Internship

What will the internship look like?

The purpose of the RENEW Internship Program is to identify, equip and train future planters to launch gospel-centered churches that engage the unique context of Metropolitan South Florida with the power of the gospel.  It is designed to benefit both individual ministerial candidates and particular South Florida congregations.

For the intern, it is a way of gaining pastoral experience under the guidance of ordained ministers; cultivating a philosophy of ministry designed for South Florida; developing skills for planting new congregations, and fulfilling the requirements for ordination. The church gains, not only in training pastors for Christ’s church, but from the intern’s active service among the people of a particular congregation. Therefore, the program is ideally suited for, but not limited to, individuals who are currently enrolled in or completing a Master of Divinity.

RENEW training will consist of three elements: relationships, content, and ministry. There will be no charge for the training, but interns will partner with RENEW in order to raise the financial support necessary for participation.

Relationships: interns who enter the RENEW program will be enriched through the impact of teachers who have planted and are planting churches, camaraderie with fellow interns and church planters, and access to peers from different denominational backgrounds.

Content: Content and curriculum will be taken from the Redeemer Church Planter Manual, and from personal experience over a 2-year period. Interns will do assignments related to their specific church plants. Topics addressed will include:

 

  1. Call and competencies of the church planter
  2. Vision, values and mission of the church
  3. Research: demographics and ethnographics
  4. Contextualized Philosophy of Ministry
  5. Action Plan
  6. Leadership Structures
  7. Linking the Gospel to your community
  8. Renewal Dynamics for church planting and growth
  9. Small groups
  10. Preaching in the context of church planting

Ministry: Ministry in actual involvement in starting a church in a city or neighborhood of Metropolitan South Florida. The anticipated outcome is to develop leaders who are crafted, competent and confident for city ministry.

RENEW exists to embody the kingdom of God through the formation of neighborhood churches. We anticipate that individuals applying to the program will have a strong desire to start new churches in South Florida. The program is designed to function as an aspect of an assessing process for church planting.

The internship will last as little as six months and as much as two years, and is designed to launch the planter into the field upon completion.  Throughout this process, there are benchmarks where both the intern and RENEW will be able to assess whether the intern should move on through the process.

The internship is designed to expose participants to various pastoral situations and relevant theological discussions through supervised ministry, guided study and regular assessment.  In preparation for their ministry experience, interns are exposed to a wide variety of books, articles and case studies designed to prepare the individual for ordination, pastoral ministry and church planting in South Florida.

The internship is a full-time position and participants are expected to work between 40 and 55 hours per week. The majority of this time (at least 35 hours) will be devoted to the following activities:

 

  1. Participating in weekly RENEW staff meetings
  2. Raising personal support (newsletters, website updates, phone calls, appointments, etc).
  3. Reading those materials designed to prepare the intern for ordained ministry and church planting.
  4. Preparing broad demographical analysis of South Florida and detailed demographical analysis of two or three distinct neighborhoods (chosen in conjunction with RENEW staff).
  5. Assisting the pastoral staff in planning, preparing and leading of worship according to the needs of the particular congregation and the gifts of the individual intern.
  6. Assisting with general pastoral care (visitation, assimilation, hospitality, etc.).
  7. Serving the local Community Group ministry as director, coach, leader or host, according to needs and personal interest.
  8. Participating and assisting in other ministries of the church according to needs and personal interests (e.g. adult education, children’s ministry, youth, holistic ministry, etc).
  9. Developing and nurturing relationships with unchurched neighbors.

Finally, each candidate receives verbal and written assessment of teaching skills, pastoral care, leadership and personal maturity from the mentoring pastor who works most closely with that individual.  Through this intensive and exciting program, we hope that people will be better prepared for church planting in South Florida and feel more confident in the gifts God has given them.