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    thoughts on interns
doug fields
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:
- 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. If you're interested in help
with interns, would you please let me know at this e-mail
address (interns@simplyyouthministry.com)
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.
http://www.simplyyouthministry.com/community-articles-doug-s-thoughts.html
doug fields
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:
- 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. If you're interested in help
with interns, would you please let me know at this e-mail
address (interns@simplyyouthministry.com)
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. |
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