Internships

We believe internships are a great way to help mentor and equip leaders for our church and beyond. Below is all the information about our Internship Experience at Los Altos Grace (or download the Internship Experience [PDF]).

If you are interested, and don’t want to read everything below right now, we have a quick internship inquiry survey to get the ball rolling on an internship.

[If you aren’t familiar with our church family, we have put together Our Church Profile for you to get to know us a little bit.]

Overview of our Internships

Internships at Los Altos Grace are oriented around six core areas:

  1. Spiritual Formation – Assessing and enhancing spiritual growth
  2. Skill Development – Growing in fruitful practices for growing ministry
  3. Ministry Experiences – Exposure to real life opportunities to learn and serve
  4. Mentoring – Each intern will be mentored one-on-one by an experienced ministry leader
  5. Intern Ministry Goals – Building opportunities around the individual’s future ministry plans
  6. Church Ministry Needs – Helping our church family where it is needed

 

Internships are Customized

  • We can work with your schedule. We can put together a meaningful internship with you if you have only 4 weeks to give at full-time or a summer or even if you are working full-time, we can work with you to build out something that suits you.
  • We want to be in harmony with your ministry goals. We want to help you get to where the Lord is leading you. Maybe the future destination isn’t clear, that’s okay. We will help you have a broad base of experiences to help you find out more about how God has made you.

 

Internships are Challenging

  • We will trust you to do work that matters. Your internship will have meaningful impact. You won’t just be sharpening pencils, you’ll be learning, serving and doing real ministry.
  • We will be raising the bar for you. We will challenge you in your spiritual life, in your ministry skills and in the ministry experiences you will participate in.
  • Just as you are being intentional about wanting to grow through your internship with us, we want to be intentional about helping you grow.

 

Internships are Relational

  • We will relationally mentor you. We have connections with lots of leaders and will work with you to have the best possible mentor(s) for your internship.
  • We will be asking you to grow in your relational ministry. Ministry does include administration and events, but it is really about people.
  • We will be glad to learn from you as relationships are a two-way street.

We believe that no matter how long or short your internship, you’ll have made progress in your spiritual life, ministry skills, ministry experiences and much more!

 

Frequently Asked Questions:

1) Are internships only for students?

No. We love it when we can help students meet their academic requirements, but we believe further ministry training is for every man and woman who wants it!

 

2) What is the process for an internship?

  1. Interest Survey: just seven quick interest survey questions to get the ball rolling — online interest survey
  2. Conversation: talk to leaders at Los Altos Grace and get an application, and be familiar with our Internship Experience.
  3. Application: complete and turn in the application to [email protected]
  4. Interview & Internship Outline: getting to know each other and outlining the internship around the 6 core areas
  5. Covenant: a written agreement between the intern and Los Altos Grace on expectations. A blank Initial Covenant (Word Doc) for you to look at.
  6. Initiate the Internship: Get started!
  7. Internship Experience: Work hard with regular encouragement and evaluation!
  8. Conclusion: Celebrate the progress and commission to the future!

 

3) What’s the compensation like?

Some interns receive financial support or stipends, and some do not. Sometimes there are other resources we can bless interns with that have financial value, but aren’t a check. We will work through financial need and availability for each situation. Both parties prior to the internship will agree upon compensation.

 

4) Why does Los Altos Grace do internships?

At Los Altos Grace our Key Strategies for Leadership Development are:

  • Provide for individuals to develop and practice leadership skills
  • Provide structures for coaching and encouraging
  • Provide ongoing training, resourcing and encouragement of existing leaders
  • Implement an intern program based on the Leadership Harvesting model (A “Leadership Harvesting model” is a fancy way to say we are looking to grow individual leaders in a “natural” or “organic” way rather than a “school” or “factory” model with a “cookie-cutter” emphasis.)

 

5) Can I do an internship if I have full-time work or school responsibilities?

Yes! We can tailor an internship for you even if you have full-time responsibilities. In just a handful of hours each week, interns can have a meaningful internship experience!

Internship Application

In a Word Document  so you can type out your answers or
as a PDF Application for Internship-LAGBC [PDF] 

Internship Experience Sheet

Download the Internship Experience at Los Altos Grace [PDF]).

Contact Us:

Los Altos Grace Brethren Church Internship Program
6565 E. Stearns St., Long Beach, CA 90815
Phone: 562-598-3358
E-mail: [email protected]