The night before each ministry visit one of my classmates would research the ministry and based on the website place the purpose of the church or ministry into what is called the Frankena Model. The model consists of 5 boxes, 1) Purpose, 2) Premises, 3) People, 4) Processes, and 5) Practices. After visiting the ministry we would debrief the day and discuss our thoughts on all that we took in during the day.
Although the trip is mentally taxing I have had lots of time to reflect on what I have been learning over the past two weeks. One of the biggest things I have discovered is a clearer sense of my calling in ministry. I always knew that I wanted to work with children. I always knew that I did not want to be in a school system with children. I knew that I wanted to teach kids about having a relationship with Christ and I get the greatest joy in life when I can witness a child accept salvation in Jesus Christ for the first time. However, it wasn't until this past November when I googled for 1-2 year long children's ministry internships that I had been placed at a churches website for a 2 year long urban children's ministry internship located in the hardest part of Milwaukee. This was the first door to open for my pursue of an urban ministry. I have however applied to other positions but Transformation City Church keeps contacting me back and pulling me in. In fact during the duration of the trip in Chicago I scheduled a four day visit to see the church on a Sunday morning service, sit in on a staff meeting, attend Tuesday night youth group, and observe an after school program for children. I became enamored with the after school program. I love the holistic approach to serving the whole child not just his spiritual needs but his need for education, mentors, food, fellowship. While visiting the many churches in Chicago a constant theme was holistic ministry.
Now, before I get to far ahead of myself. The purpose of the capstone trip is to help us to find the topic in which we are going to write our 50 page, 7 chapter long, Philosophy of Ministry paper on in the upcoming semester. Throughout the trip I had many conversations with my professor, Phil, about what I was going to be writing about. I knew I wanted to write about children's ministry at the start of the trip but that was all I knew. After chatting with Phil it was made clear that writing about a holistic after school program for upper elementary kids in an urban setting was the topic for me. As the trip continued my passion and excitement for the topic continued to grow.
In general, I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity I have been given to see and experience the many different ministries throughout Chicago. I have also loved growing closer to my wonderful CE friends and seeing them outside of the typical classroom setting. I have been immensely blessed to have spent the past 3 1/2 years with such great people. Not only do I look forward to spending one last amazing semester with them but I also look forward to seeing how God uses each and everyone of them for His kingdom. #CELovin #CEcapstone14
