THE INTERNSHIP MENU

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THE INTERNSHIP MENU

• The Value of Missionary Internships

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Gary L. Green

• B.S., University of Louisiana at Monroe
• D.V.M., Louisiana State University
• M.A.R., Harding Graduate School of Religion
• 1 year, Desamparados, Costa Rica
• 8 years, Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela
• 5 years, Abilene Christian University
• Latin American Missions Coordinator
• WorldWide Witness Program

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What is a summer internship?

• Summer internships are 6 - 10 week mission
  experiences conducted under the oversight of an
  experienced mentor on the mission field.
• Any person from any major can apply to
  participate in an internship.
• Not a vacation more than a campaign challenge
  to go and personally experience mission life.

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EXPECTATIONS

• Online application with references bio.
• Attend spring retreat weekly training.
• Find supporting church and raise funds.
• Go as learner ambassador to the field.
• Participate in debriefing upon return.

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GOALS

1. MISSION Hear Gods call.
2. FAITH BUILDING Observe God at work.
3. SPIRITUAL FORMATION Develop the heart of Christ.
4. SERVICE Assist missionaries and churches.
5. EXPOSURE Experience real life missions.

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What will I actually do during the internship?
Be Mentored
Language learning
Youth ministry
Campus ministry
Personal evangelism
Teaching
Preaching
Visitation
Campaigns
VBS
Other
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Where can I go?
LATIN AMERICA Brazil (3), Chile, Argentina,
Costa Rica, Mexico
AFRICA Uganda (3), Tanzania, Ghana, Burkina Faso
ASIA Thailand (3), Japan
OCEANA Australia (2), New Zealand, Papua New
Guinea
EUROPE France, England (2), Croatia, Germany
DOMESTIC Atlanta, Bronx, Miami, Denver, Portland
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STM Internships

• The Global Impact of Short Term Missions
• Survey of opportunities
• Standards of excellence
• On the field impact

• The Value of Missionary Internships
• The internship menu
• The value to those who go
• The value to the receiving church

Preparing for Short Term Missions -Survival
guide -Key issues -Tools for digging deep
fast
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Why bother with internships?

• Explore and clarify your career goals, so you'll
  know if the field is right for you.
• Develop knowledge, competencies, and experience
  related to your major and career interest.
• Gain practical experience.
• Take responsibility for your own learning
• Establish a network of professional contacts,
  mentors, and references for after graduation.
• Source Job Choices, 1999 at http//career.asu.edu
  /S/LA/EmpSay/Internships/LAEmpinternintro.htm
  (Arizona State University)

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• "as an intern you will be given the opportunity
  to prove yourself and find out if this is the
  career path you want to follow.  You can learn a
  lot during an internship that you wouldn't get
  exposed to until after graduating.  This is a
  unique exploratory opportunity for each
  student." 
• The Value Of Internships And Co-op Opportunities
  For College Students by Linedda Cates-McIver at
  http//www.black-collegian.com/issues/1998-11/valu
  e11.shtml

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• "When you're an intern it's an opportunity to not
  be the person responsible. But you're still close
  enough to the action that you can see everything
  that happens. . . I had a chance to learn a lot
  of the things that don't work so well in my
  field. I learned where there were barriers and
  where there were miscommunications. And because I
  wasn't right in the middle of them, I learned to
  recognize them before they became crises."
• The value of internships from some who've been
  there By David Lyman September 5, 2004 at
  http//www.freep.com/features/living/iside5_200409
  05.htm

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Internship Trend

• At Boston College, 63 of the 1995 graduates had
  participated in an internship.
• 2002, 89 had participated in an internship. By
  Diane E. Lewis, Globe Staff, 4/13/03 at
  http//bostonworks.boston.com/globe/articles/04130
  3_intern.html

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Internship Trend

• More than 55 of those hired by manufacturers
  have internship experience.
• (National Association of Colleges and Employers
  Spotlight 11/102) at http//www.ncf.edu/CareerSer
  vices/Documents/WhatAreInternships.htm

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Internship Trend

• Penn State School of Information Services and
  Technology, http//ist.psu.edu/currentstudents/stu
  dentservices/internships/page2.cfm?pageID559

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Internship Trend

• The sociologist Christian Smith, based on
  national random survey data, reports that 29
  percent of all 13- to 17-year-olds in the U.S.
  have "gone on a religious missions team or
  religious service project," with 10 percent
  having gone on such trips three or more times.
  That is, his data indicates that far more than 2
  million 13- to 17-year-olds go on such trips
  every year.
• From Robert Priest, To Kurt Ver Beek
  http//www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/127/22.0.
  html

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Internship Trends

• Short-term mission trips to foreign countries are
  the biggest trend to hit the evangelical
  Christian outreach scene since vacation Bible
  school. Between 1 million and 4 million North
  American Christians reportedly participated in
  STMs in 2003, and the number keeps rising.
• Christianity Today, Week of June 20, Study
  Questions Whether Short-Term Missions Make a
  Difference by Abram Huyser Honig

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Personal Experience

• ACU applicants
• Youth ministries, university internships, study
  abroad
• Examples
• As youth group members
• Costa Rica, France, New Zealand
• As university students
• Santiago, Chile Bronx, USA Mbale, Uganda
  Nottingham, England

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• Erin Richmond, Sydney, 2004
• The internship changed my views of the world and
  evangelism. It showed me how small the world
  truly is and how big God is. I also learned that
  for the majority, people are all the same . . .
  even if they are on the other side of the world.

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• Brent Hines, New Zealand, 2004
• My relationship with God increased tremendously
  and I know that my lifes purpose is to build
  up the church.

