Articles
Thoughts on Interns
Average User Rating:
By Doug Fields 09/10/2007
- Join the Conversation
-
- Larger Text
- Text Size
- Smaller Text
In the preparation time for summer, I get a lot of requests from college-age students who would like summer intern experiences. I understand why--I had one when I was in college and it was excellent learning lab for me. Recently, I've begun to think, "What if every youth ministry could experience an intern and provide training for that intern?" I know it sounds like big-thinking, but if I could help you get an intern to love and train and prepare for ministry would you be interested?
Okay, let's be honest about the biggest snag--money. Right? You might be thinking, "Our church doesn't even have a youth ministry budget...why would they pay for an intern?" It's a fair question! But, why does the church have to pay for an intern?
Here's the thought process that hit me several years ago:
With that premise I then thought about all the models that God seems to be blessings out there that are staffed by men and women who raise their own support (i.e. Campus Crusade, Young Life, etc...). Why can't interns raise their own finances to support their internship? Does the church have to be the one paying the salary? Why can't the potential intern access their Christian friends to support them as summer, one-year, two-year missionary-type interns?
Here's what I've since learned—-they can! They can raise their own support. There are giving people from their communities who will "invest" in their future. Is it easy? No. No easier than the thousands of others who are raising money for their jobs at Campus Crusade and Young Life. But, it's possible--we've had over 100 examples over the past years.
For the past several years, the student ministry at Saddleback has been staffed with people from all over the world who have raised their own support to learn youth ministry. What we have given them is a team to join (either junior high, high school or college), a house to live in (they live with families from our church) a community to belong to and training. It has been a great benefit to our church, our student ministry and to the interns as well.
Recently, the crew at Simply Youth Ministry has been talking about this entire youth ministry intern concept and how we might be able to help other churches with this incredible intern-benefit. We believe that we have some pretty helpful ideas on...
But, before we go further in developing an infrastructure that would/could service you, interns and your youth ministry, we need to survey the interest. We want to find out the depth of importance that's out there amongst our youth ministry friends.
In addition to interest, what specific questions do you currently have about interns, human resource laws, training, etc... If you could list those questions, we'll compile a FAQ and begin the infrastructure...IF there's enough interest. If there's not, that's okay too. We'll continue to charge ahead with the intern program that we've got at Saddleback and respond to those who come to us with questions.
I really believe churches could be healthier, youth ministries could be stronger, young leaders could be trained, teenagers could have more godly models and God could be honored. I think it can happen...but, it could be another one of my dumb ideas that have been such a part of my youth ministry experiences. I'll wait to make my conclusion when I hear or don't hear from you.
Okay, let's be honest about the biggest snag--money. Right? You might be thinking, "Our church doesn't even have a youth ministry budget...why would they pay for an intern?" It's a fair question! But, why does the church have to pay for an intern?
Here's the thought process that hit me several years ago:
- Our ministry can't afford to hire more youth staff as we grow.
- I need help that's more available than my volunteers.
- I envy those "other" churches who have interns.
- I think I could train an intern to do youth ministry.
- I believe there are several eager people looking for quality internships.
With that premise I then thought about all the models that God seems to be blessings out there that are staffed by men and women who raise their own support (i.e. Campus Crusade, Young Life, etc...). Why can't interns raise their own finances to support their internship? Does the church have to be the one paying the salary? Why can't the potential intern access their Christian friends to support them as summer, one-year, two-year missionary-type interns?
Here's what I've since learned—-they can! They can raise their own support. There are giving people from their communities who will "invest" in their future. Is it easy? No. No easier than the thousands of others who are raising money for their jobs at Campus Crusade and Young Life. But, it's possible--we've had over 100 examples over the past years.
For the past several years, the student ministry at Saddleback has been staffed with people from all over the world who have raised their own support to learn youth ministry. What we have given them is a team to join (either junior high, high school or college), a house to live in (they live with families from our church) a community to belong to and training. It has been a great benefit to our church, our student ministry and to the interns as well.
Recently, the crew at Simply Youth Ministry has been talking about this entire youth ministry intern concept and how we might be able to help other churches with this incredible intern-benefit. We believe that we have some pretty helpful ideas on...
- How to attract interns
- How to house interns
- How to help them raise money
- How to train them (verses "use" them)
- How to create a win/win for them and the church
But, before we go further in developing an infrastructure that would/could service you, interns and your youth ministry, we need to survey the interest. We want to find out the depth of importance that's out there amongst our youth ministry friends.
In addition to interest, what specific questions do you currently have about interns, human resource laws, training, etc... If you could list those questions, we'll compile a FAQ and begin the infrastructure...IF there's enough interest. If there's not, that's okay too. We'll continue to charge ahead with the intern program that we've got at Saddleback and respond to those who come to us with questions.
I really believe churches could be healthier, youth ministries could be stronger, young leaders could be trained, teenagers could have more godly models and God could be honored. I think it can happen...but, it could be another one of my dumb ideas that have been such a part of my youth ministry experiences. I'll wait to make my conclusion when I hear or don't hear from you.
