Alan Hirsch is the founder of 100Movements, Forge Mission Training Network, and Future Travelers.  

Known for his innovative approach to mission, Alan is widely considered to be a thought-leader and key mission strategist for churches across the Western world.

Hirsch is the author of 5Q: Reactivating the Original Intelligence and Capacity of the Body of Christ, The Forgotten Ways; co-author of The Shaping of Things to Come, ReJesus and The Faith of Leap. (with Michael Frost); Untamed (with Debra Hirsch); Right Here, Right Now (with Lance Ford): On the Verge (with Dave Ferguson); The Permanent Revolution (with Tim Catchim).

Alan is founder of 5Q Collective and resident coach and consultant with the team. The 5Q Collective aims to create a training options where fivefold imagination and practice can be activated and developed throughout the Body of Christ.

His experience includes leading a local church movement among the marginalized, developing training systems for innovative missional leadership (Forge Mission Training Network), and heading up the mission and revitalization work of his denomination. Over the last six years Alan has been helping existing large churches transition towards missional movement through paradigm shifting process in Future Travelers.  His major focus at this critical point is on founding and developing 100Movements (100M), an organization committed to reanimating authentic transformative missional movements around the six elements of mDNA through a process of deep change.  Church Resource Ministries (CRM) is Alan's formal sponsor and employer in the US. Alan's role with CRM is in missional leadership development.   

Alan is co-founder and associate faculty for the M.A. in Missional Church Movements at Wheaton College (Illinois).  He is also adjunct professor at Asbury Seminary, Fuller Seminary, George Fox Seminary, among others, and he teaches frequently throughout Australia, Europe, and the United States. He is series editor for Baker Books’ Shapevine series , IVP’s Forge line, and is an associate editor of Leadership Journal.

MY AMAZING TRIBES

Some of my amazing partners

What Alan & Debra have been reading lately...

The APEST™ assessment is a profiling instrument designed to assist you in finding your ministry style in relation to the philosophy of the fivefold ministry of Ephesians 4:

• Apostles

• Prophets

• Evangelists

• Shepherds

• Teachers

APEST™ has emerged from 10 years of practical application of this model in various ministry contexts.
Put another way... APEST™ is an online, formative, self-assessment is designed to solicit an individual response to a series of questions. APEST™ is a subjective assessment, offering questions that may solicit more than one applicable answer. APEST™ measures an individual’s current ministry motivation and expression in ministry settings. As a result, APEST™ leads one to new areas of learning and integration for increased ministry engagement. APEST™ provides a quantified result to identify one’s current place for influence within a larger community.

We only really know ourselves and our ministry impact in relation to others. So we believe that the best way to know your ministry is to somehow assess its impact on people around about you. So while you can easily do the individual profile, we really recommend that you consider doing the 360 degree test as well. This is a great tool for communities and leadership teams as a whole as it will allow you to ensure that you have a more complete ministry mix necessary to be missional church.

The APEST™ material originated in the writings of Paul. For there to be movement or growth in any context, a team should draw upon the natural energy and momentum inherent in each member. Every person functions in unique ways. It is remarkable when a group allows each member to function out of their natural capacities, thus contributing to the overall movement, direction, and wisdom of a team. APEST™ is designed to help people identify their natural, ministry motivation and expression in a given situation.

APEST™ DESCRIPTIONS

APOSTLES extend the gospel. As the “sent ones,” they ensure that the faith is transmitted from one context to another and from one generation to the next. They are always thinking about the future, bridging barriers, establishing the church in new contexts, developing leaders, networking trans-locally. Yes, if you focus solely on initiating new ideas and rapid expansion, you can leave people and organizations wounded. The shepherding and teaching functions are needed to ensure people are cared for rather than simply used.

PROPHETS know God's will. They are particularly attuned to God and his truth for today. They bring correction and challenge the dominant assumptions we inherit from the culture. They insist that the community obey what God has commanded. They question the status quo. Without the other types of leaders in place, prophets can become belligerent activists or, paradoxically, disengage from the imperfection of reality and become other-worldly.

EVANGELISTS recruit. These infectious communicators of the gospel message recruit others to the cause. They call for a personal response to God's redemption in Christ, and also draw believers to engage the wider mission, growing the church. Evangelists can be so focused on reaching those outside the church that maturing and strengthening those inside is neglected.

SHEPHERDS nurture and protect. Caregivers of the community, they focus on the protection and spiritual maturity of God's flock, cultivating a loving and spiritually mature network of relationships, making and developing disciples. Shepherds can value stability to the detriment of the mission. They may also foster an unhealthy dependence between the church and themselves.

TEACHERS understand and explain. Communicators of God's truth and wisdom, they help others remain biblically grounded to better discern God's will, guiding others toward wisdom, helping the community remain faithful to Christ's word, and constructing a transferable doctrine. Without the input of the other functions, teachers can fall into dogmatism or dry intellectualism. They may fail to see the personal or missional aspects of the church's ministry.