St. Paul expands teaching mission

For nearly 20 years, St. Paul has served as a crucible for pastoral formation, welcoming ordained pastors fresh from seminary into a two-year residency program. Now, responding to shifting realities in the church and an opportunity to shape pastoral leadership even earlier, St. Paul is expanding its teaching mission to include one-year internships for seminary students.

The evolution reflects St. Paul’s continuing commitment to pastoral education.

“The residency program St. Paul has created translates to interns in very wonderful ways,” said senior pastor Mark Niethammer. “We get to plug them into every aspect of ministry. All the different facets of being a pastor, all of the intentional continuing education things we do. This transition fits the overall goals of the program and our identity of being a teaching church.”

Core seminars

Central to both the internship and residency experience are core seminars—two half-day educational sessions each month devoted to intentional learning on topics that matter in real ministry. Recent sessions have covered managing anxiety and pastoral self-care, building maintenance, communication strategies, and sermon writing, among many others.

Not just St. Paul’s residents and, now, interns, benefit from these educational sessions. First-time pastors in solo roles from churches throughout the Southeastern Iowa Synod join the sessions too.

“These first time pastors don’t really have anyone to go to for any of these topics. Having these young pastors learn together, it makes for a better setting for current residents like Maddy Tyler, and it helps these new pastors, too,” Pastoral residency coordinator Pam Garrett said. “We have these young pastors who want to do their best job. I walk out of these sessions with hope because they all really want to be the best person they can be.”

Making an impact

While St. Paul gains fresh perspectives and energy from new staff, Mark sees the broader impact most clearly.

“The benefit to the larger church is apparent. We’re going to continue to raise up really good pastors who know how to love their people. That’s something St. Paul does well,” Mark said. “If we can do that with interns at an earlier stage in their development, the better chances they’ll have of really good ministry throughout their careers.”

The addition of internships doesn’t replace the search for residents.

“We’re continuing to recruit resident pastors,” Pam emphasized. “Interns are not a substitute for that recruitment process. This gives us new opportunities. It’s not a completely new vision for the program.”

A new space

The program is moving into newly renovated space on the third floor of the church house, bringing it physically into the heart of St. Paul’s main building.

“Those conversations you miss when not physically near people make it harder to foster good relationships,” Pam said. “This move will be great for staff relationships.”

The St. Paul residency/internship program continues to change and expand in exciting ways, shaping pastoral leaders who will serve the church for decades to come.