DMIN - Ministry

The Doctor of Ministry (DMin) degree is a 38 semester credit hour degree that provides advanced knowledge and research skills in relation to an area of ministry practice. The program is structured around two one-week intensives a year for three years under the supervision of a faculty mentor, supplemented by online courses that prepare a student for work on an individual Research Project. At the end of the first three years, the student is assigned a Project Advisor, who will work with the student in the fourth and any subsequent year through the proposal, implementation, and completion phases of the Project.

A student who has successfully completed the degree should be able to:

• Demonstrate doctoral-level competency in the knowledge and skills related to an area of ministry practice, including the implementation of that practice in varying cultural contexts.
• Conduct self-directed research on an area of ministry practice, culminating in a doctoral-level project that presents a research-based solution to a ministry problem and makes a contribution to scholarship and research in that area.
• Apply biblical, theological, and historical insights to the practice of ministry with advanced understanding.
• Demonstrate spiritual, personal, and professional growth in conjunction with growth in the knowledge and skills related to an area of ministry practice.

Degree Distinctives

• Specialized Focus: Each DMin cohort will focus on an area of ministry practice for the entirety of the degree (like leadership or spiritual formation), with an opportunity for the individual student to customize research and application to personal ministry goals.
• Faculty Mentor: Students proceed through the first three years of the program with a faculty mentor who is the primary designer of the specifics of students' coursework.
• Visiting Professors: Part of the intensive experience will be visiting experts on the specialized topics of each course.
• Cohort Based: Students will proceed through the coursework phase of the degree in a cohort and continue in a common space working through the Project individually with the Project Advisor.
• Project Guidance: Students will work through the Project in a guided way that keeps them from the limbo of many doctoral programs.