WEST CHURCH INTERN PROGRAMME 2017-2018

SOME INFORMATION ABOUT WEST CHURCH
West Church is based in Bangor West. We currently have 5 Sunday services:
  • 10am Traditional service
  • 10am Youth service – on average 140 teenagers from Y8-Y14 meet for worship, Bible teaching, discussion and prayer
  • 11:30am Family service – on average 120+ children from P1-P7 go out during the family service to J Club for worship, teaching and group activities. Many of our teenagers are involved in helping to lead in Crèche and J Club
  • 11:45am Caféchurch – a more informal service for people exploring faith
  • 6:30pm evening service
The internship will add to the leadership of the existing Youth and Children’s ministries within West Church and provide opportunities to develop new ministries.
Our Youth and Children’s team currently comprises: 1 full time Y&C Associate, 1 full-time Y&C Worker, 1 part time intern (14 hrs), 2 part time interns (20 hrs) and a volunteer intern.
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE INTERNSHIP PROGRAMME?
Building on the success ofthe past two years of having a Youth and Children’s internship programme, we are looking to recruit two new part-time interns.
The internship aims to provide a programme of Christian teaching, discipleship and leadership training to encourage the development of the intern’s:
a) own understanding of God and their walk with God
b) spiritual gifts to serve within the church and the local community
c) personal skills and development
d) leadership qualities
WHAT IS INCLUDED?
There are 4 main parts of the internship
  • church-based ministrywith children and teenagers;
  • mission and outreach in the local community;
  • leadership training;
  • spiritual education, personal study and development.
The programme will start on Monday 4th September2017 and finish at the end of June 2018 (i.e. lasting for 10 months) with a possible extension to 12 months. The post is for 20 hoursper week (working hours will depend on the needs of the ministry, and will include evening and weekend working). Interns will be expected to be available on Tuesday mornings, Friday afternoons, Saturday evenings, Sunday mornings and at least one afternoon and one evening per week.
Approximately 20% of the 20 hours per week will be given to personal study and training with80% given to hands-on ministry and service.The programme will be personalised to meet the needs, gifting and prior experience of the individual interns.
WHO CAN APPLY?
The West Church Internship is for any young person who is between the ages of 18-25 years and who has a desire to grow in his or her Christian faith, develop his or her spiritual gifting and leadership abilities through serving in the Church’s Youth and Children’s ministry.
Two positions are available, preferably one male and one female but that will ultimately depend on the abilities and gifting of the interns.
It is expected that the successful interns would be in sympathy with the ethos and core values of West Church and to be active membersof West Church attending the Sunday worship services for the duration of the internship.
WHAT DOES IT COST AND WILL INTERNS RECEIVE FINANCIAL SUPPORT?
A gift of£200 per month will be made available to the interns, plus expenses.
Interns will beexpected to fund their own living costs. They may be eligible for income support from the government. It will be the intern’s responsibility to make his or her own application for this. Further information can be found at
We encourage interns to raise support in the lead up to the programme. Ideally they should invite prayer and where possible financial support from family, friends and their church family.
WHERE WILL INTERNS BE LOCATED?
The interns will be based on the West Church premises in Bangor West and they will have their own personal study and office space.There will also be flexibility for the person at times to work from home.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
  • West Church has for its staff, terms and conditions of employmentthat have been drawn up in line with the requirements and guidelines of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.Interns will be expected to agree to the relevant sections of these terms and conditions including vetting under the child protection policy, transport policy and ICT policy.
  • Interns will be provided with a computer for use exclusively during the intern programme and in compliance with the church’s policy for the use of ICT.The computer will be returned to West Church at the end of the programme. All information will remain the intellectual property right of West Church.
  • It is expected that once appointed, interns will remain in post for the full ten months. There will be a 3 month trial period after which there will be a review meeting to make sure that both the intern and church staff are satisfied with the internship. A decision to continue with or end the internship will be made after this meeting.
  • The interns will be covered by the church’s Employer Liability insurance.

SUPPORT AND SUPERVISION
  • Interns will be expected to work as part of the ministry team, sharing responsibility and workloads and will be partofthe weeklyYouth and Children’s team meetings.
  • The interns will be line managed by the Youth and Children’s Associate or the Youth and Children’s Worker.
  • Each term the intern will have an appraisal meeting with the Youth and Children’s Associateto talk about how the internship is developing, areas of satisfaction and dissatisfaction and opportunities for further training or support.
  • Each intern will be linked with a ‘mentor’ from the congregation who will provide a listening ear, offer advice and encouragement, and help them incorporate spiritual habits into their daily living.
  • Each intern will also be matched to a ‘host family’ who will open their home and family life to the intern, invite the intern to family events and generally be involved in the life of the intern.

