We hope your visit to this website will be the beginning of something wonderful – something exciting. If your heartbeat is getting God’s message of salvation and new life through Jesus Christ to the far reaches of this earth, and your desire is to be equipped to do so, then take a few minutes to learn about TIMO. It’s a program designed to do just that.
Learn and Minister as Part of a Team
TIMO places a team of new missionaries with an experienced missionary couple who serve as team leaders. Together, they live as learners among an unreached or partially unreached people group with a shared goal of sharing Christ. As a team member you’ll learn how to learn a language, and then you’ll set out to actually do it. You’ll discover methods of outreach – creative ways to reach out in Christ’s love in word and deed. You’ll learn to pray and intercede. And every day, you’ll put into practice what you learn – mission theory will be fleshed out as you live and interact with your host people group.
Oh, and did we mention…homework! Yes, TIMO has required reading and there will be papers to write, all an integral part of building a solid foundation for a lifetime of ministry.
People Groups - Your Host Culture
TIMO wants you to fall in love. With people. As a TIMO member you’ll move into the midst of a people group very different from yourself. They’ll eat weird stuff. And - gulp - you will too. They’ll talk in a language you’ve probably never even heard of, let alone taken in highschool. You’ll struggle through basic conversations with them, and you’ll laugh together at your blunders. You’ll learn from them, and they’ll learn from you. You’ll play with their kids, and after a while, they won’t be a people group to you any more. They’ll be names, and faces, and stories. You’ll know them. You’ll love them. You’ll want, more than ever before, to reach them for Jesus; to call them your brothers and sisters in Christ.
The TIMO Person
You might be wondering, can I do this thing? What makes a good TIMO member?
Well, first, you need to love Jesus. You need to have a longing to play an active part in His Great Commission. Next, you need to be a learner. You need to have a hunger to know and to understand; to look at things upside down and sideways. You need to be flexible. Life in Africa, where most of our teams work, can be frustrating if you’re not flexible and willing to go with the flow. You need to be a team player. You’ll need your teammates and they’ll need you. You need to be resourceful. TIMO requires a simple lifestyle – not a lot of stuff – so you might not have the resources you think you need for every situation you encounter. Bring Duct Tape!