Doctor of Ministry - Individualized Course of Study

Admission Requirements

• A Master of Divinity degree or MDiv equivalence, defined as 72 semester credit hours of relevant graduate course work, with at least a 3.0 GPA.
• Students who only have 60 credit hours of graduate work may be provisionally admitted to the DMin, with the understanding that they must satisfactorily complete those 12 hours before final admission to the program and matriculation into a cohort.
• At least three years of full-time ministry experience after receiving an MDiv degree or its equivalence. Up to 20% of students in the DMin program may be admitted without meeting the three year requirement.
• For students whose first language is not English (or Spanish for Spanish DMin cohorts) and have not earned a Bachelor degree taught in English in the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, or Canada, the TOEFL is required. Students must receive at least a score of 550 on the paper test, an 80 on the internet test, or a 6.5 on the IELTS.
• Official transcript from degree granting institution(s).
• Three letters of reference (one pastoral, one academic, one from a lay person who has been under their ministry).
• A sample of academic writing (10 to 20 page work).

Program Requirements

• Intensives - A student takes two weeks of intensive courses per year for the first three years (it is also possible that some of these courses might be taken online). Each intensive course is 5 semester credit hours, making up 30 of the 38 degree hours. These intensives would involve extensive pre- and post-course work. In some cases, a Faculty Mentor may wish to do one of the “intensive” courses online, but no more than 50% of any cohort design will involve purely online courses.
• Absence from Intensives - In the case of a major emergency, with the permission of the Faculty Mentor, a student may miss one intensive session (one week) in the degree program. In such cases it is up to the Mentor to determine an appropriate way for the student to make up for the lost learning. If a student misses more than one intensive session, however, the student will have to withdraw from the program and reapply to a subsequent cohort. 
• Withdrawals - If a student withdraws from a DMin cohort and then is readmitted to a subsequent DMin cohort, the student may be required to audit seminars for which they have already received credit.
• Project - Students will be assigned a Project Advisor near the end of the initial three years.  An External Reader will also be chosen.  Students will continue to register for MIN-802 Project Continuation (one credit hour) until project completion.  The substance of the student's work will be in dialog with the Project Advisor.  The oral defense will include the student, the Project Advisor, the Faculty Mentor (if different from Project Advisor), and an External Reader.

Graduation Requirements

• Successful completion of 38 hours of coursework with at least 3.00 GPA. Intensive courses will be graded. Project courses will be pass/fail.
• A minimum grade "B" in each course.
• Successful oral defense of a submitted project.
• All requirements for the degree must be completed within seven years of enrollment in the DMin.
• Payment of all tuition and fees is required to receive a diploma.

DMIN Program of Study

Foundational Courses

MIN-701	Statement of the Problem	2
MIN-702	Literature Review	2
MIN-703	Methods of Research	2
MIN-800	Ministry Project 1	1
MIN-801	Ministry Project 2	1

Electives

-	Electives from Doctoral Ministry Courses	30
Total Credit Hours:		38