We offer you a Doctor of Ministry degree with a missional accent—and without a straightjacket!
Strengthen your practice of ministry by developing your capacity in critical biblical and theological reflection, reliable social research and cultural discernment, and missional vision and practice in ministry. Tailored learning units, peer collegiality, faculty mentoring, and annual on-campus seminars will nourish these capacities for learning and ministry leadership growth.
Three annual 2-week seminars held in May provide a context for nourishing these capacities in companionship with peers and faculty mentors.
You will identify learning goals clearly rooted in needs for learning and growth in your ministry setting. Your faculty mentors and peers will help you design personally tailored learning units. These units form the core of your learning activities in a defined arena of ministry practice, culminating in a ministry project.
Rev. Dr. George R. Hunsberger directs the D.Min. program. He also serves as Professor of Missiology for WTS's Master of Divinity programs. He has served since its inception as the Coordinator of the Gospel and Our Culture Network in North America. Dr. Hunsberger is available to help you discern whether a D.Min. program of study is right for you at this time and whether this particular style of program will enhance your learning. Contact george.hunsberger@westernsem.edu or 800.392.8554, ext.127 or fill the online form.
The self-designed learning encourages growth at four levels simultaneously:
- Who you are as a person (emotional and psychological formation)
- Who you are as a child of God (spiritual and ecclesial formation)
- What you do (skills formation)
- What you know (intellectual formation)
Following the third seminar and the completion of five learning units, you will complete a carefully designed project/dissertation, engaging in some practice of ministry shaped by what you have learned in the program and demonstrating that you have met the stated goals of the program. All phases of the program are outlined in detail in the D.Min. Handbook.
Rev. Dr. Reggie Smith
Pastor, Roosevelt Park CRC, Grand Rapids, MI
One of the things I was looking for in any Doctor of Ministry program was a sense that the professors would be there for me. Western’s professors were interested in my formation as a pastor.
The program maintained a careful balance with constructive feedback on my learning units and creative freedom to pursue the areas that fed my soul and heart in ministry.
The D.Min. program at WTS was not about getting a degree, but making new friends and walking together to lead the most creative thing in the world—the local congregation.”
- Hold a M.Div. degree or its educational equivalent
- Have at least three years of ministry experience since the M.Div. was completed.
- Have at least one year of experience in the current ministry setting.
- Be prepared to participate in seminars for two weeks in May/June in each of the next three years.
- Application must be completed by December 31.
