Internship Program

Interns join the Presence Project for an intense 9-month period of growth and service. As an intern, you will come to embody local parish ministry. You will learn city, and in particular the part where you live. You’ll walk the streets of your neighborhood and learn its rhythms. You’ll pray with and for the people you find there, and pronounce blessing on them.  

Of course, you can’t pour from an empty cup. In order to bless your city and speak God’s word to them, you need to hear Him clearly, spend time with HIm regularly, and know His heart well. We will come alongside you to help you build and maintain the rich inner life that characterizes a successful parish minister.

As you get a feel for your part of the city, we will help you understand the natural boundaries and patterns of interaction around you so that you can map and define your parish — a small area that you will be spiritually responsible for. Within your parish, you will get to know your neighbors, help them network with each other to meet the needs in their own neighborhood, and connect them with the resources of the city and the churches where appropriate. You will also help other interns do the same in their neighborhood

Resident Program

If you live in Englewood and you’d like to be part of the Presence Project, our residency program is for you. Residents receive support and prayer for their ministry in their part of the city, join in with us on citywide efforts, and help the interns to learn about Englewood and how to connect well with the people here.

You will meet other interested residents and support each other in prayer and by helping out in each others’ neighborhoods, sharing information and effort to produce block parties, beautify and repair distressed properties and common areas, and whatever other projects and ideas God brings your way to bless your neighborhood. Above all, you will use all these opportunities to foster good relationships among your neighbors, so that God’s Kingdom comes to your neighborhood, manifesting in love and peace throughout your parish.

Host

We could not function without our host families! Hosts are Presence Project Residents who house an intern for the 9 months of the program, and help him or her to make connections in the parish.

Church Partners

We have a range of ways that churches can partner with us.

Sponsor an Intern. Every intern needs not only a host family, but a church sponsor. Our interns can’t bring the life of the Church out into the neighborhood unless they are sharing in the life of a local church. Sponsor churches commit to providing training and service opportunities to the interns in order to draw them intentionally and deeply into the life of the church. We’ll help you share your vision for ministry with your intern, and prepare each intern to make a meaningful contribution to the life of your church over the internship year. We’ll also be coaching your intern in how to inspire your people to minister in their own neighborhoods.

Financial and Prayer Support. We cannot overestimate our need for prayer. The kind of geography-centric ministry we’re doing in the Presence Project doesn’t lend itself to formulas.  Every neighborhood is different. The only formula that works is presence: show up, put in the time, get to know the people, and learn the neighborhood. It takes time and courage to keep showing up after the initial shine has worn off, and we need prayer that we will be bold, that we will try new things, that we will be willing to experiment (and sometimes fail) in order to learn how to serve each neighborhood we’re working in.

And of course, it also takes money. We have to fund the housing for our interns, so they can afford to be here. We have to fund community events — which might mean renting tables for a block party, or a roll-away dumpster for a distressed property clean-up. We have to pay our coaches, who will invest in the interns and help them to make the most of their year. We have some small operating expenses — paperclips, website maintenance, and so on.

We would love to present our ministry to your church or small group. Even if your church would never take us on as a supported ministry, a few people in your congregation praying for us regularly would make it well worth our while to come and share.  

Provide Infrastructure. Certain events are just too big to happen in someone’s front yard. Your church basement, sanctuary, or parking lot might be just the spot. If you’ve got an inflatable bouncy castle or a popcorn machine, we can would love to borrow them now and again. And so on…what have you got languishing in a storage room? I bet we can find a use for it a few times a year.