10 Essential Ingredients for Running an Effective Small Church Internship

Many churches want to start an internship ministry because they need help and want free labor. But there’s no such thing as free labor. An internship will cost your church a great deal of time, energy, money and other resources. In fact, it is likely to cost you more than it will pay you back – at least in the short run. There’s only one good reason for a church to start an internship ministry. Because you want to invest in the next generation of ministers.

February 23, 2017

by Karl Vaters

Small church internships have a lot to offer both the intern and the church.

For over a dozen years, our small church has operated a successful internship ministry. Here are ten essential lessons we’ve learned, which have given us a reputation as a church that former interns want to recommend to future interns.

(This is the third in a series about small church internships. For more info, check out 7 Reasons to Consider a Small Church Internship, and 10 Steps to Get an Internship Ministry Started In a Small Church.)

Author

Karl Vaters

Karl produces resources for Helping Small Churches Thrive at KarlVaters.com.
He's the author of five books on church leadership, including his newest, De-Sizing the Church: How Church Growth Became a Science, Then an Obsession, and What's Next. His other books include The Grasshopper Myth and Small Church Essentials.
Karl also hosts a bi-weekly podcast,The Church Lobby: Conversations on Faith & Ministry, featuring in-depth interviews about topics that concern pastors, especially those who minister in a small church context.
Karl has served in small-church ministry for over 40 years, so he speaks and writes from decades of hands-on pastoral experience. He and his wife, Shelley have three children and two grandkids.

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