Reflections Of An Intern
Internships in ministry are so much more than just a way to gain experience—they’re a season of real growth, unexpected challenges, and moments where God shapes your heart in ways you didn’t expect. Looking back on my time as an intern, I can see how even the smallest tasks and simplest lessons carried so much purpose.
Through this journey, I learned what it means to serve others with humility, to lean on wise mentors, and to build meaningful connections—even in a short season. But I also learned how easy it is to get caught up in the work of ministry and forget the importance of staying connected to Christ.
In this blog, I want to share some of those lessons. They’re not groundbreaking or flashy, but they come from real experiences that taught me about leadership, relationships, and trusting God to work in the little things. My hope is that these reflections will resonate with anyone who’s navigating their own ministry journey, whether you’re just starting out or looking for a reminder of why we do what we do.
No Task is too Small
I’ve been given many tasks while being an intern. This ranges from sweeping the floor to filling water for the fridge. But none of it is meaningless. This continuously points to the servant leadership that Christ desires for all.
Cling to Mentors
Listen to everything that your mentors tell you. These are the Godly people who you desire to be in the future. Ask them questions. See how they interact with problems. See how they follow after Christ. This is all God’s way of pointing you to Himself and showing you how you can serve Him in vocational ministry in the future.
Invest in People
Just because you are only in that position for a short amount of time doesn’t mean that you can slack off with the relationship side of ministry. Find people who you can disciple and point to Jesus. They need to see how personal He is and a lot of the ways that He is personal is through His body. The Spirit points us to the people that we are meant to be with and we are able to use what we are learning in Scripture to point others to a greater knowledge and love for Him.
Don’t Focus so much on your Work that you Neglect Christ
Just because you are doing the work of the ministry doesn’t mean that you can stop investing in your own relationship with Christ. Make sure you are spending time in the Word and having deep times of prayer. Find things that stir your affections for Him. This can be by getting into nature, reading a good book, spending time with others, drinking a good cup of coffee, watching a good movie, or anything else that really gets you excited to serve Christ.
Don’t put yourself on a Pedestal
While being in a ministry position as an intern it is easy to think that you need to have it all together. This is insane! Thanks to sin, we will never have it all together. But this gives us the ability to follow after a relationship with Christ with other flawed people. So if you are hurting, let them know because then they can start to point you to Christ even better than before.
Written by: Devin Goodwin, Intern Extraordinaire
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