Summer break gives Candler students the opportunity to take on the challenges and rewards of an internship tied to their ministry callings. Candler provides support for you before, during, and after the internship, which can range from local church ministry to nonprofit work, chaplaincy, music ministries, and more. Interns earn course credit hours, and often a salary or stipend. Learn more about internship opportunities through Candler.
While the summer of 2020 has been far from ordinary, Candler students have still been able to take part in ministry internships supported by the school, learning and growing in a variety of contexts—and, perhaps most importantly, strengthening their abilities to be flexible and find God in unexpected places. We asked several student interns to reflect on what their summer experiences have taught them. Check out their thoughts below!
“The internship in the context of the pandemic has been one that has been based on sheer willpower, ingenuity, optimism, and a constant effort and hope to make connections and meaningful conversations, despite the distance and divide that the pandemic has placed on the world.”
- Third-year MDiv student Emmanuel Amponsah, intern with the Rio Texas Conference of The United Methodist Church in San Antonio, Texas.
“Had this been any regular summer, I would have interacted with parishioners on the church grounds, never connecting with them in their own space. Instead, I have spent a summer driving all around Atlanta meeting people in the intimacy of their front yards and in the neighborhoods they call home. I do not think I would have connected in the way I have had it been any regular summer.”
- Third-year MDiv student Janelle Hiroshige, intern with Holy Comforter Episcopal Church in Atlanta.
“I experienced God’s love differently than usual during normal times when everybody is just super busy. The internship of the pandemic is thus, one in which more attention and intentionality is created, one in which love takes the peaks.”
- Third-year MDiv student Yves Kinangwa, intern with Crown City Church in Austin, Texas.
“I will forever cherish the time I spent at House of Cherith. I can bear witness to the strength and resiliency embodied by each of the women there. I am honored that they trusted me to lead and invest in their lives.”
- Second-year MDiv student Margaret Kuester, intern with House of Cherith in Atlanta.
“What I am learning most of all in this summer internship is that I can manage all three, if I allow myself proper rest and do this work collaboratively. Protest. Pastoral Care. Preaching. They can inform one another—they must!”
- Third-year MDiv student Luke Lea, intern with Glencliff United Methodist Church and The Village at Glencliff in Nashville, Tennessee. “It quickly became apparent to me that just because Covid-19 was slowing down the criminal justice system didn’t mean that justice shouldn’t go forth. People in Atlanta needed legal support and advocacy now more than ever. Thus, I walked into my internship anxious, knowing that it would look different, but excited for the possibility of how God would still show up for people who needed help.”
- Third-year MDiv student Darrin Sims, intern at the Georgia Justice Project in Atlanta.
“Often, we do not have words for what we are feeling or do not know how to pray aloud the pain we have. Especially during a summer of great uncertainty due to a global pandemic and the injustice of racism, art can help us navigate these experiences and communicate honestly with the Divine.”
- Third-year MDiv student Delaney Wray, intern with Trinity United Methodist Church in Clermont, Georgia.