Internships

Many churches in the Great Plains have a rich history of providing internships for young adults, cultivating someone within the congregation who is ready to take a step of faithfulness to explore a ministry through an internship in the summer or during the school year. The conference provides grants, up to $3,000 once within a three-year span of time, for Great Plains churches, campus ministries, camps, or other associated ministries who have identified someone who could serve as an intern for the school year or the summer.

Our objectives for Internship Grants are:

To help Great Plains-related ministries identify a young person with gifts for ministry
To support a vibrant and creative season of ministry by the addition of a young person in ministry leadership
To cultivate an environment for an intern to be reflective about what God is doing in the ministry context and what the intern’s gifts are for ministry

Three Types of grants will be considered:

Pastoral Ministry
Youth Ministry
Kids Ministry

Expectations:

Your intern will be paid an hourly rate (at least minimum wage) for up to 40 hours per week. Internship must be a minimum of 10 weeks.
Mentor will be in agreement with the Conference Expectations for Mentoring
The intern will be Safe Gathering Certified
Preferred candidates will have completed high school or have at least one year of post-high school work experience
Someone from the church staff will be an assigned supervisor throughout the experience and will meet weekly with the intern for supervision and making space for reflecting on the intern’s summer learning.
The Conference will grant up to $3,000 every three years.
If you have not identified an intern, you will have 8 weeks to let Rev. Melissa Gepford ([email protected]) know when you've identified an intern. If you are awarded a grant, the funds will be released upon confirmation of an intern.

2025 Grant Deadlines:

April 1 — Early deadline, awards announced April 21
April 28 — Distribution of funds
August 15 — Late deadline, awards announced August 29
September 5 — Distribution of funds
One month following the conclusion of the project, a report discussing the following things will be due:
- Did the project go as expected?
- How were people impacted through the project?
- How did you tell the story of your project?
- Which of the 5 earmarks of Culture of Call did this project address? How?
- What could you share about this project with others?
- A final evaluation survey will also be requested.
- All funds should be spent with final documentation submitted by September 1, 2025

Apply for Internship Grant: apply here

Stories of GP Internships: read here

Resources for your Internship Program

Leadership Lab Module for Intern Orientation/Training:
- During the internship, interns will gain knowledge and skills through relationships they make, their responsibilities they own, and through our online portal, Learning Lab. Once they register, they can enroll in the “Great Plains Interns” Curriculum. They'll have access to 9 webinars that we ask them to complete by the end of the internship. Interns can unpack what they've learned with their mentor each week.
Intern Commissioning Service
Best Practices Pastoral Leadership Internship
PL Internship Experiences