DTJ CHURCH EXTERNSHIP LAUNCHES IN 2009

The Idea:

If you are a part of the leadership at your church wanting to expand your outreach to children at-risk, and want to build a solid foundation, you may be interested to learn of Discover The Journey's Church Externship project. We often find churches are burdened by the issues, but are often unsure where to begin. We see clearly from Nehemiah that everyone has a portion of the wall to build, and so we simply want to help your church find their portion of the wall, and empower them to rebuild the walls of brokenness as it relates to children around the world.

How it works:

The externship is modeled after traditional internships, but is different in the sense that the Church body is required to either take the initial applications and choose who they want to send to us, or the church leadership can simply nominate someone within their congregation whose heart beats for children at-risk and injustice. We give the final approval after the applicant is submitted to us, and then your church's extern spends time with DTJ leaders wherever we are in the world. The externs will learn a scriptural foundation behind God's heart for the oppressed, live in areas of desperation, tour different local and international churches or NGO's working to address that specific issue or injustice and be exposed to a wide variety of methods to care for children at-risk. We believe that the task of caring for children at-risk needs to be done with great urgency, but great care and patience. Upon returning, the externs are then equipped to come alongside the leadership of your church to launch a response fueled by your entire body to enter into that issue and area of the world, on behalf of the poor and oppressed. This all comes from our deep commitment to the global church. We believe the church is God's favorite instrument to accomplish his purposes. There is a growing awareness that the church has the greatest challenge and task to respond to the greatest crisis of this generation, children at-risk are found facing, which is indeed the greatest opportunity of our generation. Thus, it is our hope to enter in with the church and labor alongside the ecumenical body. Simply put, we want to put ourselves out of a job in those areas, and play a role in raising up churches to step into the process of caring for children at-risk on an international scale.

I would like information about DTJ's Church Externship Project when it is launched in 2009!