Contextual Education internships help prepare STH students for practical leadership in a variety of organizational settings. Whether you have no experience in religious leadership or quite a bit already, the ConEd office can help you find an internship site where you can grow your professional abilities and theologically reflect on the work you do. Most students complete their Contextual Education requirements as part of the second year of their degree program, which requires planning during their first year.

Students completing a 3-unit internship spend an average of 15 hours per week in on-site leadership. They also take part in a weekly small group course entitled Integrating Theology and Practice (ITP), which includes some light reading and assignments. Students should plan for 20 total hours per week to be spent in ConEd-related work during the terms in which they complete this 3-unit internship. Students completing a 6-unit internship experience during the summer months should expect to double these requirements (30-35 hours per week in on-site leadership, plus 5 hours of ITP).

What will I do at my internship?

Before you begin your internship, you’ll create a Learning Agreement outlining up to five personal learning goals for the semester along with the tasks that you plan to do at your site to help you meet those goals. For example, a learning goal could be “to improve my understanding of how a non-profit manages its finances” and tasks could include attending budget hearings or Board meetings during which finances are discussed. A student interested in honing their public speaking skills could include the task of preaching twice each semester on their Learning Agreement. This document will be negotiated with your site supervisor to make sure it is achievable at your site within the allotted weekly hours. We don’t want students working too much or too little, so finding the right balance of learning goals and tasks is important. If you aren’t sure of your learning goals, a conversation with the Contextual Education Office Director could help! Feel free to reach out for a meeting either formally, to discuss a particular ConEd idea or plan, or informally by email.

Are internships paid work?

Contextual Education is a curricular degree requirement and a learning opportunity, not a paid position of employment at an organization. So, no, these internships are not necessarily paid work. That said, some of our partner sites do offer paid internship positions, while others do not. Students should be mindful of asking potential sites about this as they determine where their internship site will be. Sites that cannot pay their students an hourly wage are still asked to contribute to their student’s financial wellbeing through providing some scholarship funding support, which typically ranges between $1500/term and $2500/term, depending on the budget of the organization. Finally, the School of Theology provides a Contextual Education scholarship of $1000 per term to eligible MDiv and MTS students fulfilling their required Contextual Education credits through an internship or Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) program.

How do I find an internship site?

You will begin the process by meeting with someone in our office, who can help you discern the right site for your learning. Students should also peruse our online site listings book, which is kept up to date with sites that have expressed interest in having an intern. Once you have determined one or two sites where you would like to intern, you will reach out to those sites directly to negotiate and formalize an internship with one of them. During this phase you should also have meetings with the potential supervisor at the site and/or visit the site to determine if it is a good fit for you.

Once you have made a final decision, and have been approved by the site supervisor for an internship at their site, you’ll then submit the ConEd Proposal Form to seek approval from the Contextual Education Office. Our office team will review your request and either be in touch with questions/clarification or provide you with internship approval. Once approved, the Office of Registration and Financial Aid will register you for the Contextual Education “Integrating Theology and Practice” course, which accompanies all internships (course numbers TC 801 – 804). If at any point during this process you need support, you can always reach out to the Contextual Education Office (sthope@bu.edu).

See our “ConEd Process Checklist” for deadlines and more detailed information on each step mentioned above.

Who is eligible for a ConEd internship?

A special note for incoming first-year students:

We typically do not allow entering students to pursue ConEd in the first term of their program for a variety of reasons. First, purely from a timing standpoint, they would have had to negotiate the ConEd internship paperwork deadlines, which fall between four and six months prior to the start of each term. This paperwork cannot be skipped or rushed, so it is typically best for entering students to meet with someone from the ConEd Office once they matriculate into the School of Theology to discuss their options in future terms. (An exception is occasionally made for transfer students who enter technically mid-program and who may need to pursue ConEd right away to have time to fulfill all their curricular requirements. Those situations are considered on a case-by-case basis, starting with a conversation with the Contextual Education Director.)

Another reason for limiting entering students from pursuing ConEd internships in their first term: ConEd is a 20-hour-per-week curricular endeavor, which can be difficult to balance with an entering student’s other first-term concerns, such as making connections to a new school community, finding their way around Boston, and navigating seminary coursework. Many first-term students who have pursued ConEd right away have reported feeling overwhelmed or unable to find the time to deepen connections to the seminary community. Additionally, the “Integrating Theology and Practice” course requires a good deal of advanced theological reflection work—assignments for which you’ll be better prepared after the first year of seminary.

Students should use their first term to dig deeply into their STH coursework, form friendships, and explore the Boston area. If they’d like to get a head start on their ConEd plans, they could also occasionally visit area churches/religious communities/and non-profit organizations of interest to determine where they may eventually want to pursue an internship. And all students—prospective, incoming, and current students of any program—are always welcome to meet with the Contextual Education Office at any time for support in vocational discernment, career planning, or personal formation support.

Notice of Boston University School of Theology State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA) and Boston University Approval:

The following information is listed for university compliance purposes only. It is pertinent only to students who pursue Contextual Education outside the state of Massachusetts, and is meant to promote equity for hybrid/online students. 

The State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA) is a voluntary agreement amongst member states, territories, and districts of the United States that establishes one set of national standards and rules for distance education offerings. States that wish to become members of SARA apply to their regional education compact for approval. Once a state has been approved, institutions within that state may apply to the designated state portal entity for approval to participate in SARA. Currently, 49 states (all but California), the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands have joined SARA. Boston University has been approved under the terms and provisions of SARA to operate its distance education programs in SARA-approved locations.

Boston University State Authorization and Distance Education Disclosures site provides a variety of information regarding distance education programs, including:

• Complaint Resolution process for Massachusetts, and each state
• Information on the Refund Policy applicable to students in distance education programs
• Information about distance education programs that lead to professional licensure and certification; and
• Authorizations by State: State-by-state authorizations and information, including complaint procedure information for the location and any state-specific disclosures.

Students participating in contextual education placements that occur outside of Massachusetts have rights under the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA) related to complaint resolution. Boston University’s state authorization approval and related complaint resolution process is itemized here: State Authorization and Distance Education. Students at BU School of Theology should contact the Director of Contextual Education or the Academic Dean for more information.