| Doctor of Ministry Curriculum
Overview
Structure
of the Degree
The design of United’s D.Min. degree allows students to progress
through the full program in stages, where each successive stage
lays the foundation for the next, building a strong total program.
Students whose professional development goals do not require the
completion of the program may exit after the first or second module
with a certificate of completion, knowing they have received a coherent
and useful educational experience.
Requirements
of the Degree
Module
1 | Module 2 | Module
3
MODULE 1 focuses on students’
development of an analysis of their ministry and its context within
the larger framework of the changing face of ministry in North America.
The module is open to enrollment both from persons
who know they wish to complete the D.Min. degree and those who wish
only to take this first module as a means to renew their vocation
for ministry. The module results not only in enhanced understanding,
but also in a concrete, professional ministry development plan the
student can use to guide further work, and leads to a Ministry Renewal
and Professional Development Certificate.
Module 1 consists of one seminar course:
MODULE 2 focuses on students’
development of advanced skills in pastoral analysis and theological
reflection and their development of advanced expertise in a subject
area relevant to their professional development aims.
This focal subject area may be uni-disciplinary
or interdisciplinary in character. Enrollment in Module 2 presupposes
full admission to the D.Min. program and is based on successful
completion of Module 1 and the meeting of any criteria for admission
to the D.Min. program not already satisfied before beginning Module
1.
The module consists of the following courses:
MODULE 3 focuses on students’
fullest integration of learnings from the first two modules in the
planning, conducting, and presentation of an action-research project
that contributes a new understanding or model of ministry to the
field of ministry.
The module consists of the following courses:
Doctor
of Ministry Core Course Descriptions
The seminary’s catalog for 2007-2009 is valid for
elective courses; you also may find information on new electives
in the Registration Bulletin. Required courses specific to the D.Min.
program are listed below.
Courses are for 3 credits unless otherwise noted.
DM150 RENEWING MINISTRY
IN NORTH AMERICAN CONTEXT
Students analyze their own ministry and its context within the framework
of developments in church and society in contemporary North America.
Students will create a ministry development plan that can guide
future education. The course is scheduled in two half-week sessions
three months apart. The seminar includes a brief consultation with
North Central Ministry
Development Center around assessment of personal leadership
styles.
No prerequisites
DM250 THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION
AND METHODOLOGY SEMINAR AND PROJECT
In this four-day seminar, students will learn a variety of methods
and models of theological reflection appropriate to advanced research
in pastoral theology and the practice of ministry. They will then
have the opportunity to put these methods to use in a substantive
research project in an area of interest in their ministry context.
6 credits (tuition billed at 4.5 credits)
Prerequisites: DM150
DM290 CAPSTONE SEMINAR
AND COMPREHENSIVE EXAM
Through a comprehensive examination and a one-week seminar, students
will be supported in developing a comprehensive understanding of
the field in which they have engaged in research and study through
the subject area courses taken since the methodological seminar.
The seminar context will allow students to deepen their understanding
in dialogue with students who have pursued different, but allied,
research and study agendas. The examination context will allow students
to organize their understanding comprehensively. 6 credits (tuition
billed at 4.5 credits)
Prerequisites: DM250, 15 credits of subject area study
DM350 THESIS PREPARATION
SEMINAR
During this one-week seminar, participants develop their proposal
for the D.Min. thesis in critical dialogue with professors and their
D.Min. peers.
Prerequisites: DM290
DM390
DOCTOR OF MINISTRY THESIS
Under the guidance of a faculty advisor and thesis reading team,
the student will write a thesis that contributes new understandings
or models for ministry. Specifically the thesis will: identify a
specific theological topic in ministry; organize and carry out an
effective research program; evaluate the results; use appropriate
resources; express a depth of theological insight in relation to
ministry. The student will orally defend the research and results
before a panel of faculty.
Prerequisites: DM350
D.Min. Concentration
in Leadership Toward Racial Justice
Updated 5/19/2010
Purpose: To help D.Min. students develop the expertise
necessary to facilitate antiracism transformation in congregational
or other settings.
Program Goals:
- To give students an understanding of the dynamics
of racism and white privilege, especially in their systemic and
institutional manifestations;
- To give students knowledge of the experience
and religious traditions of at least two communities of color;
- To enable and motivate students to be effective
agents of change for the elimination of racism in church and society;
Requirements:
Four 3-credit classes as follows:
-
TR331 Antiracism Dialogue: Theory and Practice
- Two electives
- selected from a list defined by the
Educational Policy & Evaluation Committee (including courses,
for example, in African American experience and theology,
Native American experience and theology, as well as immersion
trips to Two Thirds World countries, and suitable offerings
at Consortium schools). Click
here to access the Registrar's Web page for a list of approved
electives.
- Students may use comparable courses
at other ATS seminaries to meet this requirement under the
terms of the D.Min. elective policy and subject to the approval
of the Director of the D.Min. Program and their faculty advisor.
- One of the following:
The student’s thesis must be related
to racial justice.
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