Name:
Doug Fields
Conversation
As the solo pastor of a
As the solo pastor of a small, but growing church with a large & growing youth ministry, I need help! I'd love to connect with a pastor who is passionate about equipping the next generation to love & follow Christ. We are doing our best to squeeze money from our budget, and it looks like the best way to do it is to hire an intern who can raise his own support, but who will also be the leader of a new "sky is the limit" youth ministry. Your feedback and insight is invaluable! Keep it coming!
Dude, Doug, feed me more
Dude, Doug, feed me more friend! I'm working on an internship program and I need simple ideas what to do with interns once I have them.
I'm putting junior/seniors to work early in hopes they will stick around and help too! I figured God started using me as a junior to do worship so why not start looking at 16-18 year olds as pre-terns.
I'll be looking for more from you or maybe I'll be emailed, I don't know.
ttyl
Ryan :-)
I would also like more
I would also like more information on this type of internship program. I am in my 5th Year of Youth Ministry and did not intern before I applied for this job. As a part-time Youth Minister, I need others who would be fully invested and passionate about this ministry like I am, but my church is unable to pay anyone else. I am at a Catholic Church so I know it works a little differently because we typically don't have more than one Youth Minister or even interns but I think this would be something worth looking into
To get summer intern
To get summer intern experiences is the good idea for students. These experiences should be useful for them in future. Like summer intern, mcdba certification, itil certification will also useful in future professional life. That’s why taking summer intern and it certification is not a bad idea. These should return us something in the shape of benefits.
I love the idea of interns
I love the idea of interns and I see some negative comments here and there but the reality is when it comes to ministry if I am called I do what it takes. I wish I could have done an internship before I dove into ministry but at the age of 18 I became the youth pastor at a small church for $50 a week you know how I survived, I WORKED. I would do my youth ministry then I would wait tables or cook at a restaurant. I did whatever I could to share the Good News that Jesus put in my heart. I think that asking interns to utilize the people that God has placed in their lives to help support them is an Awesome idea and 10 years into ministry I am going to be adopting this approach in this ministry.
Blessings,
ZC
I know this is an older post
I know this is an older post but I'm very interested to hear Saddleback's findings on this subject. I'm the director of a non profit organization that reaches young ppl. I'm not a church am closely tied to one. Please email me.
wow...surprised by that
wow...surprised by that bitter comment...Here's the thing. An intern is an intern - not a pastor. They are there to do work, yes. But they are also taking up quite a bit of time for training and equipping. Remember that an intern is there to learn. So while I understand some of the frustrations with raising money, the question becomes how valuable is your training to you? Let's face it, you learn much more on how to actually "do" ministry than you ever will from paying 15,000 a year to sit in a classroom and listen to "youth ministry guru's" who may or may not have ever been youth pastors. I'm all about getting some assistance to train some future leaders.
I think if Sadleback Church
I think if Sadleback Church cannot afford to pay interns, they must be doing something very wrong with their money. If they don't want to pay interns they should just say so, they are not a small church that is unable to pay interns, they simply do not want to.
I think this is a great
I think this is a great idea. Even small churches like ours could afford to house and feed an intern even if they can't afford to pay them. I am very interested.
I agree with many here in
I agree with many here in saying that this would be a great resource. We have had interns for years, but never a real structured program. We would love to take this to the next level and many of the products you all have put out so far have helped us to do just that. BRING IT ON!
I have an internship this
I have an internship this summer with a church that can't afford to pay me and I have to raise support. I also find the idea of raising support to be very intimidating. I don't have a large network, half of the network I do have won't support a Christian/religious cause, and there are people who ethical issues with the idea of the money they donate ending up being a paycheck for someone. To add to that, my own personal feelings are that if I got a part time job, I could support myself and people could donate that money to the churches ministries.
But on the other side of things, raising support can be a very spiritual issue. By raising support I have come to a place where I have to put my trust in God that even though my network is small and anti-Christian, that he will provide for me and give me enough. By raising support, those who do support me will most likely also be praying for me. But by asking a person to support me with funds and prayers, I am inviting people to enter into the ministry with me.
I can see both sides of the coin, but as I think about it. Raising support stretches a person, leads them to a place where they have to let go and let God, and I'm pretty sure it increases their prayer life, haha.
Our church has run a one
Our church has run a one year intern program for the past 8 years. We bring 8 different interns on board every year. It is a huge cost. We provide housing and transport, and for the first 4 or 5 years we provided a 400 dollar stipend. Tight but workable for them. Then due to financial crunches we tried to do a raised support approach. That year the amount of applications we received was about 10% of what we normally received. Part of our problem is our location (Hawaii), it is far and expensive, but it's also a major attraction to applicants. I disagree with the idea that they'll be more serious about it if they raise support, that proved to not be true these two years we've done the raised support avenue. We're going back to the stipend next year. Aside from that, it's been a huge benefit to our congregation and the lives of many of the interns themselves.
