PRACTICE IN MINISTRY AND MISSION

GOAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHEET

What Kind of Ministry Do I Want?

What Kind of Ministry Do I Need?

Also, What’s the Point Anyway?

An internship is like a job and also not like a job.

When you apply for a job, you want to highlight the skills you have already acquired that you can bring to that job.

When you apply for an internship, you seek to develop new skills for a career that lies ahead. What new learning do you need to acquire in order to prepare yourself further? Or how do you want to deepen or broaden skills that you have only begun to discover?

As you approach an internship, ask: “What is the vocational direction that I am discerning?” “What might I want to learn in the internship in order to further follow that vocation or calling?”

This worksheet helps you to identify: (1) experiences you have already had and skills you have already acquired; (2) the vocational direction you are in the midst of discerning; and (3) the learning goals you might name as you explore possibilities for your internship.

I. Previous Experience and Skills. What kind of responsibilities have you previously had in ministry (volunteer or paid) in the following areas? ( Please answer as specifically as possible concerning the kinds of activities with which you have experience and the extent of that experience. Use other pages as needed.)

a)  Preaching and leading worship

b)  Visitation and pastoral care (indicate context: homes, hospital, nursing home, etc.)

c)  Christian education (indicate age levels, etc.)

d)  Administration (what kinds of committees, etc.)

e)  Evangelism and witness

f)  Stewardship and finance

g)  Social service

h)  Advocacy for justice, peace, and environmental integrity

As you look at your responses to page 1 of this worksheet, where are the blank spaces? Notice which areas are already fairly well developed and which areas might benefit from renewed attention.

II. What are your overall vocational goals or plans (as much as you know them now), and how do these impact your expectations for this internship?

More Specifically:

a)  What do you imagine yourself doing in the first year or two after graduating from Wesley, e.g. what kind of ministry, in what kind or organization, with what denomination of the church?

b)  What do you imagine yourself doing in the longer term, say five or ten years after graduating?

c)  What do you most hope to learn in this internship, i.e., which areas of ministry (preaching, visitation, administration, Christian education, stewardship, etc.) and which ministry competencies do you hope to develop?

d)  What personal/professional goals do you seek to enhance in this setting (e.g., confidence, sense of authority, identity as a religious leader, etc.)?

e)  What are your assumptions about supervision and the supervisory process that might be relevant to this ministry placement?

f)  In view of these considerations, what kind of placement setting and learning partnership might you be hoping to find for this internship?

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