Director of Christian Education interns returned to Concordia for a mid-year retreat Jan. 25-28. The sixteen participants, placed in congregations across the country, shared moments of triumph and challenge from their individual internships. The feedback and discussion helps the interns to adjust and improve their ministry efforts, and the frontline stories are especially useful for younger students in the DCE program.
"It is great to reconnect with each other and to know that our information will help DCE interns in the future," said Christine Otte, a Norfolk, Neb., intern. "From my own experience, I know they use the interns' feedback in the curriculum."
A DCE's work varies according to the needs of a particular congregation and can include everything from youth ministry to working with the elderly. According to Dr. Thaddeus Warren, interim director of the DCE program, internships are a roller coaster ride for many of the participants. Interns start with a high level of excitement and then need to deal with the realities of living on their own, challenges of the job and separation from friends and family. The mid-year retreat is intended to send them refreshed and recharged into the second part of their internship.