THE UNITED CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF SOUTHERN AFRICA
TRAINING FOR MINISTRY
COMMITTEE
INTERNSHIP – PERIOD TRAINING
1. Students who have just completed their Seminary, University or
Theological Education by Extension training are placed in congregations as intern minister for a two-year period.
2. PURPOSE:
There is a gap between the largely academic life of a student and the life of a minister; between life in a close, supportive community and a much more isolated life with greater individual responsibility; between practical training with limited responsibilities and ministry with responsibility for a congregation; and (for some students) between thinking and working in English and thinking and working in another language. Ideally, if the Seminary/University has given attention to preparing students for life “outside”, the gap should not be too wide. On the other hand, what the Seminary/University can do in this respect is limited.
Intern-period Training can provide a valuable stepping-stone by helping candidates to discover what ministry in the actual situation means. When they are thrown from Seminary/University straight into a congregation to sink or swim, some swim, others sink. Intern-period Training aims to reduce the number of those who sink and enhance the ministry of those who swim. To accomplish this, our goals need to be clearly defined in our Internship training program.
The basic aim of Intern-period Training is, then, to help intern ministers to bridge the gap between formal theological study and full involvement in the work of the ministry.
3. PARTICULAR GOALS:
In pursuance of this basic aim, interns are helped: -
3.1 To develop their ministering ability in the context of pastoral work;
3.2 To reflect upon their pastoral experiences so as to relate them to their formal training, and thus to understand them in theological perspective;
3.3 To continue reading in academic and practical subjects which relate to the personal, pastoral and social needs that emerge in the course of their work;
3.4 To develop their understanding of, style of, and commitment to Christian ministry;
3.5 To grow in personal, emotional and spiritual maturity.
3.6 To assist in all matters relating to Church Administration.
3.7 To develop their strengths in ministerial formation.
4. TRAINING PROGRAMME:
4.1 The TMC arranges for each intern to be part of an Internship Training Group – Ecumenical wherever possible. This normally meets on a bi-monthly basis, but at least once a quarter, for a full day, under the guidance of a Regional Director approved by the TMC. This Director may be either the TMC’s own Regional Director or another suitably qualified person responsible to the Regional Director.
4.2 The bi-monthly or once a quarter group meetings:
The programme for these meetings will include the items as listed below and should take account of the backgrounds and needs of its members.
4.2.1 Each meeting is set in the context of worship and/or Bible study.
4.2.2 The central feature is the regular examination of samples of the intern’s work and of their experiences in their congregations.
4.2.3 Reports, recordings, and recounting of experiences provide the materials for these sessions, in which Director and interns help one another to analyse, reflect upon, and learn from their experiences.
4.2.4 In addition, and in part arising from these discussions, provision is made for further study and research in appropriate subjects.
4.3 Special Courses:
From time to time the group may engage in short, intensive courses, eg. Computer Literacy, Clinical Pastoral Education, or in group projects including various ecumenical workshops relating to HIV/AIDS, Poverty and other needs as may be identified with the Interns group. Some of the training may be undertaken in company with lay people, to encourage mutual understanding and co-operation.
4.4 Written Assignments:
4.4.1 A series of two reports (in questionnaire form) is required from each intern. The questions are designed to help the intern reflect on his/her ministry and to learn from this reflection, and also to help the TMC in its evaluation of the intern’s progress and his/her readiness for ordination. These reports are to be in the hands of the General Secretary as follows: -
The first by 31st July in the first year;
The second by 31st July in the second year.
4.4.2 In the first and second year each intern presents an essay on prescribed aspects of Congregational polity, which must be in the hands of the General Secretary by 30th September;
4.5 Conference:
The TMC arranges a Conference in the second half of each year. All intern and all members of the TMC attend this. First year interns submit their statements of faith for discussion with the TMC; second year interns present their dissertations. The TMC interviews all interns individually, after which it makes its final recommendations regarding the ordinations of the second year interns.
5. DIRECTION:
Each intern is under the direction of the UCCSA TMC, which exercises its direction through its Chairperson, Synodical TMC Directors and Regional Directors, and also corporately at the Conference.
6. SUPERVISION:
6.1 Each intern is under the supervision of his/her Regional Ministerial Committee, which exercises its supervision corporately and by appointing an individual Supervising Minister for each intern in its care. It supplements the Supervising Minister’s supervision by regular consultation with them and by interviewing the interns as frequently as possible throughout the internship period.
6.2 The Supervising Minister exercises supervision in the following ways: -
6.2.1 Offering time and interest to help bring out and develop intern’s gifts and skills;
6.2.2 Ensuring that the interns gains experience of the pastoral ministry as near as possible to that of an ordained minister;
6.2.3 Especially in the early months of internship, arranging for the intern to accompany him/her in some pastoral activities, so as to learn through observation as well as involvement on these experiences.
6.2.4 Being available at all reasonable times for the intern to consult him/her, and to develop as far as possible a relationship of openness and mutual trust in which each is free to learn from the other;
6.2.5 Arranging regular times for personal consultation with the intern, when the agenda includes:
- Anything the interns wishes to share in terms of work or personal life (it is most important that the intern need to feel that he/she is heard and understood),
- Helping the intern to plan his/work and to accept responsibility for the outcome of that planning,
- Helping the intern to reflect constructively on his/her work (asking such questions as: “What has been happening in your work, for instance, in your visiting?’ “Why do you think it has happened in that way?” “What do you feel can be done to improve the situation now?”).
