Church Planting Internship Job Description

Sovereign Grace Ministries

Purpose The Sovereign Grace Ministries Church Planting Internship is a twelve month, fully funded internship, based in an approved SGM church. The Church Planting Internship (CPI) exists for the purpose of orienting, evaluating and preparing church planting candidates to potentially attend the Pastors College.

Strategy A successful internship is accomplished through Sovereign Grace Ministries partnering with an SGM local church to orient, evaluate, and prepare the church planting candidate for the Pastors College. To embrace the dynamics of this partnership, the residence is structured in three parts. 1. Relationships occur. The primary context in which evaluation and guidance

2. Participation Those opportunities provide the intern a chance to observe and participate in local church ministries that most strategically expose him to the values and ministry models of SGM. 3. Preparation Those endeavors the intern fulfills helps prepare him for attending the Pastors College as a church planting candidate. The CPI is designed to evaluate three areas of the interns life, with an emphasis placed on his character and spirituality. 1. Character and spirituality 2. Conduct in the home 3. Capabilities

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I. Relationships These relationships are the primary context in which evaluation, guidance, and care will occur. 1. Mentoring Pastor: The Senior Pastor of the host church, will either be the interns mentor, or will assign him a mentoring pastor. a. The mentoring pastor, in conjunction with the SGM Church Planting Group, will adapt this job description and its timeline as is best suitable to the intern and the host church. b. While the responsibility to fulfill the duties of this internship is the interns, the mentoring pastor will provide leadership, input, and care along the way. c. The mentoring pastor will meet with the intern on a weekly or biweekly basis, to oversee and serve as point man for all matters relating to his internship as well as to provide pastoral care. d. If the intern is engaged or married, the mentoring pastors wife may be involved in the mentoring process, particularly in quarterly couples meetings or as needed. 2. Pastors and Wives Small Group: The intern (and his wife, if married) will participate in a pastors and wives small group throughout the internship. This will promote personal growth, biblical fellowship, and accountability as well as provide a model for community and team care. 3. Elders Meetings: The intern will participate in elders meetings in order to learn how pastors work as a team, apply wisdom to pastoral issues, and make decisions as they lead a local church. a. The intern will discuss these experiences with his mentor. Topics to cover might include: the importance in strategically building a team, plurality at work in and out of elder meetings, the role of the Sr. Pastor, the task of a team coming to a consensus, and the challenge of maintaining elder rule while achieving congregational participation. b. It is recommended that the intern attend at least four elder meetings in the course of his internship.

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II. Participation The intern will observe and actively participate in the life and ministry of the host church, therein exposing him to the values and ministry models of SGM churches. This should include (but not be limited to): 1. The local churchs mission, values, etc. 2. preaching and public ministry 3. evangelism and mercy ministries 4. membership classes 5. discipleship programs 6. ministry teams 7. small group 8. counseling 9. administration 10. worship and Sunday gathering 11. childrens ministry 12. various stages of life ministries (youth, college-age, singles, family life, empty-nesters,

III. Preparation These activities will prepare the intern for attending the Pastors College as a church planting candidate. 1. Study a. Jeff Purswells teachings on Pneumatology and Polity b. Define any current or past doctrinal variance from SGM for study c. Church Planting and Missiology books found on the Church Planter Recommended Reading List d. Access to the Church Planter Recommended Reading List 2. Church Planting Prospectus 3. Visit the Pastors College 4. Retreats and Conferences

IV. Assessment The Church Planting Group with the help of the host church will develop a Church Planting Candidate Profile that includes the following:

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1. Character assessment a. Character assessment guided by 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 b. Conduct in the home 2. Capability assessment using the e5 tool 3. Preaching assessment by the Preaching Assessment Team The Church Planting Candidate Profile will be sent to the Sr. Pastor of the host church, the Regional Leader and the Director of Church Planting to determine what is the best next step for the candidate. Possible next steps include; 1. CPC applies to the Pastors College as a CPC 2. CPC steps off the church planting track and applies to the Pastors College 3. CPC steps off the church planting track to pursue further evaluation

September 14, 2011