Doctor of Ministry

This course seeks to help you recover the personal spiritual element of leadership. Rather than studying the best practices and methods of exercising leadership, you will focus on the character, attitudes, and motives that set apart the kind of leader Scripture commends. You will construct a profile of the servant-leader, especially the leaders internal qualities, that you can apply to effective ministry in advancing Gods kingdom. (4)

This course will introduce you to various approaches to effective leadership within the context of organizational chaos and complexity. You will study effective leaders who know how to influence, catalyze, and support positive changes in structure, organizational culture, and people. You will understand that organizational change efforts are the lifeblood of leadership. You will be able to consult, advise, and engage leaders throughout any organization using principles of personal and professional ethics.

This course will help you deepen your effectiveness for leading others in diverse ethnic and global ministry settings. You will lay a biblical-theological foundation for leadership that fosters ethnic and cultural integration, learn how to form multiethnic/multicultural ministry teams, and learn how to build communities that celebrate multicultural ministry. In the final project, you will reflect on how to apply principles you have learned in your current ministry context. (4) Prerequisite: MIN 9441

In order to become familiar with the research of others that is related to your topic, you will engage in an in-depth literature review and will synthesize your understanding of the state of the research. You will create an annotated bibliography of at least 40 titles and will articulate your analysis of what others have written on your topic. The end product will be a 6,000-7,000-word paper that summarizes your literature review and functions as the first chapter of your capstone project.

In this course, you will take your first step along the path to your capstone project. You will learn how to define your research topic, state the rationale and significance of that topic, identify empirical unknowns, formulate research questions, and align your anticipated focus of study with a case study approach to research. The end product will be a 3,500 word paper that summarizes each of these areas and functions as the second chapter of your capstone project.

A case study is a careful examination of an organization or program that is designed to identify characteristics specific to that entity. You will learn how to identify an appropriate number of institutions or programs to study, examine pertinent documents, and conduct surveys and interviews. You will design a plan for conducting a case study and will implement that plan. The end product will be a 6,000-7,000-word paper that describes your case study plan and process and functions as the third chapter of your capstone project. (4) Prerequisite: MIN 9902

Having conducted your case study research, you will analyze, organize, and summarize the data you have collected. You will use your research questions as the framework to organize a complete presentation and discussion your findings. The end product will be a 6,000-7,000-word paper that captures the results of your analysis and functions as the fourth chapter of your capstone project. (4) Prerequisite: MIN 9903

Upon successful completion of the four prescribed research courses, you will re-state your research problem, summarize your findings, explain the significance of those findings, and suggest further research that others might pursue in a 3,500-word paper. You will then submit the final draft of a written project of approximately 25,000 words (at least 100 pages) and defend it orally before a committee of three faculty readers. (4) Prerequisite: MIN 9904