Field Education

Churches or Para-Church Organizations Interested in Student Internships

Thank you for considering a partnership with North Park Theological Seminary by providing a ministry setting for students to complete their field education.  Since 1935 North Park Theological Seminary has had an extensive internship program as a part of its graduate degrees in ministry. 

The primary motive of field education is to serve Christ and the church. Secondarily, the internship must be understood as a guided learning experience for the student. The seminary understands field education as one aspect of its program, designed to bring about competency that would never be developed within the seminary walls alone. The student intern is a learner, seeking to bring about integration between theory and practice, and learning by doing. Field education gives further content to studies, develops interpersonal maturity, provides practice in communication, insights into organization and procedure, and enables the student to discover weaknesses while strengthening a sense of Christian vocation.

The third motive of field education is to give opportunity to the church (including pastors, staff and lay leaders) to invest in the pastoral formation of the interning student and their own spiritual growth and formation.  Such an investment will include time to mentor and evaluate the student, providing context that meets the student’s learning goals and objectives, and diverse opportunities for the student to learn by doing. The student will need quality time with the supervisors (and laity members for the Master of Divinity students) to reflect on his/her learning. It is hoped that students will do well in their ministry setting. This may include mistakes that will provide healthy learning as well as skill mastery.

It is also important that the interning student does not incur financial burdens while fulfilling their field education requirements. Some of your church or organization responsibilities to the student are:  

• Provide a stipend that does not go below minimum wages (could include the cost of field education fees)

• Transportation, (i.e. automobile and/or mileage)

• Housing (could include the cost of moving)

Please note: Funds to support town and country churches in having an intern are available through the Dusty Larson scholarship.

 

Although we do not appoint internship settings to students, completing the form Prospective Internship Site Information assists us in matching the needs of the student and the church or para-church. Feel free to complete and forward the form to the Field Education Office.  Once a student becomes an intern at your church/para-church, more information will follow to help you navigate the internship process and to nurture a fulfilling internship experience.

Our hope is that you will want to serve the Church in a way where our students can flourish through a guided practical learning experience, growing in their gifts, their sense of call to ministry, and their pastoral identity. We count it as a wonderful privilege to consider you a partner in this ministry and genuinely enjoy an opportunity to prepare students to serve the Church.