International (MNN) — Are you interested in potential long-term missions but don’t know where to start?
GreenLight Internship with
The Mission Society helps you take that first step.
Richard Coleman with The Mission Society says this program “allows [interns] to be immersed in the culture, to be mentored by existing missionaries, and then to just explore what their life could look like should they become a full-time missionary.”
Various internship opportunities take students to work in countries like Thailand, Peru, and Kenya. The internship duration lasts anywhere from 2 to 18 months. You have to be 19 or older to apply.
Coleman says their GreenLight Internship program is unique as it allows interns to be self-motivated in their learning. “What we want to do is not have a mentoring where you’re smothered by someone who’s telling you what to do daily. But someone who can help you process the decisions that you made, opportunities that lie ahead, and someone who can help you to avoid some of the major landmines that they may have discovered in their years of service there.”
It’s a great program for anybody up for a challenge. “It costs money,” says Coleman. “It takes away from your family. Hosting interns is work, but I think the rewards and the dividends are worth it.”
Missionaries who are mentors in the program are enthusiastic for their interns. “Some of our missionaries are very excited about mentoring. They’ve gone through coaching training and all kinds of training, and they feel very comfortable being a mentor,” Coleman states.
It’s all for the big picture of the Great Commission. “In order for the next generation to be raised up, the missionaries have to take the time and the energy to invest in the next generation of missionaries,” says Coleman.
The program is small, but The Mission Society appreciates the quality of the internship experience over quantity. “We want to make sure that we can give opportunities that are immersion, that are mentoring, that kind of stuff. We don’t want to give in to the desire to be big for big’s sake…. Should we grow, how do we do that while maintaining our ethos and our warm family environment? Those are all things that organizations have to ask themselves.”
You can learn more about the GreenLight Internship program by clicking here.
