As a church, we are committed to helping future leaders flourish in vocational gospel ministry by developing character, cultivation of competency, and discernment of calling. This program is for those who believe God is calling them into full-time ministry or church planting, as well as those who believe they will be involved in some form of Christian vocational work in the future. This handbook provides a detailed description of each ministry track offered through the Mercy Residency Program. As a church, we are thrilled to have the opportunity to train men and women for Christian ministry and view it as a great privilege and responsibility.
For the complete Residency Program Handbook, click here.
RESIDENCY GOALS AND COMPONENTS
Residency Goals — Under the supervision of the leadership of Mercy Church, the resident is expected to exercise due diligence to achieve the following:
- To broaden their understanding of Christian ministry through the study of Scripture and other literature and by both observation of and participation in regular Christian ministry.
- To sharpen vision for biblical ministry through regular interaction with ministry leaders from Mercy Church.
- To continue growth in being a godly, learned, Spirit-filled ministry leader in view of future ministry in the local church through exposure to a multi-ethnic cadre of pastoral leaders and other ministry practitioners.
- To participate in ministry and congregational life at Mercy Church.
Residency Components — To achieve the things noted above, it is expected that the resident will:
- Attend resident cohort meetings. These will take place bi-weekly on Thursday mornings from 8:00-9:30am. Location will be communicated later on.
- Attend a direct report meeting with a Mercy Staff member.
- Attend special gatherings. There will likely be several special gatherings during the year.
- Attend all worship services at their assigned campus. The resident is expected to attend and serve during weekend services every week.
Fulfill ministry assignments — The resident’s ministry assignments for the term include the following (not an exhaustive list):
- Attend all required staff meetings, gatherings, and training. Each Wednesday, there is a staff meeting (WASH), a “We Learn” development time, staff prayer, and staff lunch where we all eat together. Once a quarter, we have staff gatherings just to connect and build bonds.
- Be actively engaged in seeking out one-to-one relationships.
- Ministry Track
Other Considerations
Term: The residency will run for two years.
Application Process:
- Phase 1 - Application (click apply to start!)
- Phase 2 - Ministry Assessment
- You will receive an email with your ministry assessment questions after your application is reviewed
- ***NOTE: You will not be able to save your answers in between sections. Please set aside an hour to do this assessment***
- Phase 3 - Local Interview
- An interview will be done by your local supervision based on your ministry application and assessment.
- You'll be able to schedule this within our system after you complete the ministry assessment.
Skills Required
- Commitment to a two-year residency term
- Belief in calling to full-time ministry, church planting, or Christian vocational work
- Attend bi-weekly resident cohort meetings (Thursday mornings)
- Attend and serve at weekend worship services every week at assigned campus
- Attend weekly staff meetings (WASH), "We Learn" development time, staff prayer, and staff lunch
- Participate in ministry assignments and pursue one-to-one mentoring relationships
- Attend direct report meetings with Mercy staff and special gatherings as scheduled
- Complete ministry assessment as part of application and participate in local interview
What We Do
Reliant Mission partners with churches and nonprofits to support employed ministry programs, focusing on the development of character, skills, and doctrine. They provide participants with applicant assessment, support raising training, coaching, and employment-related guidance, while managing the salary and benefits for those in their short-term or two-year residency and internship programs.
