Protege Internship Program


What is the Protege Internship Program?

 The Protege Internship Program is a leadership immersion experience for those desiring to serve on staff in a missional church and learn skills, character and theological training. The internship is 25 hours per week for either one or two years and is unpaid. We will, however, be providing free housing and utilities (while space is available) in our Protege House, which is a house designated for this program located near downtown Santa Cruz.

Protege has been designed as a hybrid of Mosaic church's Protege program in Los Angeles and is ideal for those entering into or already attending seminary, as we are partnering with two different seminaries (George Fox and Western Seminary) who will be giving a discounted rate on tuition to students who participate in Protege. The internships will begin in mid-August and run through either a one or two year commitment. We are taking applications now for the 2013/2014 program.

 

 Do you have to be going to seminary to become a Protege intern?

Protege is primarily designed for those going to seminary. However, for this third year, we will be opening it up for those who may not be going to seminary, but who are serious about leadership and gaining experience on a missional church staff. If you are not going to seminary this year, you can still apply for a one-year commitment to the program. After your first year, we will evaluate your experience and determine whether to continue a second year in the program.

 

What areas of ministry will the internships be focused on?

We are specifically designing our internships around the passions and gifts of the people who are applying to the program. Discovering what your passions and gifts are will be part of the experience and generally, each intern will be assigned to one area based on their passion and gifts. The possible ministry teams that an intern may serve on at Vintage Faith Church include:

  • Junior high ministry
  • High school ministry
  • College ministry
  • 20s/30s ministry
  • Children's ministry
  • Art and creative worship

 

What will a week look like in the Protege program?

Each intern will have a varying schedule, depending on their role in the church. But basically you would serve 6 to 8 hours every Sunday in whatever area of ministry you are placed in. You will have weekly meetings with all the Protege interns and Jesse West, the Vintage Faith Church staff person who will be shepherding the Protege interns. You will have leadership training meetings with Dan Kimball and other Vintage Faith pastoral staff and leadership throughout the year. You will be serving on a specific ministry team (youth, college, music, etc), so there will be meetings with a staff team leader as well as within the actual ministry on which you serve. There will also be various all-staff and leadership meetings to attend.

Depending on the individual intern's situation, you will be allowing time in your schedule to focus on taking classes in your specific seminary. Or you may be working another job to gain income for food, gas and other non-housing expenses. We will work with you to create a weekly schedule that is sane, as well as one that includes a Sabbath day of rest.

 

Can you raise funds for this internship?

You can raise funds (like missionaries do) in order to cover seminary costs, books, food, gas and other expenses. If needed, we will work out an arrangement so that people donating funds to you can do so through the non-profit status of our church. We will talk with you further about raising funds if you want to pursue this as a possibility.

How does the free housing work and what other financial costs do you need to consider?

We have been given the wonderful gift of a 5 bedroom/3 bathroom house that we will make available for interns to live in at no cost to them. In Santa Cruz, housing is actually a major expense to have covered. This 5 bedroom house has a cottage in the back where we will have a residential leader who will oversee the interns, facilitate house meetings and prayer meetings as you all live together in community. The house is half a mile from the church building and very close to downtown Santa Cruz. 

Because the rooms are limited, most will be doubled up like a college dorm room with 2 people per room (same sex in each room).

As for costs, you will need cover the cost of food, gas (if you have a car), insurance and entertainment. As we stated earlier, you may need to work a part-time job in order to raise those funds. We will walk through your expenses in detail with you during the application process, as we want every intern to be thoroughly prepared with a clear financial plan for their time with Protege.

How does the seminary component work with Protege?

We have two seminaries who are partnering with our Protege Internship Program. Interns who wish will receive a 25% discount on seminary tuition. One of the seminaries we are partnered with is Western Seminary (San Jose extension) where there are currently two Protege's and one Vintage Faith full time staff person pursuing Masters degrees. George Fox Evangelical Seminary in Portland, Oregon is our other seminary and they also have an extension degree (Master of Arts in Ministry Leadership) where you can take online classes and  then travel to Portland once a semester for in-person classes. Protege interns will be responsible for tuition costs, books and travel to seminary when needed. The details and logistics of seminary will be worked out as you apply and details then determined for your situation.

