 | Applications for DMin in Educational Leadership is March 1 WHY A DMIN IN MINISTRY DEVELOPMENT?
Our world needs wise Christian leaders who can use a variety of perspectives and tools to read and understand challenging situations, think on their feet, point to the Holy, and open paths of transformation in peoples lives.
For 35 years, we have been helping religious leaders do just that.
Pastoral leaders from many denominations come to our Ministry Development program
- people who serve in churches, hospitals, the military, mission fields, and public sectors
- people with 3 – 30 years of experience in religious leadership
- people with proven skills and leadership, who want to wrestle with new challenges
The heart of our work is fostering deep practical wisdom and courage, as we bring our contexts of ministry into conversation with the finest insights from scripture, theology, and various human sciences and professions. Your context of ministry becomes your laboratory of focused learning, testing, and reflection.
WHAT YOU WILL DO IN MINISTRY DEVELOPMENT
- Read and interpret the “living text” that is your congregation, institution, mission field, or other context of ministry, along with its surrounding social context.
- Focus on questions of God's ultimate purposes and desires for individuals, faith communities, and societies.
- Learn best practices pulled from a range of professions including religious mission and ministry, education, business and labor, government and the military.
- Work with peers on your real-life situations, to gain new insights and develop new habits in your leadership and discipleship.
- Examine your own actions and assumptions in your ministry and leadership, through theological, behavioral, and organizational lenses.
- Know and claim afresh what you are trying to achieve in Christ's name, why you are trying to achieve it, and how you can pursue it through transformational ministry, leadership, and mission.
- Improve your capacity to guide, shape, and energize congregations and communities of faith.
- Work side-by-side with leaders in your faith community to stimulate change and open doors for transformation.
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HOW MINISTRY DEVELOPMENT WORKS Application processReflection on your ministry begins during this process. Requirements to apply:
- Three years of full-time ministry are required for participation in the DMin program.
- A Masters of Divinity (MDiv) or an equivalent graduate-level degree in a theological discipline is expected. Exceptions are made, depending on ministry experience and recommendations.
- Be at work in full-time, continuing ministry
- Strong motivation for professional and spiritual growth
- A strong capacity for writing, reading, reflection and conversation in the English language.
- Curiosity, humility, and courage to learn and try new ways of leading.
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Preparatory readings and assignmentsThese set the stage for on-campus sessions.
The following books are required reading before arrival in January.
The Practice of Adaptive Leadership, by Ronald Heifetz (and also The Work of Leadership, available as an online book)
A Failure of Nerve, by Edwin Friedman
Doing Local Theology, by Clemens Sedmak
Practical Theology: An Introduction, by Richard Osmer |
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9 total weeks of on-campus residencies at VTSParticipate in 1-3 week long intensive courses and case study sessions spaced over 2 1/2 years.
SCHEDULE:
January (Year 1 – two-week session)
Introduction to Doctor of Ministry Studies
Ministry in Context Seminar
Family Systems Seminar
Case Studies
Leadership Lecture
Daily Worship & Biblical Reflection
January (Year 2 – one-week session)
Congregational Studies Seminar
Daily Worship & Biblical Reflection
Summer (Year 2 – three-week session)
Three weeklong intensive seminar courses
Case Studies
Summer Leadership Lectures
Discussions on theologies of leadership and mission
Daily Worship & Biblical Reflection
Summer (Year 3 – three-week session)
Three weeklong intensive seminar courses
Case Studies
Summer Leadership Lectures
Project Thesis Workshop
Daily Worship & Biblical Reflection
SAMPLES COURSES:
Ministry in Context:
Explore organizational, developmental, congregational, and missional perspectives on ministry. Focus on dynamics of power and influence, social networks, patterns in attendance and membership, Christian practices, and connections with the surrounding social context.
Family Systems:
Gain a solid understanding of Bowen's Family Systems Theory and the work of Edwin Friedman. Use this knowledge as a framework for understanding the dynamics of the social systems which shape people's behaviors and responses to one another, as well as your role in ministry in light of the social systems which shape human actions.
Dynamics of Conflict and Change:
Gain experience during this practice-oriented course on changing organizational communication patterns. Focus on the roots of problematic interpersonal and systemic dynamics, with attention to varied ministerial and educational settings. Short case situations prepared by students allow for in-class practice of new skills for engaging conflict and facilitating open communication more effectively.
