How the Internship Helped Me Have a Better Understanding of Ministry
Written by Jerrid Currey
Since joining the Internship, I have had the pleasure and privilege of learning more and more about ministry and God’s calling on my life. I have been in this Internship for a total of nine months so far and still have three to go but within just that short, amazing time I have learned more about ministry than I have in my whole life. I’ve learned that if you are going to be a missionary you must dive into it with everything you got because it is really hard work. I have learned this through the shared experience and guidance of Children Bible Ministries (CBM) missionaries throughout the areas of CBM. But to sum up, in just a few words I have found out that to be a good missionary you must have humility, flexibility, excellence, unity, and servant leadership. I will explain what all these traits mean and why it is important to have them in ministry, starting with humility.
CBM’s definition of Humility is having a heart posture of reverence before God. What they mean by that is realizing how big God is compared to us. Having humility is very important in ministry because there are going to be a lot of situations and things that come up that you cannot control. However, being humble reminds us that it is never just the work that we do but the work that God does through us. We must remember that without God we can do nothing to bring Him glory. I saw a great example of this while on my first rotation at Camp Cornerstone in Pennsylvania. Ms. Christine who works for Camp Cornerstone presented a hard-working attitude and a humble spirit. No matter what jobs needed to be done around the campus she would immediately go and do it no matter what the job was. She was a great example of having a heart posture of reverence towards God.
CBM’s definition of Flexibility is an attitude of selfless love for the Lord, exhibited by a willing heart to do anything, at any time because we live on God’s timeline. This basically means being okay if things do not go according to plan and being willing to go with the change instead of fighting against it. This is an important trait to have in ministry because more often than not plans can and will change without warning. There are going to be a lot of times when things don’t exactly go according to plan, but we need to remember that God’s plan never fails. So given that fact, we need to be ok when our plans fail because we know that His plans never fail. I’ve noticed this trait, especially in my coordinators. They are the ones who make the schedules and sometimes those schedules don’t turn out exactly as they had planned but they don’t fret or worry because they know that God’s plan reigns overall. I know that I have learned to become more flexible from watching how flexible they are.
CBM’s definition of excellence is striving to have a quality of work that is pleasing to the Lord. This definition is a little bit more difficult to explain but what they mean is being able to work as if you are working to please God rather than people. Although we must strive for excellence this does not mean that we must strive for perfection because overall we are imperfect beings, but it just means to do an excellent job that would be pleasing to the Lord. Only one person comes to mind when thinking about this and that is Rhiannon who is working for Tuckaleechee Retreat Center (CBM HQ). During my first four months of training I was constantly seeing Rhiannon working around the clock but not just that but the jobs she was doing were excellent. I even got to help her clean one of the lodges one time and hearing her step-by-step process of what she did to make sure they were ready for the guests was nothing shy of excellence.
CBM’s definition of unity is an attitude of love, patience, and forgiveness towards others as Christ has shown us. Having unity in ministry is one of the most important things you need to be a missionary. The Bible tells us that we are to be the body of Christ and to do that we need to have unity. In order to have unity, we need to be quick to forgive, slow to anger, and always loving. I remember when I was first introduced to my team, we all got along right away. After a month, everyone was getting really aggravated with everyone else. It was only until we started to be more forgiving, patient, and loving that we started to become better as a team, and we began to work better together as well.
CBM’s definition of Servant leadership is being an example through service. Being a servant leader is basically trying to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, recognizing that you are a leader but being willing and ready to serve despite the fact. If at any time I am placed into a leadership role I need to remember that overall God has called me to serve just like Jesus did. Even He said, “The son of man came not to be served but to serve.” (Matthew 20:28) The best example I’ve seen by far of servant leadership is from Lincoln and Jamie who are the directors of CBM. They have shown a complete and total serving heart to do whatever they possibly can to help at any camp that needs it. They are always willing to help in anything and willing to work on anything even though being in that role of leadership which to me is inspiring.
In conclusion, how this Internship helped me have a better understanding of ministry could be easily summed up into the five core values. Being humble towards the Lord and realizing He is big, and we are small. Being flexible and willing to change plans because we know that God’s plan reigns overall. Striving for excellence to please the Lord instead of striving for perfection to please yourself. Having unity with other missionaries and believers because we are all the body of Christ. Finally, being willing to be a servant to others just like Jesus despite whatever role you are in.
Jerrid is a part of the CBM Internship program, which exists to encourage young people to experience missions! To learn more about the CBM Internship program click HERE .
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