Internships
Why intern at City of God?
Internships give individuals the opportunity to experience ministry in the local church at a deeper level. We offer internships that can specialize in a number of specific ministry areas.
City of God has limited resources due to the number of college students who attend our church. An intern at City of God helps us accomplish ministry that we would not be able to do otherwise while opening avenues for spiritual development for the intern that would not be available to everyone at the church.
City of God Church Internship Requirements
We are so excited that you've expressed interest in pursuing an internship with City of God Church (COG). This internship is an opportunity for an individual to invest in the ministry at COG in a significant way while receiving focused training and development for future church leadership.
We consider several important factors when bringing a potential intern on our team. Before finalizing your decision to pursue an internship, it's worth considering the requirements necessary to serve as an intern at COG.
If you decide that you are unable to pursue an internship at this time, we would still love for you to consider serving the church in a volunteer capacity.
Below is a list of the requirements for interns at COG:
- Regularly attend COG on Sunday mornings for worship
Individuals serving as interns get an opportunity to invest fully in the life of City of God Church. Regular Sunday morning worship with the church body is a part of this. Various texts from scripture describe the importance of this practice (Heb. 10:25; Col. 3:16; Ac. 2:42; Eph. 4:12), and it's a requirement for all interns at City of God Church.
This requirement does not include times you would be away from Lafayette due to breaks in Purdue's academic calendar.
- Attend a City Group
Investing in a City Group is one of the foundational practices of those who call City of God their church home. City Groups are a great place for members of the body to receive spiritual care in a way that they can't simply by attending on a Sunday morning. It's a requirement for membership at City of God, and the same thing goes for those who are interns at the church.
- A Willingness to Serve in Any Area
All of our interns express a particular ministry area of interest. While you are an intern, we will do our best to accommodate your desire to grow in a given area. However, various tasks and projects always need to be done at City of God. Our interns are a major piece of ensuring that all the necessary work gets accomplished.
By joining our team as an intern, you are committing to helping us accomplish the work of the church in any area of need. As much as possible, we will try and help focus some of your time in a ministry area of your choosing.
- A Willingness to be "On Call."
Inevitably there will be instances where regularly scheduled volunteers at COG will be unable to fulfill their responsibilities. If a scheduled volunteer is unable to serve, then our interns commit to ensuring our programs are fully staffed.
- Complete All Required Reading
The City of God staff commits to weekly meetings with our interns for a time of training and development. This includes training in the areas of theology, leadership, and personal discipleship. We base these meetings on reading that is to be completed before our scheduled time together.
This training component is a key element of what differentiates an intern from a volunteer at City of God. If you feel like you would be unable to complete this additional work, then it might be best to consider an internship when your schedule allows more freedom.
- Commit an Extra Hour on Sundays
Before and after worship services at City of God there is a lot of work that needs to be done. Our interns commit to serving either an hour before or after a worship service each Sunday. If everyone is willing to serve in this capacity it will drastically reduce the workload on our volunteers who serve faithfully.
- Sign a Life Conduct and Social Media Policy
By serving as an intern at City of God, you are connecting yourself to our church in a significant way. Those in your life who are unfamiliar with our church will naturally make conclusions about our church family based on the type of life that you live.
In 1 Timothy 4:12, the Apostle Paul tells Timothy to "set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity." That is our desire for every elder, ministry team leader, staff member, and intern at City of God.
While serving as an intern there will be requirements for how you conduct yourself publicly, privately, and online. If the staff feels like this is an issue in an intern's life a conversation will be had. If necessary, an intern at City of God could be relieved from their internship depending on the circumstances of the sin involved.
Our heart in this is not to be legalistic or oppressive. In 1 Timothy 4:16, Paul writes to Timothy, "Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers."
In your role as an intern at City of God you will have a unique opportunity to influence those who are a part of the church body. That requires diligent attention on your part to pursue holiness in all areas of life. Our desire is that all leaders in our church could eventually say along with Paul, "Be imitators of me as I am of Christ" (1 Cor. 11:1).
These are the baseline requirements for someone serving as an intern at City of God. If you feel like you can't fulfill these commitments we would still love to have you as invested in the life of the church as you're able to be. We'd encourage you to continue to attend on Sunday mornings, invest in a City Group, to give sacrificially and to use your gifts for the building up of the body.
- Submit to a Background Check
In order to protect City of God Church, and to abide by the rules of our insurance policy, we require all staff and interns to submit to a background check.
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Once we receive your application we will schedule a one-on-one interview with each applicant to go over their application and address any questions from this meeting.
Please email if you have any questions about internships at City of God Church.