Missionary Apprenticeships Typical Schedule

So, the internship lasts 10 months, but what does a typical Missionary Apprenticeship week look like?
Meet Average Joe Intern. Let’s walk with Joe through one week in his “normal” life during a Missionary Apprenticeship.

That’s one week, from a distance. Here’s a typical week set within a typical year…and more of the details.
Sunday, Joe started his morning with his Treasure, Jesus, practicing some Spiritual Disciplines. Then he went to church. Well, he went “to church” for the first 4 months of a Missionary Apprenticeship. But after learning about simple, organic Jesus Communities multiplying across the Muslim World, Joe and his fellow interns began to experiment with “becoming church.‟ Taking a sabbatical from other church structures, Joe now gathers, sometimes when scheduled, often spontaneously, with fellow disciples who want to become like Jesus and advance His Kingdom (the goal of Jesus Communities). They eat, chat about what they did with what they learned last visit, discuss a passage from Acts and decide how they will live what they learned this week, challenge and help each other use their spiritual gifts, pray together, listen for God’s directions together, plan for their Kingdom ministry, eat some more, celebrate the Lord’s supper, cry and laugh together, and pray a bunch more. When the couples leave with their tired kids, Joe hangs out to watch a movie with his “church buddies‟ and to discuss its kingdom implications. They are joined by Said, a Muslim neighbor who dropped in (one they all know since they’re in this Kingdom thing together). Said stays around while Joe and his buddies enjoy another time of prayer together; in fact, Said is still there when Joe excuses himself and walks home. That’s life in a Jesus Community (2-4 hrs/wk)

Monday, Joe starts his day with Jesus (following some of his personalized Curriculum for Christ likeness). Then Joe goes to work; he works a 40 hour week like all the other interns. But that night, before watching a rerun of Seinfeld, he interacts with a chapter from “Desiring God” assigned by his Missionary Apprenticeship mentor. Later he decides not to watch Seinfeld. After all, last time Seinfeld didn’t help him treasure Jesus very much. (2 hrs/wk)

Tuesday Joe starts his day with Jesus (OK, this happens every day now that Joe is a Missionary Apprentice). After work Joe gathers again with his Jesus Community (a group of 10-20 fellow interns) for a meal and a more structured evening of training. They talk together about the Jesus story they learned and shared with Cousins last week. Joe reports on his visit to the mosque last Friday where he met…yes, another Mohammad, and set up an appointment for coffee next Thursday…to talk about what Joe has learned from the Qur’an about walking the “Straight Path”. Their Missionary Apprentice coach (an experienced individual or couple) leads them in an interactive discussion of the chapter from “Desiring God” that all of them read last week. They simply can’t help worshiping Jesus after this! (4 hrs/wk)

Wednesday and Thursday Joe begins each day with Jesus. But Thursday after work, Joe joins Mohammad and one of his fellow interns in Starbucks where they enjoy a friendly conversation that quickly turns to Jesus and what Joe learned about Him this week. (3 hours)

Friday – Joe slacks off – that’s reality

Saturday – Joe spends a refreshing time with Jesus, learning and meditating on a Jesus story, one he wished he knew better last Thursday with Mohammad. He also interacts with a chapter from “Church Planting Movements” (1-2 hours).

Missionary Apprenticeships require about 15 hours of intentional time each week. Joe finds he can actually manage this along with his full time job. Because Joe had not been as intentional about following Jesus after graduation, he will have to cut out some of the good things that once filled his life (he cancelled the paper, doesn’t answer every email) in order to make room for the excellent. However, Joe finds the Missionary Apprenticeship surprisingly doable. He’s taken a 5-6 month sabbatical from his mother church (which he still attends occasionally… because he’s coming back as soon as the Missionary Apprenticeship is complete). His weekly home group prays faithfully for Joe all year – they can’t wait until he returns after the Missionary Apprenticeship. While in College, Joe learned the habit of spending daily time in the Word, so Missionary Apprenticeships did not add anything to his schedule on this front…though Joe is much more intentional about “inductively‟ reading the Gospels this year…and listening to God in prayer. Joe was always found reading something. This year Joe is more intentional about what he reads; John Piper, Dallas Willard, David Garrison, Wolfgang Simson, John Ortberg, Jonathan Bonk, Larry Crabb, Marcus Buckingham & Donald Clifton, Paul Hattaway, Alan Hirsch, E. Stanley Jones, etc., but he’s never asked to interact with these writers more than a couple hours each week (he does come Tuesday evenings prepared to interact with his fellow interns about what they’ve all read).

Probably the most noticeable difference in Joe’s outlook this year is the couple hours each week he intentionally plans and spends with internationals… but that’s something he always wanted to do! Somehow, it just didn’t happen prior to the Missionary Apprenticeship. Joe needed a Jesus Community to help him “just do it.‟

Oh yes, four times during the year, Joe takes a break from this routine and gets away with his fellow interns for one of three Missionary Apprenticeship boot camps and the Overseas Practicum. The first boot camp helps Joe learn how Jesus designed him (spiritual gifts, values, strengths, personality, etc). The second helps Joe discover the deeper sin issues in his life that Jesus wants to address before he heads to the field. The last boot camp equips Joe to use the Qur’an to open up all kinds of doors to talk about his Treasure, Jesus.

And then there’s the Overseas Practicum. For two weeks Joe will travel with his coach and fellow interns to visit one of the Unengaged Muslim people groups in the world where they will practice all they’ve learned this year. For the first time in his life, Joe will experience the joy of living above fear, of sharing his Treasure boldly and often, of pushing the envelope to present the Gospel of the Kingdom to many, many Muslims. He’s shocked to discover Muslims are very interested in the Melekut Allah (Kingdom of God). At the end of his practicum he will likely be surprised to find that his team presented Jesus and His Kingdom to hundreds of Muslims in one-on-one, one-on-two conversations, that they entered into Qur’an/Bible Studies with dozens of them, that they had numerous dialogues with Imams, Mullahs and Muftis in local mosques and…everywhere they went, Jesus was the focus of their conversation.

In fact, Joe notices that Missionary Apprenticeships never gets far away from Jesus. All year Joe is helped to treasure Jesus more and more. Jesus and His Kingdom (two of Missionary Apprentice's three passions) are becoming Joe’s passion and that colors everything about Joe, including the way he ministers to Muslims. Joe is learning to be strategic; he is being equipped to launch movements overseas (3rd Missionary Apprenticeship passion). But Joe is now convinced nothing will ever be more important than treasuring Jesus.

Joe works as an electrician so he was able to cover the $650 Missionary Apprenticeship fees from his own earnings (that covers his books and materials, boot camps and consultations and helps recruit others for Missionary Apprenticeships next year). But his home group and friends chose to help him go to South Asia for his Overseas Practicum. They will be blessed to hear that Joe met several “persons of peace” while sharing Jesus…with Muslims in a Muslim country! It really can be done.