Elizabeth Witmer participates in Ministry Inquiry Program summer internship

2017 Aug 14

Navigating spiritual and personal growth, pastoral roles, early mornings, late nights, and much more, Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) student Elizabeth Witmer is spending 11 weeks this summer exploring the ministry profession through the Ministry Inquiry Program (MIP).

At Faith Mennonite Church in Minneapolis, junior social work major Elizabeth Witmer, who said she is "very much an introvert," is building her comfort level with being around lots of people. "I'm learning how to be myself in a place with no one I know," she said. In addition to leading worship, visiting a terminally ill church member, preaching, planning and attending actions and workshops with a local immigrant-led organization, attending protests, and various other activities, Witmer said that she is enjoying being within walking distance of "anything I want do" and being "well connected to causes and actions I'm passionate about."

Of the four churches where Perry Blosser, Caleb Schrock-Hurst, Hannah Shultz, and Elizabeth Witmer are serving, one congregation is Spanish speaking and another is bilingual, two are located in urban areas, and one is a more traditional heartland congregation, said Carmen Schrock-Hurst, MIP director and instructor of Bible and religion at EMU.

This summer, MIP participants have stretched their talents and learned new skills in a diverse range of experiences. Students "have preached in English and Spanish, led worship, helped design a Taize-inspired prayer service, led music for a peace camp, choreographed worship dance with church youth, worked in church gardens, visited patients in their last days of life, led a joint congregational choir, killed a chicken, visited senators on Capitol Hill, attended a protest around the Philando Castille verdict, led workshops on immigration and incarceration issues, and gotten up at 4 a.m. for prayer meetings with congregational leaders," according to Schrock-Hurst.

More than 300 EMU students have participated in MIP, a partnership that includes the student's respective Mennonite college, local congregations and conferences, and Mennonite Church USA.

At the end of the program, each student receives a scholarship of up to $2,000 toward tuition costs at a Mennonite college or seminary for the next academic year, along with a $500 stipend for living expenses from the host congregation.

A student's placement depends on "his or her own interests in size and type of congregation, the availability of a congregation and pastoral mentor, and a fit between the intern and the host congregation," said Schrock-Hurst.Senior Perry