Hear From Our NEXT Site Leaders!
NEXT is a mentored, cross-cultural internship designed to help young adults deepen their relationship with God and develop their understanding of themselves.
Have you ever wondered who our NEXT site leaders are? Take a minute and meet five of them, and learn what it’s like for them to mentor interns on their fields through NEXT.
1.Beyond seeing the field and how the team functions firsthand, what kind of things do NEXT interns get to experience when they’re interning on your field?
Sandra (UK): Interns get the chance to interact with the local community in three church parishes through cooking and serving meals and engaging in conversation … they also help with the church operated foodbank, work in two youth provisions – one run by church and the other run by the city council, share their testimonies in the three churches and take part in services. … They are also expected to take part in any outreach work, which includes street evangelism, youth events and family days.
Kaylie* (Karis): Our interns have the opportunity to observe and participate in a variety of cultural events. This varies each summer, but our interns have attended local weddings and have been included in special holidays, festivals and feasts. They also have the chance to build relationships with their students from teaching at our refugee center. Many of our interns have been invited to museums and concerts and other activities with their students.
2.What aspect of having interns on the field do you enjoy the most?
Courtney (Eastern Europe): I love that I get to walk alongside interns and help them in their discernment journey. It’s an absolute honor to get to introduce them to a place and people who are so near to my heart and to see how God uses their experiences to grow them into greater obedience.
Jill* (Fotizo): I love being able to see the transformation that happens in interns from the beginning of their internship to the end. Seeing the ways interns encounter people, places and experiences for the first time is such a fun experience! My husband and I were both a part of the NEXT internship several years ago and it was a transformative experience for us. Walking with interns as they discover their place in the global Church brings me excitement for the Lord’s hand in their lives
3.In what ways have interns on your field challenged, inspired, or encouraged you?
Sandra (UK): Because the Wesleyan Church in the West Midlands (where the interns work) is an aging, mainly Caribbean population, one of the challenges is to ensure that there is real fellowship between our interns and the members of the host church. The example the interns set — of being willing to leave their comfort zone and become seeped in a different culture and to explore their calling — is definitely the biggest source of inspiration to me personally, but also to the young adults in church.
Sabrina (Czech Republic): While we do have a multi-generational team in Czech, NEXT interns come representing the newest generation to enter the adult world. This can be challenging for everyone, but it is also a fantastic learning experience in communicating and working together with a common goal on mission.
I’ve personally been encouraged and inspired by interns as they cause me to remember what it was like when I first began in mission work. I’m simply in awe as I realize how God has stretched and grown me in life and faith through my years on the mission field, and I hope that each intern will have similar life impacting moments during their time on mission.
Jill* (Fotizo): Having interns on our field has challenged me to think creatively about how we reach the unreached people of Fotizo. They’ve also encouraged me to keep listening intently to the voice of the Holy Spirit in each step/season of life. We actually had some interns this past summer engage with the deaf community toward the end of their internship (which is a new demographic our team hasn’t been able to engage with) and connected with a young man who now continues to meet with my husband. The young man is engaging in deep spiritual conversations and reading Scripture! They took something they were passionate about, stepped out in courage to go to a new place and interact with a new demographic of people, and made an impact on this young man’s life.
4.What is your hope for the interns when they complete their internship and head home?
Kaylie* (Karis): I hope that the experience has opened their eyes to the wide scope of needs in the world and how they can contribute to bringing about change and healing.
Sabrina (Czech Republic): I hope and pray that each intern will come away from their experience changed. Sometimes this is seen in perspective and sometimes it comes out in personality. I always find it beautiful when I see interns come in seeking to do something for God and then leave recognizing what God did in them.
5.How would you encourage people to consider taking part in a NEXT internship?
Courtney (Eastern Europe): Whether you feel called to be a missionary or not, NEXT allows you to explore more of who you are and how you uniquely contribute to God’s mission around the world, and it will be an unforgettable experience that will stretch and shape you. If you’re hesitant about NEXT, just take the next right step and see how God works. Fill out the application. Have a conversation. Explore potential sites and open yourself up to God’s possibilities for your life.
Jill* (Fotizo): I would encourage you to prayerfully consider if NEXT could be your next step in your journey with the Lord — who knows, it could be a pivotal point in your testimony like it was in mine!
For more, visit gponline.org/next
*Names have been changed due to security guidelines. Karis, Eastern Europe and Fotizo are pseudonyms for fields that can’t be publicly named, due to security guidelines.