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WHAT PROJECT TIMOTHY PROVIDES:

The Opportunity to Focus Fully on Preparation for Pastoral Ministry: We do not charge for this program. Further, because we want those participating in Project Timothy to be able to focus fully on the program and get as much as possible from it, we provide the support necessary to cover each participant’s essential needs while they are in the program.

Academic Education: We pay for the academic side of a participant’s preparation for ministry (schooling options must be approved by Project Timothy leadership), and structure the rest of the program around each participant’s schooling commitments. We also facilitate, and cover the cost of participation in, a number of conferences and special training times each year.

Discipleship, Fellowship, and Care: Project Timothy participants will be actively involved in the life of a biblical local church, and will enjoy fellowship and care as members of that church family. Focused preparation for ministry can be a draining time, and the refreshment, encouragement, and help that comes from being a part of a loving church family is very important!

Project Timothy churches provide participants with regular discipleship with a pastor or elder. Emphasis is given to one’s holiness and “personal” walk with God, as well as a man’s role in the home as a husband and father. We know the value of a truly Christ-centred marriage, and we are also committed to the discipleship of a participant’s wife if he is married. This discipleship is not just formal, sit-across-the-table discipleship: Project Timothy participants also spend time with church elders and their families, learning from their example of God-honouring everyday life.

Varied Opportunities for Ministry Observation & Experience: One important way we learn is by observing, and it is very important that aspiring pastors have good models in gospel ministry. It is also helpful for aspiring pastors to learn and grow in various ministry skills by doing. Project Timothy aims to provide a spectrum of opportunities for both ministry observation and ministry experience in the context of a local church:

–          Learning from how a healthy local church conducts worship services, Sunday School classes/ training, Gospel Community groups, children’s ministry, its membership process, pre-marital counselling, etc by being actively involved in the church for several years

–          Participation in church staff meetings

–          Participation in elders’ meetings (as appropriate)

–          Accompanying pastors, elders, and deacons on evangelistic, pastoral, diaconal, and counselling visits (as appropriate)

–          Engaging in a wide variety of service opportunities, ministry opportunities, and responsibilities (including evangelism, oversight of ministries/ events/ a Gospel Community group, leading ministry/ service teams, discipling, counselling, teaching, and eventually also preaching opportunities, as appropriate). Our aim is to help participants develop in all areas of ministry and church leadership, while also being mindful of their particular gifting and their readiness for different opportunities and responsibilities at the given time. In general, more opportunities and greater responsibility will be given with time.

–          Wives of Project Timothy participants will also be given service and ministry opportunities as appropriate.

Purposeful, Personal Mentoring in Pastoral Ministry:  Mentoring involves practical training in various aspects of ministry, but it goes beyond generic training to personal feedback, counsel, and coaching to help each individual participant improve as they need to improve, mindful of who they are as an individual. Ministry mentoring is also provided for the wives of married participants as appropriate.

Help in discerning, and moving towards, longer-term vocational ministry: Project Timothy is a means to an end… Having invested in and prepared men for pastoral ministry, we want to help them discern what ministry role God is calling them to longer term (in line with the specific gifts, talents, background, burdens, and desires He has given them), and do what we can to help them get there (helping them research possibilities, writing letters of commendation, helping aspiring church planters raise ministry support, etc).

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Project Timothy is dependent on donations in order to operate! If you would like to invest in the holistic preparation of future church leaders for God-honouring pastoral ministry, please make a contribution.