Choose Your Focus

The DMin Program is practical in offering three concentrations from which to choose. By focusing on a concentration from your first day in the program, you’ll be able to develop your project sooner–even while you’re in course work. Each student fills half of his course credit requirements (15) in one of the areas of concentration listed below. The other 15 credits are filled by the research and methodology course and electives from the other two areas.

DMin Program

Pastoral Care and Leadership

Pastoral ministry centers on the cure of souls. It also includes leadership, that is, to inspire, model and manage programs in support of the cure of souls. This concentration covers the spectrum of pastoral care, including the pastor’s own care in prayer and study, the ordinary means of pastoral care in worship and the means of grace, and the extraordinary means of pastoral care through spiritual direction and counseling. The supporting role of leadership, institutional structures and programs in a variety of settings will also be investigated and evaluated.

Teaching and Preaching

This concentration is designed to enhance the preaching and teaching competence of pastors. Students will study the full scope of the preaching task, from exegesis and application to rhetorical methods and delivery. Up-to-date methodology will be studied and evaluated in light of the Scriptural and Confessional understanding of preaching. Students will reflect upon the traditional role of catechesis in the church and learn and evaluate contemporary pedagogical methods for congregational teaching. Students will consider important themes in teaching, such as the catechesis of young people and their integration into the life of the Church, and alternative methods for challenging adults and deepening their education.

Mission and Culture

This concentration is designed to assist ministers in developing a proper understanding of communicating the Gospel within the variety of human cultures. While current missiological methods will be studied and evaluated, the priority of this concentration is to understand cultural symbols in order to communicate the Gospel appropriately, rather than to learn models and programs. Contemporary ideologies and movements will be studied and evaluated to discern particular challenges or bridges to the Gospel. Students completing this concentration will understand variations in cultural expression while being able to minister in these contexts with integrity, avoiding fads or techniques which compromise the Gospel.