THE PROGRAMME
There are 4 key areas of the internship programme:
  1. CHURCH-BASED MINISTRY WITH CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE
Throughout their internship year, interns will be involved in various areas of church life, with a clear focus on ministry to children and youth. Interns will have some general responsibilities such as, working with children, young people and their families and being involved in the planning, preparation, and running of Youth and Children’s ministries. Interns will be expected to help lead a small discipleship group, and also to help plan and run the week-long Youth and Children’s outreach event at Easter. They will be involved in planning and helping in J Club (p1-p7) and Young West (Sunday service for teenagers); regular contact work with children in and out of the church family; the organisation of ‘lock-ins’. In addition, depending on their gifts and interests, interns will have set specific responsibilities which might include leading worship, planning events, use of media, fundraising for mission, prayer ministry or one-to-one discipleship.
  1. MISSION AND OUTREACH
Interns will have an opportunity to be involved in a number of locally based outreach activities such as leading school assemblies, leading school lessons with P3, P4, P6 and P7s, and helping with after-school programmes, Youth Alpha, Storehouse North Down and Safe Zone.
  1. LEADERSHIP TRAINING
Interns will meet with the Youth and Children’sAssociate and/or their mentor on a regular basis. Interns will also have an opportunity to learn from other more experienced leaders and volunteers as a way of developing their potential via the: "I do, you watch; we do together; and then you do, I watch" model.
The interns will be encouraged to attend the monthly support group for Youth and Children’s workers in the Bangor area and the devotional and support group for Youth and Children’s workers in the wider Presbyterian church. In-house training will be provided in areas of leadership skills, communication skills and conflict management.
  1. SPIRITUAL EDUCATION and PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
The internship programme aims to facilitate growth in the intern’s own personal Christian discipleship. A meeting will be held with the successful interns in August2017 to discuss the opportunity to take part in a formal teaching, ministry or personal development course during the internship. In addition, time will be set aside for Bible study, teaching and mentorship.
Before the end of their intern year, the interns will be required to submit a 1,500 word reflection paper of their internship experience including: a brief summary of work undertaken, highlights, struggles, insights on their own personal development, examples of good and poor ministry practice and an evaluation of the value of the experience
INTERNSHIP TIMESCALE
July2017 / Closing date for applications is Friday 14th July @1pm
August2017 / Interviews in August
Application for ACCESS NI
August 2017 / ‘Get to know you’ meeting with the Youth and Children’s staff team
Sept 2017 / Interns take up post on Monday 5thSeptember2017
Sept2017 / Introduction to staff team, volunteers and Youth and Children’s ministries
Oct 2017 / Introduction to wider church life; identify a mentor and ‘host’ family
Nov2017 / End of trial period and review meeting
Feb2017 / Review meeting
May2017 / Submit 1,500 word reflection. Discussion of way forward.

PERSONAL SPECIFICATION

KEY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The successful intern will:

  1. Work with young people and children:
  • to meet with teenagers regularly outside of ministry programme times to build authentic relationships
  • to connect with children and teenagers who live locally or attend the local schools but have limited church connections
  • to help plan, teach and lead teenagers through a range of discipleship programmes
  • to mentor a small number of young people
  • to help out in the youth and children’s organisations
  • to build on the existing positive relationships with the local schools and lead school assemblies and after school groups.
  1. Provide discipleship training by:
  • to encourageand support young people become disciples who make disciples
  • to encourage and supportleaders of Youth and Children’s ministries
  • to encourage the young people to get involved in Easter and summer outreach opportunities
  • to help the young people get to know other adults in the wider congregation.
  1. Play an active role within the staff team at West Church:
  • to bring ideas on how to reach and disciple the next generation
  • to help the staff team plan and run local outreach and mission trips
  • to work with an clear understanding of good child protection policy and practice

It may be necessary for different tasks to be added or removed in accordance with the overall requirement of the needs of the youth and children, as defined by the Youth and Children’s Action Team, the Minister, the Kirk Session and the particular gifts of the internee. However, the list above is recognised as extensive and the duties associated with this post are complimentary with that of the Youth and Children’s Associate and Worker.

Eligibility Criteria

  1. Beliefs
  • The successful intern must have a personal Christian faith and be involved ina Christian congregation. (The essential nature of this post requires that the successful candidate be a Christian as provided for under excepted occupations in the Fair Employment Treatment (NI) Order 1998.)
  • It is expected that the successful intern would be in sympathy with the mission and core values of West Church, be an active member of West Church and attend the Sunday worship services for the duration of the internship.

2. Qualifications, experiences and competences

Interns must

  • be educated to ‘A’ level standard or equivalent by June 2017(i.e. NQF level 3)
  • demonstrate experience as a volunteer or part-time worker in Youth or Children’s work

Interns will be expected to demonstrate evidence of the following

  • the ability to relate to young people of all ages; and
  • the ability to work as a member of a team
  • the ability to take initiative in planning and leading ministry
  • confidence in public speaking
  • the ability to relate well to parents, carers and the members of the wider congregation
  • good oral and written communication skills
  • self-motivation and personal organisation skills

REFERENCES:

Two referees are required; each should have known the intern for the past two years at least. Ideally one should be the intern’s Minister or Church Leader.

APPLICATION FORMS:

Application Forms are available from Church Office, or email or on the church’s website

If you want to find out more about the internship contact the office and they will put you in touch with someone from the Youth and Children’s team.

Completed application forms should be returned to:

Stephen Cully
Church Co-ordinator

West Church Bangor

91 Crawfordsburn Road

Bangor

BT19 1BG

Closing date for the receipt of applications is Friday 14th July 2017 @ 1pm.

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