In This Issue On Taking Care of Yourself The Candidacy Process The Vital Lay Internship Committee Meet Alicia Vargas On Managing Time (Editor's Column) Three Month Report Internship in Argentina Internship Cluster Events Montana Cluster Meeting Links You'll Like Internship Handbook Lay Committee Handbook Internship Forms Contact Us The Contextual Leadership Initiative staff is here to support you! Contact us with your concerns or suggestions. Previous Newsletters Want to re-read an article from a previous issue? Review previous newsletters.

Internship Newsletter: November 2005

On Taking Care of Yourself  
by Dan Dornfeld

“The ordained minister needs to be an example of self-care…”  -ELCA Vision and Expectations

You’ve probably heard the analogy about self-care before: If something were to happen on a flight—and I’m talking something drastic, where the oxygen masks come down like we’ve all seen in the movies—the first thing before helping others is to get that oxygen mask on ourselves first. Obviously something pretty drastic!

I’ve heard it before, and I must confess that I always thought it was pretty dramatic. I’m talking overly so—like it was a matter of life and death. Is self-care really that important?? In a cluster meeting during my internship year, Randy Nelson gave some pretty alarming statistics about the overall health of ordained pastors in the ELCA from the ELCA Ministerial Health and Wellness Report, 2002. Here are a few:

• While 61% of Americans are overweight or obese, 68% of ELCA clergy report weights in the overweight or obese range.
• 1 in 4 reports no exercise.
• Clergy are among the top 10 occupations to suffer death from heart disease.
• Although clergy rank in the top 10% of the population in terms of education, they are only 325th of 432 occupations in terms of salaries received.
• 51% of clergy report high stress compared to U.S. average of 36%.
• U.S. averages of depression: Men – 6%, Women – 12%.
  Clergy averages: Men – 16%, Women – 24%.
• 20% of rostered leaders report dissatisfaction with their devotional lives.

Suddenly the analogy with oxygen masks didn’t really seem so dramatic. The simple truth is that self-care is important, not only for those we serve in congregations and communities, but especially for ourselves (go figure!). As some of the above statistics highlight, it really IS a matter of life and death. The simple fact is that our roles as ordained clergy answering God’s call is often stressful and underpaid, leading to higher mortality rates and higher instances of mental and physical health problems. That’s the bad news.

And here’s the good news: many of the habits we form on internship are carried throughout our ministry. That means you are in the perfect place right now to learn and model sound self-care for yourself and those around you.

So if you’ve followed along this far, and are welcoming the opportunity for some good self-care, here are a few tips I learned on internship:

• Schedule your time for self-care as appointments. By blocking out time, you are making it a priority. It clears time on your calendar (like you have so much, right?), and gives you the chance to take some care of yourself. Now you actually have to follow through by doing it!
• Make a plan. Write it down. Tell someone else. Don’t write in short, choppy sentences. Seriously, make a point of creating a written plan to take time for mental, spiritual and physical activities. And get someone else to help you stay accountable—a good friend, lay committee member, supervisor, your dog Fluffy. Maybe even get it in your Learning Service Agreement!
• Schedule at least one of these things a day. Just one thing. Whether it is reading a devotional and praying when you wake up in the morning, a 20 minute walk with a congregation member over lunch, renting a good movie, or curling up to a good book before bed. Make time for yourself—even in a small way on the busiest of days.
• Tailor it to what you’re interested in. It doesn’t help to take time for self-care if it isn’t something you can do, or want to be doing. For instance, if you’re illiterate it probably doesn’t help to unwind by sounding out “t-h-e” for 15 minutes. If you like to draw, then draw. If you like to read, then read. I think you get the point…

So get the oxygen masks out! Make your plans, and start forming sound habits for self-care now. Take the time. You’re worth it.

The Candidacy Process  
by Randy Nelson

The fall semester includes several occasions that provide reminders of the partnership that exists in the preparation of candidates for the ordained ministry between Synodical Candidacy Committees and seminaries. Among them are those occasions when representatives of Candidacy Committees visit the campuses to conduct endorsement interviews, especially for second year students, whose endorsement will make them eligible for internship placement in the spring.

Endorsement is the second of three occasions on the way to ordination when students and candidacy committees come together to reflect on that journey. The first occasion usually takes place very early in a student’s program, often before seminary studies begin. A positive Entrance decision signifies that a student has a home congregation and a home synod identifying significant potential for ministry in the student and standing behind that student as a candidate as that potential is developed.

Endorsement comes after at least one year of seminary education and is the occasion for the candidate, the candidacy committee, and seminary to affirm that the partnership ought to be continued. That affirmation becomes the basis for taking the next major step in the journey—that of internship.

