Baptist Churches of SA’s Leadership Internship has been a fascinating and fulfilling experience in 2021, as participants from all walks of life spend quality time growing in their leadership.
This Christ-centred leadership journey calls interns to engage with each other, interact with guest speakers from across our movement, and build relationship with leaders from their own community, an all-encompassing experience that stretches participants in several ways.
“I absolutely love sharing the learning journey with our interns,” says Leadership & Mission Facilitator, Rev Elliot Keane.
“It is such a joy to watch them stretch and grow as disciples and leaders. Each intern has unique gifts and passions, and we have a lot of fun discerning and developing them alongside their local Leadership Coach and Spiritual Mentor, and in our conversations and content when we are together.
“We have a great team of leaders and Pastors from across our movement who come and share ideas, skill development and wisdom as they tell their stories and offer advice for our interns’ development.”
Nearing the end of the year, Jess Bartel from Rostrevor Baptist Church has seen each module as equipping her with the necessary tools to conquer an obstacle that previously seemed insurmountable.
“I feel like each of the sessions have challenged us to do something in some way, but the way that they’ve presented it, it always comes across like its achievable; like we can [actually] do it, breaking down things like evangelism that seem hard.”
Jess’ husband Mitch has seen similar growth, taking in a special appreciation for the speakers who have taken the time to inspire this year’s crop of interns.
“I’ve loved the teaching and passion [from] pretty much everyone who’s shared with us.”, described Mitch, who also attends Rostrevor.
“The experience of being able to do stuff, do new things in my own church space, learn, receive one-on-one coaching, everything has been really valuable.”
Jess Bartel – Rostrevor 
Mitch Bartel – Rostrevor 
Isaac McDonald – Kings
“These sessions, they’ve been a good mix of informative but also applicable,” says Isaac McDonald, an intern from Kings Baptist Church.
“We’re not just getting head knowledge but we’re getting knowledge to apply to our own context. And the passion, being able to learn not just from what guest speakers say, but also who they are.”
The general sentiment from the interns – of which there are 15 – is one of fulfilment; that making the decision to jump in and commit to a year-long internship with the Baptist movement was well worth their time.
Mitch puts it aptly, “if I spoke to myself before I started internship, I would just say ‘you’re on the right track’. This is the thing I’ve felt most right about in a long time.”
As a movement we are committed to supporting our local churches, as we together raise up vocational and church leaders as well as future Pastors. There are lots of great opportunities to serve God’s kingdom and His church and we are looking forward to investing in the next cohort of interns from across our movement.
If you, or someone you know, are keen to find out more about our 2022 Leadership Internship please get in touch with Elliot at ekeane@sabaptist.asn.au or 0408 180 284.
