Hannah Shultz 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 Hannah Shultz is spending 11 weeks this summer exploring the ministry profession through the Ministry Inquiry Program (MIP).

At Harrisonburg's Manantial de Vida, Hannah Shultz, a senior music education major, said she is learning "so much" this summer, including "daring" to "step out in faith." "Listening to God is similar to a muscle in that it has to be exercised," she said. "It is fun to witness God using me to further His purposes." Shultz's responsibilities include sharing her testimony, praying, helping children learn about gardening and Earth care, leading children's worship, translating documents from Spanish to English, choreographing worship songs for a dance ministry and preparing Sunday school activities for three classes. She said she is also learning about fasting, deliverance, spiritual warfare, speaking in tongues and prophecy.

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