By the time internship actually begins, most candidates have completed at least two years of seminary education, a basic unit of Clinical Pastoral Education, and a cross-cultural immersion experience. Internship then, as I suspect you are discovering, is a challenging, exciting, rewarding, and humbling experience of living into the role for which the Entrance and Endorsement decisions were the prelude.

Following internship the last stage in the Candidacy process unfolds with internship reflection sessions, faculty affirmation, concluding course work, and a final engagement between Candidate and Candidacy Committee in the Approval interview and decision.

At its best the Candidacy process demonstrates the care that the church has for its candidates for ministry and embodies the supportive network in which preparation for ministry is carried out. We are members one of another, part of the body of Christ and the fellowship of believers. Internship is one stage along the way, an important stage to be sure, but it does not occur in isolation from a process that began before seminary and will continue into ordination and first call. If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a church to prepare a pastor.

The Vital Lay Internship Committee  
by Laure Schwartz

The Internship Committee should be meeting regularly by now. You may be wondering what role you play in the internship besides meeting once a month. The text below comes from the Committee Handbook found on-line at:
http://www.luthersem.edu/contextual_learning/internship/Lay_Committee.asp.

What roles do committee members play?

1. Supporter. You provide counsel and encouragement for the intern and his/her spouse. You provide support and honest feedback - something that everyone needs.
    
2. Sponsor. You are able to acquaint the intern with the members of the congregation and the issues and concerns of the people.
    
3. Consultant. You can provide information about the congregation, teach, guide, and introduce the intern to your world. You help make sure the intern knows the audience on Sunday morning and something of the history of your church and community.
    
4. Evaluator. You are a mirror, reflecting your perception of ministry towards the intern. You will offer your impressions of sermons, personal appearance, teaching skills, etc. Don't gloss over things; be honest as you speak the truth in love.
    
5. Faith Sharer. You can share your own religious background, experiences and beliefs. Tell the intern how God has called you and what that has meant.
    
6. First Parishioner. You can assist the intern in developing a style of ministry that is in partnership with other Christians. We want a pastor who can work well in partnership with others, not some sort of lone ranger. The intern must know how the roles of a pastor and a lay person complement each other, and how he/she can effectively function in partnership with others.

What does the chairperson do? Each committee should have a chairperson whose responsibilities include the following:

1. Convene all committee meetings.
2. Notify everyone as to the time and place of meetings and chair them.
3. Discuss the agenda with the intern and/or pastor.
4. Consult with the pastor supervisor; keep him/her informed about the progress of the committee.
5. Fill out the final consensus evaluation.

Hola! I am one of the members of CLI's team. My office is located on campus at PLTS in Berkeley, CA. At PLTS I both work with the students in contextual education matters and teach Ministry Across Cultures, a second year class, and the required senior seminar, as of next year called: Public Ministry: Vision and Implementation.

Both parts of my work revolve around the context of ministry, and I am glad. God became contextually enfleshed in our world, and gives us the great gifts of forgiveness, transformation, and justice in, with, and under our actual lives as individuals and communities. That's why I am glad to address with my students our calling and privilege to go out into our actual world with the Good News.

Personally, I just became a grandmother of an adorable little girl as I await another one for Christmas. I am very glad for that too! (Alicia and her husband Pastor Steve Churchill recently welcomed Ali, the daughter of their son Tony and his wife Lisa.)

Editor's Column: On Managing Time 
by Steve McKinley

One summer in the distant days when I was attending college and seminary I worked for General Electric. I painted Low Voltage Switchgears. (Actually that's a lie. I didn’t really paint them. Verne and Gary painted them. Jim was in charge of hanging the parts on the paint line. I was in charge of taking the painted pieces off.)

I worked the second shift. Every day, Monday through Friday, I arrived at the plant a little before 3. At 3 I punched in. At 5 a whistle sounded and we got a 15 minute break until the whistle sounded again. At 7 the whistle announced the beginning of our 30 minute dinner break, and at 7:30 it called us back to work. There was another break from 9 to 9:15. At 11 we would be lined up at the time clock, ready to punch out. And that was that. But it was a busy season, so we worked our regular schedule on July 4, and got paid double for it. Simple. Neat. Easy. Fair.

And nothing, nothing, nothing like being a pastor. As supervisors know and interns are learning experientially (they already knew this theoretically), being a pastor or an intern is not a 40-hour-week. The pastoral working day is not as predictable as my days at General Electric were. Many interns who thought going on internship would be a relief from the busy student schedule find that their schedules are actually much busier. So what can we say about pastors/interns and time management? A few ideas:

1. Don’t whine. Pastor-types have been known to get a pay-off by complaining publicly about how hard they are working. (“See how hard I’m working for you!”) There aren’t many jobs around these days like my old General Electric job. I discovered over the years that many of my parishioners had working weeks as complicated and demanding as my own and would have little patience with my laments. Whining about how hard you are working, how many hours you are putting in, will make you look foolish and childish next to people who have been putting in hours like that for years.
    
