Hands-on learning forges new skills
Published: January 23, 2025
Graduate students reflect on their internship experiences
Abenezer Dejene, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Abenezer is a Master of Divinity student majoring in Theological Studies: Biblical Studies.
Last summer, I participated in 鈥檚 (MSMC) Future Anabaptist Leaders internship program. The program is designed for聽young adults interested in exploring leadership opportunities in congregations and passion ministries in the conference. in Colorado Springs hosted me as a home church. In the first half of my internship, I worked with , a peacemaking mission organization committed to beating guns into plowshares and reimagining the world in a new way. In the second half, I spent most of my time with MSMC 鈥� visiting congregations, shadowing pastors, and participating in church and conference ministries.
My first responsibility was to help with an annual blacksmithing marathon; this year鈥檚 marathon involved RAWtools blacksmiths across the U.S. laboring one minute for each of the 44,000 lives lost to gun violence in 2023. I was involved in various activities, from creating videos to metalwork.
With MSMC, I visited seven Mennonite faith communities, traveling from Denver to Albuquerque. I spoke twice during Sunday services and participated in the conference鈥檚 Annual Assembly. I had the unique opportunity to engage in theological and pastoral discussions with pastors serving in various contexts.
Before the internship, I had no metalwork experience, but during it, I learned how to transform guns into garden tools and made a garden spade, a mattock, art pieces and talking pieces. In addition, I gained hands-on experience with actual peacemaking engagement on the ground, starting with understanding a big-scale problem and moving toward action. I witnessed and learned from congregations鈥� active engagements in their communities through peacemaking, social justice and lamentation for those suffering in wars.
Sue Short, Archbold, Ohio
Sue, who serves on the pastoral ministry team at in Archbold, completed a Master of Divinity with a major in Pastoral Ministry in August 2024.
The prospect of choosing a placement for my two-semester internship was a bit daunting. As a working pastor completing my seminary degree, I wanted something outside of my church鈥檚 walls that would enhance my ministry to the congregation. Volunteering with our local hospice and home health organization seemed like an excellent fit.
My educational goal was to learn as much as I could about this organization鈥檚 many services in our area. I helped at the adult day care center 鈥� serving as a conversation partner, a singer accompanying an elderly pianist and a gracious loser at card games. I accompanied the hospice nurses and social workers on their home visits, observing their kindness and care. And I received training to serve as a regular volunteer at the inpatient hospice center.
As I visited patients on my first day at the hospice center, I stopped by the room of an older woman sitting up in bed reading the newspaper. She welcomed me as I entered. I told her my name and that I was a new volunteer. She smiled and said, 鈥淭his is my first time, too.鈥� The dying taught the pastor that day.
I discovered during these two semesters that this placement went far beyond what 鈥渇it鈥� the course assignment. I grew in my capacity to sit with those at the end of their lives and with their families, gaining a broader perspective of loss. As I did so, I encountered the unique needs of adults grieving their parents, both before and after death. As the general population grows older, the number of adults who carry this largely unacknowledged pain will also continue to grow 鈥� an important fact to keep in mind for those of us in helping professions.
Ultimately, this experience became a place where God met, humbled and nurtured me, even as I served others. I am forever changed and grateful.
Stephen Lowe, Virginia
Stephen is a Master of Divinity student majoring in Theological Studies: History, Theology and Ethics.
What does it mean to be a missional leader in the context of undergraduate education? The answer wasn鈥檛 obvious as I began my role at (GC) in August 2023 as an adjunct instructor of 鈥淓ngaging the Bible鈥� 鈥� an academic Bible class that all GC students take. However, the ideals of missional leadership deeply formed me over my yearlong internship.
My first learning goal was to work towards being what Doug Lemov describes as a 鈥渨arm/strict鈥� teacher in Teach Like a Champion 2.0: 62 Techniques that Put Students on the Path to College. He says teachers should be both warm and strict; flexible and inflexible; nurturing and 鈥渂y the book.鈥� Finding the balance was a struggle. I tend towards being a 鈥渨arm鈥� teacher, but by not enforcing expectations of quality of work and timeliness in my classroom, I was doing my students a disservice.
For my second learning goal, I wanted to emphasize two key tasks for my students鈥� study of the Bible: to engage voices inside and outside of the Bible that challenged their preconceptions about it; and to engage in reflection on their own beliefs, actions and relationship with faith. I hoped that while students might experience my class as a place of deconstruction on the surface, their deeper experience would plant the seeds of reconstruction towards life-giving belief structures as they navigated the complexities of college.
Neither of these goals seemed to be oriented towards mission; however, what I uncovered was how missional leadership intersected with my vocation as an educator. In both goals, I sought to introduce students to the paradox of the gospel: that what seems like failure may be God鈥檚 victory; that growth only comes through death. In being a warm/strict teacher, I engaged my pastoral self to show God鈥檚 love and compassion to my students. In inviting critical analysis of the biblical text and their own embedded beliefs, I helped students discover the paradoxical painful joy of putting to death life-stealing ideologies and encountering the life-giving gospel of God鈥檚 shalom.
What does it mean to be a missional leader in education? My internship showed me that, personally, it means centering the liberating, regenerative and saving gospel of Jesus Christ as the virtue, rule and end of my work as an educator.
Student internship placements (2021鈥�24)
| 54 | students who completed an internship/practicum (required for students in the Master of Divinity, MA: Theology and Peace Studies and Graduate Certificate in Spiritual Direction programs) |
| 25 | congregations served by student interns |
| 21 | organizations served by student interns, including nonprofit organizations, church agencies/organizations, educational institutions, a church camp and a retirement community |
| 5 | hospitals served by students fulfilling Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) requirements |
| 13 | U.S. states in which bg真人 interns served |
| 2 | Canadian provinces in which bg真人 interns served |
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