From the perspective of the
From the perspective of the church, this sounds great! Why pay interns to spend many many hours and invest so much into our congregation if we can just get them to voluntarily do it!
But these interns can volunteer anywhere then. They also have to be able to support themselves. Unfortunately life costs money. They are already devoting their time, and perhaps career and life, to ministry. If they raised their own money, then they might as well work for those that are supporting them, since the congregation that they will be serving in obviously doesn't support them.
Why don't we just not pay any church workers? They can all just raise their own support. An intern invests a lot of their time into ministry, just as full-time church workers do, so since you are expecting interns then to take the time and energy to raise their own support and energy from elsewhere, then why not just have every church worker do that?
I will be interning at a
I will be interning at a congregation for one year starting this summer. I thank God that the congregation will be fully supporting me. College is already going to be costing me upwards of $90,000 for the purpose of being a certified Christian educator. The passion to do youth ministry has driven me to already raise funds and take out loans for college. If I had to raise my own money for an internship it just wouldn't happen. There are already so few church professionals out there because of how much it costs to make it through a program. Why put even more stress on these students who will one day be the future of the church?
We do pay a college student
We do pay a college student for a short term internship for our Vacation Bible School. This entails youth ministry as teens are our counselors. The local high school has facilitated an unpaid internship for 4 weeks this Spring for a H.S. senior. Baby steps here.
It's almost 6 months since
It's almost 6 months since this article and it would be great to have some further thoughts on internships. We are planning on starting our intern programme in the next academic year.
Thoughts on training, managing and scheduling for interns would be great.
As a college student who is
As a college student who is looking for internships in the summer, the idea of raising my own support is daunting. This is especially so because I am doing an internship in my community, but not at my own church. This raises issues about who I can ask to support me since it is at a "rival" church. While I do not have a family to support, I am paying my own way through college. I feel that if the church asks an intern to raise their own funds, they should be willing to match AT LEAST a quarter of what the intern raises. It should not just be "free labor". And we all know that youth ministry is not always the most "fun".
This is a passion of mine.
This is a passion of mine. I'm glad to see the interest level here. The unpaid intern who raises their own support places a high value on their growth and the level of their investment. This type of program also increases the possiblility of "weeding out", if you will, those who believe they might be getting paid to "have fun".
I would love to gain from others insight in this type of program.
I would love to gain some
I would love to gain some insight on developing an internship program. I would be interested in ideas on how to create an internship program that is more than just free labor. What types of personal/spiritual/ministerial development should be required? Also, ideas on how to sell my church on starting an internship program would be a big asset.
I am currently getting ready
I am currently getting ready to do an internship that is not paid. One of the reasons I am doing it at this particular church is the fact that with a wife and 4 month old son it's hard to find a place to intern that pays well and can accommodate my family and me. The other reason is that we are staying with my wifes family. But still I am going to have to find a part-time job on top of a 40+ work week at the church an be at home with my family. So my 2cents would be for you to consider the non-traditional youth interns as well, not all of us are single college students. Other than that, great idea for single interns. God Bless
I think that would be
I think that would be wonderful. We're looking to develop a intern program within the youth ministry at my church. So any advice that you can gives us would be a big help.
As someone looking for my
As someone looking for my own summer internship, I think that is a great resource. Make sure you include something about promotion. Truthfully, yes, students will look to see if an internship will pay them, but if you limit them to say 20-30 hours a week and can help them with room and board they can always try for another part-time job.
Hint-hint: Colleges like to tell students about internship opportunities, try them as resources.
I have had youth interns in
I have had youth interns in the past, but I am always looking to make our intern experience the best it can be. There is not a lot of stuff out there. When I started our program I called churches, Young Life, etc. and but something together. But where I am at now money is the problem.
We would definitely be
We would definitely be interested! We do place interns in youth ministries every year in our area, but the first subject that always comes up and the biggest obstacle is always the funding. Your ideas are very thought-provoking.
I can't wait to see the
I can't wait to see the resource. It was just what I was starting to try and figure out. An answer to a prayer before it was formed into a completed thought.
I would be very interested
I would be very interested in the product. I am intrigued by the idea of the interns raising their own support... My greatest questions center around what responsibilities are good to start with and tools to develop/train/equip and advice on the areas to focus on first. Thanks for your willingness!
Simply Youth Ministry is
Simply Youth Ministry is working on a new resource called Interns From Start To Finish. It will be out in the summer.
This would be an amazing
This would be an amazing asset. Our youth group is just beging to grow and I need to know how to attract the right interns.
I just started thinking
I just started thinking about one for our ministry and have NO CLUE where to start. I really don't want to be a "user." Help would be awesome.
That would be a GREAT
That would be a GREAT resource! I have been trying to come up with a way to develop a training program while amping up the youth ministry. Any advice would be awesome.