Faith In Place Fellowship Description

Description of Work:

The task for our Beatitudes Soceity Fellow for the summer of 2009 is to survey 25 of our major partner congregations for feedback on the programs we offer, on their own ecological practices, on the connections they see between ecology and faith, and on how those connections are developing in partnership with us. We are also interested in tracking any insights they have into how being ecologically active has affected the health of their congregation. This work may be conducted in person at the sites, in order to get a more in-depth picture of partners.

Skills Required:

A basic understanding of how congregations work is important to fulfill this project well. Asking the right questions in order to elicit data that supports the idea that social engagement is good for congregations (or to demonstrate that it doesn’t make any difference, or is bad for them) is key to this project. The Fellow will need an ability to understand the depth of our work quickly in order to create a meaningful survey within the first week at our site. That doesn’t necessarily mean that a Fellow should be environmentally aware when coming to us, but it does mean that s/he should be a quick study of a complex array of programs and their underlying ecological motivations. Mature ability to honor existing relationships and to inspire confidence in partner congregations to get candid feedback on our programs and honest answers to the survey questions is essential. Good writing ability, so that the Fellow can create a concise report based on the information provided by the survey is also important.

Unique Opportunities this internship Provides:

The fellowship occurs during a time when our congregational partners are doing minimal programming, so it is unlikely that there will be many opportunities to participate in the programming of the congregation or of partnered programming between the congregation and Faith in Place while the fellow is here. Whatever opportunities do arise will be made available to the Fellow. Interaction with the staff of Faith in Place, which is highly interreligious and multi-ethnic, is a benefit of our site, and all staff will be available for interaction during the fellowship period.

Click to learn more about Faith in Place.

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