6.2.6 Submitting reports on the intern’s progress, through the Regional Ministerial committee
- On the questionnaire forms supplied by the TMC
- And doing so by the dates specified!
6.2.7 Helping the church to understand and accept the intern’s commitments to the training group and to the TMC (as well as, where applicable, to the university); facilitating the necessary practical arrangements; and encouraging the church to support the intern and to share in his/her growth and development.
6.3. At the Synod’s TMC meeting in September, a program on Shepherding, Mentoring and Nurturing should be included for Regional F.O.V and T.M.C Directors. The program should be shared with the intern’s Supervising Minister within the Region.
7. GENERAL:
The following provisions apply to all interns: -
7.1 Title:
The title “Reverend” is restricted to ordained ministers, and must not be used by or with reference to interns. They should be referred to as “Mr”, “Miss” or “Mrs”, as the case may be.
7.2 Dress:
While interns are allowed to wear the clerical collar when engaged in their professional duties, Preaching gowns and other articles of dress such as bands are reserved for ordained ministers, and may not therefore be worn by interns. It should go without saying that in conducting worship and in pastoral duties interns should be dressed as befits their calling to the ministry.
8. PROGRESS TO ORDINATION:
8.1 The TMC reviews the progress of each intern.
8.2 In the middle of the second year it makes its report and recommendations to the Assembly Ministerial Committee. If satisfied, the Assembly Ministerial Committee recommends to the Assembly that the intern’s ordination be authorized, subject to the satisfactory completion of his/her internship and to the receipt and acceptance of a call or an appointment.
8.3 Final assessment of the internship is made by the TMC at its meeting during the Conference. If this is satisfactory, the intern is advised that he/she is now authorized to receive and accept a call or an appointment, with effect from the end of his/her two-year internship period.
(If the TMC’s assessment is unsatisfactory, the internship period may be extended, or the TMC may recommend that the Assembly Ministerial Committee withdraw the acceptance of the internship as a candidate for the ministry).
8.4 Arrangements for the intern’s ordination are the responsibility of the Regional Council sustaining the call or making the appointment (see PROCEDURE H in the MANUAL OF CONSTITUTIONS AND PROCEDURES).
9. WHAT IS REQUIRED OF THE LOCAL CHURCH:
Because the intern is not ordained, there are two limitations on his/her ministry:
- He/she has not received the full seal of the Church’s confidence that God has called him/her to the ministry:
- An intern cannot become a marriage officer, though he/she
Can prepare couples for marriage and conduct marriage services with the assistance of a marriage officer.
Yet it is in the internship period that the Church makes its final testing of the intern’s call, and the Church can do this responsibly only if it gives the intern the opportunity to exercise his/her ministry as fully as possible.
9.1 The local church is therefore asked to be
9.1.1 Understanding of one who has to find his/her feet in this first experience of full-time ministry.
9.1.2 Helpful with constructive criticism, not as to a student or a youngster, but to a brother/sister and “elder” in Christ;
9.1.3 Fully accepting and co-operative with him/her as minister. (The local church cannot test the intern’s calling by standing at a distance and watching him/her “get on with it”, but only as its deacons and members engage fully with him/her in the ministry of the local church).
9.2 Besides this commitment, internship training also requires that the local church give the intern time to attend the group meetings and other courses, as well as the Retreat, and time for individual study. In total this should not average more than twelve hours a week, plus three days at the Retreat, and four weeks if a Clinical Pastoral Education or other course can be arranged.
9.3 Finances:
Unless other arrangements have been made between the TMC and the local church, the local church is responsible for: -
9.3.1 Paying of the minimum stipend for intern ministers as laid down from time to time by the Assembly (this will be notified by the TMC);
9.3.2 The Regional Council through the Supervisor Minister ensures that the intern’s stipend for the whole of January at the beginning of the internship period is paid (the intern is expected to commence duties on 15 January);
9.3.3 Paying the stipend for the whole December at the End of the internship period;
9.3.4 Paying the intern’s Pension Fund contribution full time, at the rate determined by the Assembly from time to time.
9.3.5 Paying the intern’s traveling allowance as determined by the Regional Council
9.3.6 Regional Council arranges a series of meetings before the commencement of duty of an intern to help the church fully understand its role and obligations.
9.4 Other Financial matters:
9.4.1 Travel:
Costs of intern’s travel to group meetings and to the Retreat will be paid by the UCCSA at a rate to be determined by the Assembly Finance Committee, provided that interns from the same vicinity travel together.
9.4.2 Telephones:
Supervisors are asked to ensure that telephone costs are reasonable and adequately controlled.
9.5 Leave:
9.5.1 Each intern is entitled to twenty-one days’ leave at the end of the first year, commencing after Christmas Day service(s).
9.5.2 In the second year the intern terminates his/her ministry to the local church after the Christmas Day service(s).
9.5.3 If for any valid reason leave is granted to the interns at any other time during the year, and the local church has informed the General Secretary of this, it may consider such a period as deductible from the twenty-one days’ leave.
The TMC expresses its gratitude to each local church participating in internship training, confident that it will play its part fully in the preparation of interns for the full-time, ordained ministry.
10. General
10.1 Regional Council makes every effort to ensure that before appointing persons as intern’s Director and Supervisor Minister, that they are able to fulfill all the requirements as outlined in the interns program, for the successful completion of the program.
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