How does one go about choosing an internship program?
1. Internship Philosophy and Model
As students go about choosing their internship, we recommend that they start by reading our Internship Philosophy and Model.
2. Course Descriptions for the Internship Courses
The next thing we recommend for them to do is to read the course descriptions. Our internships are real courses that students get credit for and they have course descriptions. For example, if a student is in an OVC major, the following courses will apply depending on whether the student is an undergraduate or graduate student. Students in other majors should read the course descriptions for their corresponding majors or ask their counselors for guidance.
MINS 460 / 660 OVC Internship I, 3 credits
This two-month to three-month internship is the first OVC internship. It is designed to give students the opportunity to practice previously learned material and gain new information and skills on the mission field. During this time, students work under the supervision of experienced OVC workers who are working on the administrative aspects of ministry. This internship can be done in any country in the world although we highly recommend that students attempt to learn the “back end” side of ministry during this first internship. This could be working from an office doing administrative work, fundraising, donor relations, documenting and reporting, website creation, etc. The goal is to do it in an organization that is similar to the one the student intends to serve after graduation.
MINS 461 / 661 OVC Internship II, 3credits
This two-month to three-month OVC internship is a continuation of the first OVC Internship. For the first OVC internship, we recommended that students focus their efforts on learning the “back-end” or administrative side of ministry. For this second OVC Internship, we recommend that students focus on learning how to deliver care directly to the poor in their area of calling. Students should work “hands-on” within a ministry relevant to their future work. The goal is to do it in an organization that is similar to the one the student intends to serve after graduation.
3. Get both “hands-on” and “back-end” experience
Many of our students are training for foreign missions. Their future work would often involve two components –doing work on the ground overseas and also doing vital work in their home countries (e.g. the U.S) to keep the work they are doing overseas going well. We encourage students to intern in both environments if possible. This is not a requirement but a strong recommendation from people with experience that should be strongly considered. For students whose programs require two internships, we recommend doing the first one in an organization in their home country where they can learn the “back-end” of ministry and the second in an organization that is serving on a mission-field similar to the one they plan to serve.
4. Key Requirements for Internships
- Duration: Each lasts two to three months or more if desired by the student.
- Setting: They are done in a setting that is similar to that in which the student intends to work in the future.
- Leadership: They are led by experienced ministry leaders with strong experience in the area of focus of the students major at Servants University and their future work.
- Workload and time commitment: The ministry needs to have enough work volume to keep the student learning and give them a great experience. For internships done overseas, we recommend 30 hours per week of work. For internships done in one’s home country (e.g. in the U.S.), we recommend 15-20 hours per week. This is is to allow time for students doing internships in their home country to still be able to hold a part-time job to pay their bills if needed. Most students going overseas raise support to live and serve there full-time and don’t need a part-time job there to support themselves financially.
- Pre-approval: The internship needs to be pre-approved by an academic advisor.
5. Researching potential internship opportunities
- How long has the organization been operational?
- Is it registered and regulated by local authorities?
- How many children/people do they serve?
- How do they serve these children/people?
- What is the scope of their work? What other things to they do?
- What are the short and long-term goals of the organization? That is, what are they trying to accomplish in the short-term and long-term?
- How do volunteers fit into their overall work?
- Have they had other volunteers like the student serve with them in the past?
- What about safety in the location the student will be going to serve?
- How much will it cost the student to go and serve there for 2-3 months? – Total expenses.
- What will be the student’s job description while they are there? / What role will the student be playing?
- What does the student intend to learn from the experience? Why did you choose that location? etc.
6. Meet with Academic Counselor
