In discussion with a friend, the question about mobility came up. I wanted to share some of that on the blog.

> 1. What does it mean to be mobile?> Mobility should be considered in regards to the work, and not the worker.> The work involves temporarily assisting churches being planted or temporarily assisting churches working through change/issues. The core of that work also includes developing elders locally and other itinerants in the process (deeply OJT disciple-making at heart–see II Tim 2:2). Being mobile means we can live with existing or developing elders and with other itinerants for a season, to provide both us and them intense, mutually discipling relationships. Being mobile means we can help more than one person and the church in more than one place often, and these in turn, others, to produce a multiplicative effect.> In regards to the temporary nature of the work, we are engaged in any one place only for a relatively brief time (ranging in the biblical accounts we have to consider, from 3 weeks on the short side, probably 3 to 6 months typically, and on the outside a year or two). see http://churchtaskforce.org/resources/pauls-methods for an outline of this in Paul’s life. By defining the mobility based on the work and not the worker, we focus on the purpose and nature (which are helping and developing temporarily), and not the fact that this often, but not necessarily, means a transient existence for the workers.> It may be that you will find yourself moving from city to city, country to country, to pursue temporarily helping plant or strengthen churches in parallel with mutually developing servanthood in others (disciple-making together). But, it may also be, that there are so many hurting churches in just the area or region where you live that in your lifetime you could stay within an hour or two of home to do your work.> In fact, back in 2000, that was the conceptualization I started working through with the idea of “Church Task Force.” If itinerants are normative (and I’m convinced they are), then God has called people to this work. And since most people today live in or near large cities (worldwide), then there are also concentrations of these itinerantly-gifted folks (apostles, prophets, evangelists) in these locations, and there are concentrations of STRUGGLING, CONFUSED churches in these areas. For example, there are 1,600 hundred evangelical churches within a two hour drive of Raleigh, NC. If there were several teams of itinerants here, and each team could help a church for an average of 4 months, each team could only help 3 churches a year. Say, five teams. 15 churches a year. Say, for the next 10 years. 150 churches could be helped/planted. That is less than 1% of the churches, at least 80% of which (we’re told over and over) have plateaued or are shrinking (and there are worse sorts of statistics, like very little life transformation in this present unhealthy church environment, very few new souls reached with the gospel, large segments of society completely ignorant of the gospel, and having little evidence of God based on those around them who say they know Him.> If we had 5 teams of itinerants in every major city in the world today, we could effectively reach and serve 1% of the churches in the world in the next ten years. Seems paltry. This is what faced our Lord, and what faced Paul, but they both chose to start with a small group to get an immensely big job done. Remember, each church reached becomes a bright light in the community for other churches to follow (see I Thess 1:7-10). The multiplicative effect of this–if you can imagine just some of the churches these folks helped or planted would grow and mature, would see the church restored and transforming lives and lifestyles, if sacrificial living and joyful sharing of hearts were to begin to infect communities and workplaces–well, we might see again what we saw in the NT, and once again the church might turn the world upside down, everywhere being spoken about, filling it with the news and evidence of Jesus the Lord.> That is, in fact, the vision behind Church Task Force. To see these teams emerge across major cities and yet reach into the smaller towns in the region. To help them understand their calling. Especially to understand the flexibility in differences for each church in the how, where and why as they fulfill the what and why (or, the the unchangeable principles and functions vs the flexible practices and forms). To help them understand how we fit with and yet become a contrast to the surrounding culture. To help them connect with each other and with struggling churches. So, in terms of mobility, defined by the work, you could fulfill your calling throughout your lifetime without ever moving your home once. You may well move out from your region, and travel more widely. Many will as He leads. But you MUST move where you are serving frequently to do the temporary work of itinerants in helping and developing.> Since today, the work of itinerants is misunderstood or not even considered an option for most of these people, they are stuck trying to fit their triangular little selves into square pegs. They either don’t fill those spaces well, or they don’t fit at all. They are distorted in many ways as their drive to serve tries to fit into what is available. They start “para church” organizations, they go into missionary work, they start churches and remain as “founding pastors” (by the way, a biblical oxymoron), they go to seminaries, they drop out of the church world, they rail against the church–in short, they do not fulfill their calling, and the church is crippled, losing a key component of its design.> One of the missing links has been a way to effectively provide the biblical foundation for those catching this vision–and Tim’s manual, “God’s Plan for Church Planting” very well fits that bill. We have a four day workshop to “turn the lights on” for those with this calling. We have the material online, but that needs to be condensed and used as an intro to whet the appaetite for the workshop. And, the workshop needs to whet the appetite for working together with others as itinerants in planting new churches and in helping struggling churches. To effectively train ourselves, we need to spend time together in the work, not just in transferring information.> After 25 years of study, pondering, fussing and frankly fuming at times, the idea of Church Task Force emerged in 2000. So, you can see, it has been 10 years in getting to this point, where a few people are talking together about these things, where the workshops are set to go, where the website is building content on the topic, and where those with itinerant callings are connecting. The site content is really a first draft of material for a book on the itinerants. I’m hoping several of you will be contributors to that material and book.> The current state of the church, I believe, is in part due to this lack. Itinerants are like the white blood cells of the Body, rushing to the scene of an infection, fighting it, and then dissipating. They help keep the Body healthy. They lay solid foundations for new churches, who themselves contribute to the example given to other churches in the areas of practical faith, sacrificial love and endurance-enabling hope (more on this when we discuss measuring effectiveness).> So, “Church Task Force.” What if we could find ways to connect with these folks? What if we could help them understand the nature of their calling, see the church differently (especially understanding principles vs the variety of practices to fulfill the principles) and begin to function the way itinerants function? What if we could begin to work together to temporarily assist churches and develop servant workers in and among the churches?> 2. How do you develop a self supported ministry that allows one to be mobile?> If you are thinking paid ministry, I don’t think this is what God is wanting from us. By your term, “self-supporting,” I’m assuming you are asking about how to support yourself as you work itinerantly.> I think each worker needs to be willing to live on a lot less than our society expects. The first steps to mobility are to lower debt and lower needed income. This is much easier when your children are raised or you are single. The next step is what work you do.>> If you reach into a region from your present base, this might be a less difficult question. But I still would not choose a career that laid heavy responsibility on me, such that I spent evenings, weekends, and mornings worrying about the business or institution where I work. I simply need some where I can earn enough money to support myself and others. If I were picking a career over again, I would think of nursing, or IT. In both of these, part time work will support you well.> We can live and serve on so much less than we imagine. Always rethink anything you do that takes money to function. Do you need a loudspeaker system and tents to have a picnic ministry, or just a lawn chair and a grill? Do you need to rent a building to hold meetings or lay out your living room differently? Don’t let finances drive your ministry needs, or it won’t be reproducible and it will hinder your reliance on the Spirit of God to bring results and to lead you.> yours,

1. What does it mean to be mobile?

Mobility should be considered in regards to the work, and not the worker.

The work involves temporarily assisting churches being planted or temporarily assisting churches working through change/issues. The core of that work also includes developing elders locally and other itinerants in the process (deeply OJT disciple-making at heart–see II Tim 2:2). Being mobile means we can live with existing or developing elders and with other itinerants for a season, to provide both us and them intense, mutually discipling relationships. Being mobile means we can help more than one person and the church in more than one place often, and these in turn, others, to produce a multiplicative effect.

In regards to the temporary nature of the work, we are engaged in any one place only for a relatively brief time (ranging in the biblical accounts we have to consider, from 3 weeks on the short side, probably 3 to 6 months typically, and on the outside a year or two). see http://churchtaskforce.org/resources/pauls-methods for an outline of this in Paul’s life. By defining the mobility based on the work and not the worker, we focus on the purpose and nature (which are helping and developing temporarily), and not the fact that this often, but not necessarily, means a transient existence for the workers.

It may be that you will find yourself moving from city to city, country to country, to pursue temporarily helping plant or strengthen churches in parallel with mutually developing servanthood in others (disciple-making together). But, it may also be, that there are so many hurting churches in just the area or region where you live that in your lifetime you could stay within an hour or two of home to do your work.

In fact, back in 2000, that was the conceptualization I started working through with the idea of “Church Task Force.” If itinerants are normative (and I’m convinced they are), then God has called people to this work. And since most people today live in or near large cities (worldwide), then there are also concentrations of these itinerantly-gifted folks (apostles, prophets, evangelists) in these locations, and there are concentrations of STRUGGLING, CONFUSED churches in these areas. For example, there are 1,600 hundred evangelical churches within a two hour drive of Raleigh, NC. If there were several teams of itinerants here, and each team could help a church for an average of 4 months, each team could only help 3 churches a year. Say, five teams. 15 churches a year. Say, for the next 10 years. 150 churches could be helped/planted. That is less than 1% of the churches, at least 80% of which (we’re told over and over) have plateaued or are shrinking (and there are worse sorts of statistics, like very little life transformation in this present unhealthy church environment, very few new souls reached with the gospel, large segments of society completely ignorant of the gospel, and having little evidence of God based on those around them who say they know Him.

If we had 5 teams of itinerants in every major city in the world today, we could effectively reach and serve 1% of the churches in the world in the next ten years. Seems paltry. This is what faced our Lord, and what faced Paul, but they both chose to start with a small group to get an immensely big job done. Remember, each church reached becomes a bright light in the community for other churches to follow (see I Thess 1:7-10). The multiplicative effect of this–if you can imagine just some of the churches these folks helped or planted would grow and mature, would see the church restored and transforming lives and lifestyles, if sacrificial living and joyful sharing of hearts were to begin to infect communities and workplaces–well, we might see again what we saw in the NT, and once again the church might turn the world upside down, everywhere being spoken about, filling it with the news and evidence of Jesus the Lord.

That is, in fact, the vision behind Church Task Force. To see these teams emerge across major cities and yet reach into the smaller towns in the region. To help them understand their calling. Especially to understand the flexibility in differences for each church in the how, where and why as they fulfill the what and why (or, the the unchangeable principles and functions vs the flexible practices and forms). To help them understand how we fit with and yet become a contrast to the surrounding culture. To help them connect with each other and with struggling churches. So, in terms of mobility, defined by the work, you could fulfill your calling throughout your lifetime without ever moving your home once. You may well move out from your region, and travel more widely. Many will as He leads. But you MUST move where you are serving frequently to do the temporary work of itinerants in helping and developing.

Since today, the work of itinerants is misunderstood or not even considered an option for most of these people, they are stuck trying to fit their triangular little selves into square pegs. They either don’t fill those spaces well, or they don’t fit at all. They are distorted in many ways as their drive to serve tries to fit into what is available. They start “para church” organizations, they go into missionary work, they start churches and remain as “founding pastors” (by the way, a biblical oxymoron), they go to seminaries, they drop out of the church world, they rail against the church–in short, they do not fulfill their calling, and the church is crippled, losing a key component of its design.

One of the missing links has been a way to effectively provide the biblical foundation for those catching this vision–and Tim’s manual, “God’s Plan for Church Planting” very well fits that bill. We have a four day workshop to “turn the lights on” for those with this calling. We have the material online, but that needs to be condensed and used as an intro to whet the appaetite for the workshop. And, the workshop needs to whet the appetite for working together with others as itinerants in planting new churches and in helping struggling churches. To effectively train ourselves, we need to spend time together in the work, not just in transferring information.

After 25 years of study, pondering, fussing and frankly fuming at times, the idea of Church Task Force emerged in 2000. So, you can see, it has been 10 years in getting to this point, where a few people are talking together about these things, where the workshops are set to go, where the website is building content on the topic, and where those with itinerant callings are connecting. The site content is really a first draft of material for a book on the itinerants. I’m hoping several of you will be contributors to that material and book.

The current state of the church, I believe, is in part due to this lack. Itinerants are like the white blood cells of the Body, rushing to the scene of an infection, fighting it, and then dissipating. They help keep the Body healthy. They lay solid foundations for new churches, who themselves contribute to the example given to other churches in the areas of practical faith, sacrificial love and endurance-enabling hope (more on this when we discuss measuring effectiveness).

So, “Church Task Force.” What if we could find ways to connect with these folks? What if we could help them understand the nature of their calling, see the church differently (especially understanding principles vs the variety of practices to fulfill the principles) and begin to function the way itinerants function? What if we could begin to work together to temporarily assist churches and develop servant workers in and among the churches?

2. How do you develop a self supported ministry that allows one to be mobile?

If you are thinking paid ministry, I don’t think this is what God is wanting from us. By your term, “self-supporting,” I’m assuming you are asking about how to support yourself as you work itinerantly.

I think each worker needs to be willing to live on a lot less than our society expects. The first steps to mobility are to lower debt and lower needed income. This is much easier when your children are raised or you are single. The next step is what work you do.

If you reach into a region from your present base, this might be a less difficult question. But I still would not choose a career that laid heavy responsibility on me, such that I spent evenings, weekends, and mornings worrying about the business or institution where I work. I simply need some where I can earn enough money to support myself and others. If I were picking a career over again, I would think of nursing, or IT. In both of these, part time work will support you well.

We can live and serve on so much less than we imagine. Always rethink anything you do that takes money to function. Do you need a loudspeaker system and tents to have a picnic ministry, or just a lawn chair and a grill? Do you need to rent a building to hold meetings or lay out your living room differently? Don’t let finances drive your ministry needs, or it won’t be reproducible and it will hinder your reliance on the Spirit of God to bring results and to lead you.