By Darrel Girardier
Pouring into your intern is one of the most important things you can do in your internship program. Mentoring your intern should be viewed as a blessing and help to shape and define their calling by you showing them your own calling to ministry.
Overcommunication Is Key
When mentoring an intern, it is important to communicate. A lot. Remember that your intern is new to your environment. They don’t know everything that the full-time staff or ministry team does. They don’t know what the norms of the work environment are.
Because of this, it’s important to overcommunicate with your intern. Explain why you do things the way you do them or why things are structured the way they are. Be open with your intern about the culture of your church and any struggles that you might face in your ministry role.
Homework as Development
Give your intern homework. Provide specific assignments to stretch them outside of the actual internship. Think of experiences that will push them beyond their comfort zone and provide them with a clear understanding of what a career in full-time ministry might look like.
Show your intern all aspects of the church. Include them in meetings that may not directly pertain to them, like deacons meetings or worship planning meetings. Although these areas of ministry may not be the intern’s main focus, it will give the intern a good perspective of how the church functions on a regular basis. And maybe, in showing your intern different aspects of the church, they’ll be able to refine their focus of what part of the church they truly feel called to serve.
Mentoring your intern helps them refine and define their calling and gives them an accurate view of what ministry looks like on a day-to-day basis. Mentoring your intern not only grows them, but it will grow you as well.
Adapted from Training Pathway: Church Communications. Check out more training videos on Ministry Grid.
Darrel Girardier is the Digital Strategy Director at Brentwood Baptist Church in Brentwood, TN.