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Lyndsey Epley case

• Became a Christian as a junior in high school
  never left the USA
• First flight DFW-LAX-SYD-BNE
• 3 summer internships, 1 Christmas visit, 1 visit
  during furlough
• I dont know how it will fit into my future but
  I know I will always be a part of the church in
  Brisbane somehow.

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Students perception

• Students self evaluation is that they benefit
  from internships and they are valuable.
• Yet other concerns continue . . .

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Concerns

• Stewardship
• Why not just support a national?
• Team formation
• Do interns contribute to long term teams?
• Spiritual formation
• Are spiritual changes permanent?

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Concerns Why not just send the money to the
field?

• 1. People are using their disposable income for
  things other than missions any redirection of
  these funds towards the kingdom should be viewed
  as positive. We should not view internships as
  competition to national funding.
• Avg. USA household credit card debt 12,000

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Concerns Why not just send the money to the
field?

• 2. When God wanted to touch lives he sent his
  son not his checkbook internships facilitate
  incarnational ministry.

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Concerns Why not just send the money to the
field?

• 3. Internships are an investment in the future
  as much as a remedy for the present need of the
  foreign national church.

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Concerns Why not just send the money to the
field?

• 4. Throughout history trends have arisen in
  Christianity and culture. We can take advantage
  of them or miss them.
• Top trend of boomers (and their children) is
  international travel.

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Concerns Why not just send the money to the
field?

1. Internships are not competition to mission funds.
2. Internships have a theological base.
3. Internships are an investment in the future.
4. Internships take advantage of a national trend.

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Concerns Do interns contribute to long term team
formation?

• 1986 Short-Term Mission Handbook states that 48
  of career missionaries sent in past 5 years had
  previous STM experience.
• 1987 Approx. 50 of TEAM career missionaries had
  previous STM experience.
• Pocock, Michael. Gaining Long-Term Mileage from
  Short-Term Programs. Evangelical Missions
  Quarterly 23 (April 1987)154-160.

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Concerns Do interns contribute to long term team
formation?

• Ryan Newhouse
• 1 year in Brazil
• 2 years in El Salvador
• Intern 2x in Santiago, Chile
• Jared Berryman
• Summer intern to Mexico City
• 1 year apprentice to Mexico City
• Long term plans for Buenos Aires

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Concerns Are spiritual changes permanent?

• Nearly every study which has applied pre- and
  post-trip tests to STM participants has found
  that there is little or no lasting change in
  areas like spiritual maturity, cross-cultural
  awareness, ethnocentrism, and other hoped-for
  results of STM.
• http//www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/127/32.0.
  html (Robert Priest)

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Concerns Are spiritual changes permanent?

• Almost all studies have been based on
  self-perception and not on concrete evidence
  emotions ebb over time.
• Many STMs involve junior high or high school
  students who lack the maturity to process the
  experience.
• Most STMs are conducted with a low amount of
  spiritual preparation pre-STM and minimal
  debriefing post-STM.

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97 Dissertation reviewing the influence of STMs

• Increase subsequent commitment to participation
  in world missions
• Increase in inter-cultural communication skills
• Enhanced ability to see the world through a
  Biblical worldview

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98 Dissertation comparing internships from three
CCUs by Kathryn Tuttle

• Those indicating they received good or excellent
  training had significantly higher change scores
  than those who reported that their training was
  nonexistent to average.
• Following the internship, students with good
  training were more likely to
• Help others with spiritual struggles
• Accept people from different religious
  backgrounds
• Go out of their way to love others
• Be committed to Christ

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Tuttle Dissertation

• 25 of interns reported being stretched beyond
  their comfort zone (vs. 3 of control group)
• 22 of interns reported having a sense of being
  empowered to use their gifts beyond their own
  strength (vs. one person in control group)

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Tuttle Dissertation

• 22 of interns reported they better see how they
  fit into Gods plan
• 15 of interns reported that they trust God more
  in difficult times
• Other significant improvements
• Improved prayer life
• More passion for God
• Deepened desire to know God
• More content with what they have

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Key issue is training both pre-STM and post-STM.

• . . . the best way to make sure that the
  families, churches, and communities will feel
  motivated and empowered by a one-week visit is to
  think seriously about it beforehand, and to work
  with organizations, missionaries, and others who
  are concerned and making this happen year round.
• http//www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/127/52.0.
  html

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Issue of Training

• In research with Ph.D. students at Trinity, I've
  been impressed that while STM may not always or
  automatically produce desired results, the right
  sorts of STM, carried out in the right sorts of
  ways, and accompanied by the right sorts of
  reflections, have potential for good.
• Robert Priest http//www.christianitytoday.com/ct/
  2005/127/22.0.html

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Issue of Training

• His proposal It's not enough to stress the
  importance of orientation and debriefing as ways
  of augmenting the short-term mission
  experiencesomething you'll hear from any STM
  expert worth her salt. Instead, the STM needs to
  be treated as one small module that augments a
  much longer and more intense course of learning.
• Abram Honig at http//www.christianitytoday.com/ct
  /2005/125/12.0.html

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Concerns

• Stewardship
• Valuable to send interns financially and
  theologically
• Team formation
• Future teams do tend to reap the harvest of
  former interns
• Spiritual formation
• Spiritual growth is significant when the
  internship has significant pre-STM and post-STM
  training.

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Conclusions

• There is a trend among USA youth to be involved
  in STMs we can make the most of it or miss it.
• STM internships (with good training and
  debriefing)
• A. Are positive long term investments
• B. Facilitate long term teams
• C. Enhance individual spiritual formation

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BOTTOM LINE VALUE

• Millennial generation (graduating on or after
  2000) next bridge-builder generation
• The issue is not will they shape the future but
  rather will we play a role in how they shape the
  future. This is the value of STM internships.