Starting a Summer Internship Program - Part 3
Ministry Training
People want to make a difference. They want to do something to make a valuable contribution to the organization they are choosing to be involved in. Sometimes those contributions are made behind the scenes, where no one sees their hard work. While other times their contribution will take place on a stage where the entire world can stand and cheer.
Regardless of where it is, or who sees what is done, young people that intern at a church do so because they want to make a difference. We have tried very hard to come up with an Internship program that not only allows our interns to make a difference in the people around them, but also allows us as the host church to leave a lasting impression in the young people that chose to give us their most valuable asset … their time.
Because we are in a season of transition in our student ministry we are designing our ministry departments to not simply “get us thru the summer” and “have something for interns to do” we are designing our new ministry departments to help us build toward the future that God has for us and the teenagers of Tulare County.
Our interns will play a major role in the development and weekly running of the departments they serve in. Each week they will work hand in hand with full time staff members, volunteer leaders as well as other interns. Our goal in this is not only to build our ministry but also to build opportunities for our interns to grow as servant leaders.
These are the departments and teams our interns will have the opportunity to serve in.
Creative Team
All of our staff and interns will be a part of our weekly creative team meetings. Each week we will brainstorm on what we need to do in order to place the principles of Jesus Christ into the daily lives of our students.
Service Production Team
Nothing of quality happens on its own. It takes time, thought and someone taking ownership of every detail. The Production team will work on every aspect of the weekly service from service order, worship songs, message props, lights and sound.
Activities Team
Teenagers strongest felt need is not spiritual but social. Because of this we are going to give our students and their friends a fun social reason to come to church. The activities team will work on all aspects of our 3 Big Wednesday Night Events as well as all pre and post activities for the entire summer.
Connections Team
Relationship is the conduit in which change flows. This summer we will develop a connections team that will work on building effective small groups as well as following up with our core and visiting students.
Local Church Ministries
A unique aspect of this summer internship program is that our interns will not only serve the student ministry during the week; but on the weekends they will have the opportunity to serve the local church body.
They will have the opportunity to serve with our weekend host teams, ushers, events desks, children’s ministry and more.
Playing a role in the local church will give our young people a view of the Kingdom of God at large, rather than just the ministry department they are serving in.
I’m looking forward to seeing what God does thru this Internship over the course of the next 10 weeks. I’ve got a feeling that I might learn as much from them as they do from me.