Human Emotion and Ministry:
Study the latest perspectives from psychology, biology, pastoral ministry and leadership on basic emotion, grief, trauma, and change, and how leaders can work most effectively with emotion.
Paul and the Churches in Conflict:
Use Paul's epistles as guides to faithful engagement in the midst of challenges and conflicts in congregations and denominations, with particular attention to disputes in the Anglican Communion as a test case.
Holistic Environments of Faith and Learning:
Focus on the integration of faith and learning in worship, classroom teaching, and social outreach (e.g., service-learning). Examine, in a workshop setting, the developmental approaches to creating holistic environments that foster and strengthen habits in perception, thought, reflection, prayer, expression, and natural leadership. |
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Daily worship and bible reflectionEach day begins with praise, prayer, and focused meditation or small-group discussion of biblical texts.
Worship and Biblical Reflection
Daily worship and biblical reflection are an integral part of the DMin campus experience. Participants in both DMin programs come together for daily morning worship that is drawn from a variety of Christian traditions. Readings from scripture focus on God's continuing work of redemption and transformation, and our part in that great work.
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Study of place of ministryWith a team chosen from where you live and work, study your context of ministry and its surrounding social context.
Congregational Study
At home following the first January residency, you will select and work with a Congregational Study Team to study the place of ministry where you serve. Our online course guides you through reading and interpreting your context of ministry using 10 different lenses or frameworks, including personal faith narratives, history, attendance and participation patterns, social networks, Christian practices and implicit theology, and connection with the surrounding community. The process concludes with a self-assessment of your own role as minister and leader. These studies are shared with other members of your D. Min. class when you return the following January. |
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Reading at homeSelf-directed reading at home, in scripture, theology, and social philosophy, focusing on themes of individual and social transformation.
Theology of Transformation Course
“Visions of Societal and Soulful Transformation” is a guided and self-directed readings course designed to immerse DMin students at home in biblical, theological, philosophical, and social / psychological images and ideals of the Good Society and the Good Person, from across time and different cultural and religious contexts. The course helps students begin to focus their theological reflection around questions of ultimate aims, ultimate outcomes, and the means by which we might move toward those aims and outcomes in concert with the Holy Spirit.
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Self-selected trainingIdentify and choose training in a specific set of skills or capacities.
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT TRAINING
During the course of the D.Min. program, you are expected to complete a focused leadership development training conference of your choosing. Choose a leadership development training conference that offers training in an area of leadership directly related to your particular ministry interests, goals, and needs. Training areas may include conflict resolution, community organizing and community development, marriage preparation and support, Christian education training, crisis intervention, board development, or other focused areas. Periodically, VTS will host an opportunity for D.Min. students and other leaders. |
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Case studiesLearn to use this format to create disciplined reflection on your actions in ministry and leadership.
Case Study Workshops
Case Study Workshops are the heart of the Virginia Theological Seminary Doctor of Ministry programs. Case studies use an action-reflection approach that helps you examine your own practice of ministry in light of biblical, theological, organizational, behavioral, and developmental perspectives. You will prepare case studies at home, from real experiences in your last year of ministry and leadership that have taken you to the edge of your own competency or comfort. On campus, DMin colleagues and instructors reflect with you on each case, bringing multiple perspectives and insights to bear on these important situations.
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| Community of discourse Ongoing conversation with peers and instructors, informally and through telephone and videoconference sessions. |
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Project thesisPlan, execute, and evaluate an “experiment” in your ministry context that addresses a higher aim of Christian life, service, and leadership, culminating in the completion of your project thesis.
Project Thesis
Your project thesis is the culmination of your work in the VTS DMin program. Working with a committee of VTS faculty and DMin instructors, and with helpful insight and support from your DMin peers, you will develop a project – a sustained but focused act of ministry and leadership - that attempts to address a needed or desired development in your context of ministry. Shaped by insights from behavioral and theological disciplines, the project must address a larger concern about how to strengthen Christian ministry, witness, and faithful life, and how to engage effectively in the ongoing transformation of souls, communities, or societies. |
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| | Doctor of Ministry Program
Virginia Theological Seminary
3737 Seminary Rd.
Alexandria, VA 22304
Phone: 703-461-1760
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