A New Trend
I have noticed a new trend in churches: to charge people to do an internship at their church. Oftentimes these are large churches and the idea of having their name on your resume plus the experience of working in a thriving church seems worth the cost.
But I encourage you to carefully think through your options.
Pay to Work?
These churches are literally asking you to pay to work at their church. They even suggest you ask your friends and relatives to pay for this internship. I am sure they have good motives for doing this. It takes time to oversee the interns and time is money. But, honestly, churches run on volunteers. It is their job to oversee volunteers and if some of those volunteers are training for ministry, so much the better! Most churches would be thrilled to have your help for free.
Imitation or Education?
In addition, most of these churches are not going to offer in-depth education, they are simply going to teach you how to do what they do. This is certainly helpful, but there is a big difference between learning how one church plans a worship service, no matter how effective it may be, and actually studying worship theology. There is a big difference between learning how to pick an effective worship song versus having carefully thought through what you believe and why. This is the difference between imitating and actually learning.
And if they do offer training, make sure you check to see how comprehensive it is. How many hours of training and in what topics?
WAC Internships
Worship Arts Conservatory (WAC) does so much more.
- No cost for the internship.
- Scholarship that covers up to 6 credits per term
- Carefully designed program of study that includes Bible, Theology, Music, Administration and Technology
- Comprehensive internship structured to make sure you master the key skills you need to lead worship or pastor in a church
- All courses are college-level, which means they are taught by people with a masters degree or higher and they include 12-15 hours of teaching per credit.
- Course credits that transfer to selected colleges
Get Started Today
So, you can pay to work for a large church or you can get an education combined with practical experience and save a lot of money (and not have to beg money from friends and relatives).
To get started with your internship or to learn more about our Worship Internships, click the button below.
by Dr. Jerry Wyrick, President
Worship Arts Conservatory