The books stay theirs.
The view stays theirs.
Timothy is a helper for the practical side of a missionary's work: the books, the reports, the donors, the deadlines. So the missionary can do what they were sent to do.
Open source · Free to self-host · Never holds funds · Takes no cut of the gift
"Be the missionary's helper. Carry the tables, so the worker can carry the word."
— Tim's charge
Mission
Those who carry the gospel are sent to preach the good news, to give themselves to prayer, and to steward the money well for the kingdom. Timothy exists to make that easier: modern tools that carry the practical work faithfully, so the missionary can do what they were sent to do.
Vision
Every missionary on earth, whether sent by a large organization, a small church, or going out on their own, has a faithful back office: one that costs nothing to run, keeps the books in order, tells them each morning the one thing that needs them, and never stands between a giver and the work. Administration is no longer the reason a called worker comes home.
What a change has to pass
Six tests, each tied to a verse, that any feature or decision is measured against before it ships.
Kingdom first
Does it help the gospel go out and the saints be built up? A feature that only makes the software more impressive fails.
Faithful in little
Every gift accounted for to the cent. Timothy never holds funds, never takes a cut, and never moves money on its own.
Equipping the saints
A pastor, a spouse, or a volunteer can run it well, with no specialist and no subscription.
Serving, not ruling
Tim carries the tables so the workers can carry the word. A missionary's family finances stay with the missionary.
Iron sharpens iron
Open source and cooperative: missionaries, churches, sending organizations, and developers at one table.
Honorable in the sight of all
Plain reports, sober words, numbers that tie, nothing that cannot be shown to a giver.
You talk to Tim. He does the work behind it.
A unit is one missionary or missionary family, the smallest thing with its own account, budget, and reports. Timothy runs one instance per unit.
You talk to Tim or type to him, the way a person talks to a capable assistant, and he answers with the facts and does the work behind them: filing the receipt, building the report, tracking support against budget, drafting the thank-you, watching the calendar of visas and filings, and preparing every request so a person can say yes in seconds. It is built as modules a unit switches on as needed, on a back-office engine that already runs unattended in production: document intake, approval cards, a nightly audit, and a sealed monthly close.
One tractor, a standard hitch, and every farm's own field
Timothy lives in public repositories at github.com/project-timothy, and it will stay public, so a missionary anywhere can run the whole thing on a five-dollar server, and any technically minded volunteer can help.
The machines are public. The fields, every ledger row, every gift, every name, belong to whoever drives the tractor onto them, and no field is ever published. Power passes through the hitch; the field never does.
How people can help
Iron sharpens iron. The best ideas win, whoever brings them.
The listening tour is step one. An hour describing a real month is the most valuable contribution there is.
Hosting. A church with one technically minded member can run Timothy for the missionaries it supports.
A module, an adapter to a system we haven't met yet, a translation, tests against the synthetic unit.
The systems table, a sample statement with the numbers changed, and thirty minutes with the person who answers finance questions.