2. Cherish flexibility. Jim—the guy who was responsible for hanging the parts on the paint line—had a son playing Little League baseball that summer. Jim never saw a game. He was always at work. In my years as a pastor, I never missed a sporting event, a concert, a teacher’s conference. While the pastor/intern’s schedule can be demanding, there is a lot of flexibility in it. You can make it to a school event, go out to lunch with your spouse, play golf or garden at times other people with more fixed schedules are chained to their desks. Take advantage of that! The time clock in the GE plant was a blessing in some ways, a curse in others. I am relatively certain that your church doesn’t have a time clock. If it does, tear it out.
    
3. Take responsibility for yourself. Back at General Electric Red Hemann was the foreman. He made sure that we were there when we were supposed to be and left when we were supposed to leave. Pastors/interns do not have foremen/women. Nobody is going to tell you when you have to be at your desk or when you have to go home. If you want to put in 18 hour days, you are free to do so. It’s your decision. But it is your decision. Don’t blame it on somebody else.
    
4. Get organized. I promise not to harp on this. I promise. But I have seen so many pastors/interns waste so much time over the years by being disorganized it is hard to resist. Get an appointment book or a PDA. Use the Outlook calendar on your computer. File important papers. Throw away unimportant papers. Get organized. It’s a great time saver.
    
5. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Now I encourage you to take the ministry very seriously. Very, very seriously. But the ministry is bigger than you are. Most pastors learn that they aren’t going to change the world or even the congregation over night. It usually takes years to implement significant change in a congregation. That’s a simple fact of life. The fact that your internship only lasts for one year means that, as good as I am sure you are, you will probably not do any miracles in this year. Work hard. Don’t loaf. But don’t take yourself too seriously.

By now you are into the groove of internship. There is more to do than you can do. There are more demands than you can meet. You don’t see how you can possibly do it all. Good insight. You can’t. Invest yourself fully. Give this internship your best. And take responsibility for managing your own time. It’s yours! Don’t give control of it to anyone else!

ELCA Three-Month Progress Report 

The ELCA has asked for additional points of reporting the intern’s progress throughout the internship year. The first is coming up for you. Two three-month reports are due, one from the supervisor and one from the intern. The form will be available as of November 1st. Please access this form and the directions from this web page: http://www.luthersem.edu/contextual_learning/internship/evaluation/evaluation1.asp.

Remember these are required ELCA forms that you need to submit directly to your candidacy committee and to your seminary’s Contextual Leadership Initiative Office.

Internship in Argentina

Kari Reiten (PLTS) is doing her internship in a unique site: Argentina. For a taste of this unique internship, visit Kari at her blog, http://www.patagonianwinds.blogspot.com.

Internship Cluster Events  

Interns and supervisors will participate in cluster events throughout the internship year. Generally, your opportunities are once in the fall and once in the spring. The cluster is a chance for reconnecting with your colleagues and discussing ministry realities both challenging and celebrative. Please make every effort to attend your cluster event.

Cluster	Date	Location	CLI Convener
Oregon Cluster	Nov 3-4	Menucha Retreat Center, Portland OR	Jean Larson
Northern Minnesota	Nov 3-4	Camp Knutson, Crosslake MN	Laure Schwartz
Arizona/Nevada	Nov 7-8	Spirit in the Desert, Carefree, AZ	Margy Schmitt Ajer
Colorado	Nov 30	Rocky Mt. Synod office, Denver	Margy Schmitt Ajer

If your internship site is located in the geographical areas listed above, you should have already received an invitation to the cluster event from the CLI staff person convening the event. Internship sites located in areas that are served by other seminaries should have received an invitation to a cluster event in your area from that particular seminary. If the date for your cluster doesn’t work for you, please consider attending a cluster event that may work into your schedule better and is still located near you. Please notify the Contextual Leadership Initiative staff leading the cluster of your desire to attend a different cluster. Also RSVP to the CLI staff person leading the cluster you can attend.

Montana Cluster Meeting 

(From left:) Louise Christensen, TEEM intern, Broadus; Pr. Paul Landeraaen and Intern Barry Fritts (Luther), Scobey; Pr. Les Nelson and Intern Tim Jahn (Trinity), Libby; Pr. Jean Larson, CLI Deployed Faculty; Bishop Richard Omland, Montana Synod.

We met October 23-24 at the Ursuline Center in Great Falls, MT, taking in a couple presentations by Dr. Eugene Peterson (in which he described seminarians as coming out “stuffed like sausages” full of theology to share), pondered the benefits of the Meyers-Briggs Typological Inventory for staff relationships, shared case studies, worshiped, and affirmed a fine start to new relationships.