The Service Inquiry Program (SIP) at Goshen College has its origins in the Ministry Inquiry Program, an internship program that was launched in 1988 as a joint effort of Mennonite Church USA and the five Mennonite colleges in the United States. In the 17 years of the program’s operation, 295 students have tested their calling and gifts for congregational ministry by serving as pastoral interns for 11 weeks, usually during the summer.
In the year 2000, when the Lilly Endowment, Inc., invited a selected group of colleges to propose new ways to challenge students to consider religious vocations, the idea of a Service Inquiry Program emerged. As director of career services at Goshen College, I had frequently heard the representatives of church-wide mission and service agencies express concern about a declining pool of applicants and candidates who would take up the challenge of providing healing and hope in a needy world. So, SIP was proposed for a five-year period at Goshen College, and it was granted financial support by Lilly. SIP enables students to participate in a service assignment for 11 weeks with a church-related agency and to receive a $2,000 scholarship, with funding provided in part by home congregations and the host service agencies.
Since 2001, when the Service Inquiry Program was first implemented, it has sponsored 24 Goshen College students, primarily sophomores and juniors, in summer service assignments. Ninety percent of these students have been affiliated with the Mennonite Church, with their home addresses being mostly in Mennonite communities in Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Without exception, students’ home churches have contributed financially toward the $2,000 SIP scholarships, strengthening the connections between students and their home congregations.