Rev. Sara Anne Berger

Internships

The other part of my work with the Town Square Collaborative is overseeing internships. This is yet another way to establish and strengthen connections between the University of the Ozarks and local congregations, and between those congregations and their communities

The term "intern" may be a bit misleading, as we don't connect students with congregations for typical "intern" activities. Instead our internships are connectional experiences where interns from a variety of majors and backgrounds get to live in a small-town or rural community for the summer and learn about the community, its people, and a congregation which serves Jesus Christ in that community.

The interns come to these communities for the summer semester--roughly the first week of June through the first week of August. We require them to attend worship, and participate in worship in a way that uses their gifts and strengthens their skills and is acceptable to the congregation. We also require them to attend any Christian formation or Christian education going on during the summer, and any meetings or gatherings of the congregation which they are able to attend.

But the real gift of these interns, and their purpose in participating, is for them to help further your congregation's connections to your community. Much like in our work with Congregational Formation through the M.U.S.I.C. framework, our goal and hope is for local congregations to be connected with their communities, in a way that helps all parties thrive.

The interns are required to make connections with people in the church and in the community each week (helped by the congregation) and volunteer in the church and community each week. They have to ask questions and initiate conversations, learn about the church and community, and share their own thoughts, ideas, and impressions--an offering which can be a gift to a church, as it provides fresh eyes and an outsider's perspective.

The interns are asked to:

learn about and reflect on the church's assets, strengths, and gifts;

notice where the community has needs to be met, and where those needs are already being met;

and offer up ideas of ways the church's assets, strengths and gifts can be used to meet needs and build connections in the community.

Congregations wishing to host interns for the summer should be willing to offer: a planning team to work in advance; housing (ideally in the homes of church members); transportation (many of the students do not drive or have access to their own transportation); and assistance in making community connections

Hosting interns is an involved–but rewarding!–endeavor, and does require preparation and work in advance.

If you are interested in being considered for hosting interns, or if you’d like to find out more about it, and what is required, please contact Rev. Sara Anne Berger at sberger@ozarks.edu

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