Because a Master of Arts degree is 2 years, the ariana@vintagechurch.org program is 2 years. Although, as we wrote earlier, if one of our interns is not a seminary student, the internship will last one year with the possibility of a second year internship.If an intern desires to get a Masters of Divinity degree, the MA does apply towards a MDiv, so you can easily continue to get a MDiv should you desire.

  

What is the strategy of leadership development for Protege?

Vintage Faith Church is a fairly young church plant. We planted from scratch in 2004, so we are still very much in that adventurous, chaotic, learning and growing stage. That is important to know, as you will be joining in on this adventure at this stage in the life of our missional church. This Protege program is also brand new, so we are still learning as we go.

There will be three primary areas of development for the intern:

  

Leadership Experience

There will be leadership development meetings with Dan Kimball, Josh Fox, and other pastoral staff and leadership at Vintage Faith as a part of the Protege experience. These meetings will focus on understanding how God made you as a leader, how your unique design and strengths play out as a leader, and missional immersion into the reality of what missional vs. normal-church leadership is like. You also will be seen as a Vintage Faith Church staff member, so you will be on a ministry team and have a staff person helping you to own an area of ministry. You will be regularly meeting with your assigned staff person. There will be specific leadership skill building, depending on what area of ministry you are serving in. You will be going to all-staff meetings and events with the Vintage Faith Church staff.

Our desire is that you grow and learn and contribute to the mission of Jesus though Vintage Faith Church in whatever area you are passionate about. So our dream is that you discover and excel in whatever ministry you are serving with. You may even launch and develop a ministry, depending on what it is you are assigned to. We don't think there will ever be a dull moment as you are immersed in this leadership learning experience!

   

Character Development

There will be two Vintage Faith staff overseeing the care and shepherding of the Protege. You will all be meeting weekly to pray, share life and grow together. Missional ministry is not easy, so the need for prayer and community heightens. You will be living in an intern house with other interns and also experience community and character development there. There will be a Residential Director for the intern housing who will have prayer meetings and house meetings. Most of all, we want to be stress that character supersedes skill or talent in ministry. If anything, that is a major focus that we will emphasize over everything - the importance of integrity and character as a servant of Jesus on mission.

  

Theological Training

For those who will be going to seminary, you will be having your theological training sharpened through your specific academic program. We will do our best to help you take the theological training you're receiving from seminary and translate that into the reality of actual missional church ministry and life. As you apply and talk to us about the internship, we will steer you to the appropriate person at the seminary who will then walk you through the application process for the seminary itself, which is a separate application and process.

  

What steps do I take to apply for the Protege internship?

  1. Read over the Vintage Faith Church website so that you can get a feel for who we are as a church.  It is important that you understand the basics of our vision, philosophy and theology as a church. All Protege interns will be considered staff, so that means we will all need to be united on these things. You should also read carefully through our theology and doctrines on the web site.  We will want to be united in theology, as our theology impacts how we go about ministry. You will have more philosophy and theology based question in the application and interview process.
  2. If you are in alignment with what you read on our website, then contact Ariana Rice via email if you have any questions that have not been answered already- ariana@vintagechurch.org. Ariana will answer any questions and then set up a preliminary phone interview (or in person interview if you are local).  If we feel the Protege internship is something you should formally apply to, then after the conversation with Ariana, fill out the PROTEGE APPLICATION HERE: http://tinyurl.com/vfcprotegeapp
  3. After we get your application sent to us, we will then set up an interview  - in person or on Skype. This conversation allows us to have more in depth discussion and will help to determine whether Protege is a match for all involved.
  4. Ariana Rice will be working with you after the in-person/Skype conversations and will communicate whether internship is a fit.
  5. Pray consistently. Missional leadership is not easy and this Protege internship is a huge, huge step and commitment on both the interns part and the church. We will want to have this process bathed in prayer, so that the experience is a wonderful one and lives are changed as a result.

We are currently be taking applications for the 2013/2014 internships: