing that can hold a team together is if they truly believe God called them to be on the frontier with those particular people.

5 There are free online tests that people can take for each of these. For APEST I typically use http://www.apesttest.com/what-is-apest.aspx For MBTI, I typically use http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp.

http://www.apesttest.com/what-is-apest.aspx

http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp


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So how did Paul know that Timothy was confident about joining the team? Timothy demonstrated his confidence by being circumcised as an adult. Ouch! Now that’s confidence!

Questions for Personal Reflection: Have you ever invited someone onto a team that, later on, you wish you wouldn’t have invited? How did you deal with that situation?

Which one of the 5 C’s have you tended to overlook when building a team? Why?

Using a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being very low and 10 being very high, map out where each person on your team is in relation to each of the 5 C’s.

the 5 c’s of discovering leaders by tim catchim

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