The Doctor of Ministry Program

The Doctor of Ministry is the highest professional degree for ordained persons in the parish or related ministries. It is to be distinguished from other doctoral degrees such as the Th.D., S.T.D., and Ph.D. in that its primary emphasis is on the practice of ministry. The course and project work often is interdisciplinary in nature and usually involves applied exercises including library research and writing. A significant proportion of the program’s requirements is to be met in the setting of the applicant’s ministry rather than in residence.

• Traditional (Self-Directed):
  In this program students are free to choose between two tracks

  • Church Leadership
  • Congregation and Family Car
• Leading from the Inside Out (available only at San Diego and Philadelphia sites)

• Emerging Leaders (Cohort-Based)

  • Global and Contextual Leadership
  • Gallup Strength-based Congregational Leadership
  • Urban Ministry Leadership
  • Servant Leadership
  • Organic Leadership Development

Follow this link for more information about the Doctor of Ministry program features and admissions information. Also, you are invited to visit the Doctor of Ministry Department maintained homepage for students, faculty, and mentors.

Special Features

Leaders don’t come “one size fits all,” and neither should leadership training. The best programs are geared specifically to your needs, your goals and your ministry context. That’s why Bethel Seminary has developed three unique and distinct offerings within our Doctor of Ministry degree program.

Traditional Doctor of Ministry.
Bethel Seminary’s traditional Doctor of Ministry program is nationally recognized, setting new standards in post-graduate theological education. It is dedicated to producing transformed, godly leaders ready for 21st century ministry and is convenient, relevant, progressive, focused and empathetic. The traditional program offers two degree tracks: church leadership and congregation and family care.

Leading from the Inside Out.
The Leading from the Inside Out Doctor of Ministry program focuses not only on sharpening leadership skills, but also on developing the innter life and character of the leader, preparing you to implement that same character development with leaders in your own ministry context. The program arms you with the theory, reflection, and resources necessary to facilitate spiritual and character formation in the lives of your church leaders and help you create a comprehensive leadership formation process within your church family.

Emerging Leaders.
With its revolutionary program design and innovative delivery system, Bethel Seminary’s Doctor of Ministry for Emerging Leaders program challenges you to take your leadership skills to an entirely new level. Master practitioners and scholars lead five different, carefully selected cohort groups in an intensive two-year course of study. In addition, each cohort will write a leadership volume to be published as part of a five-book leadership series.

Bethel’s Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) program emphasizes four issues critical to effective and satisfying ministry studies.

Collegial Support.
Bethel’s program emphasizes the relational dimension of learning through colleague groups and mentorship. Clusters of students with like concentrations and ministry interests interact with and support one another through the duration of the program.

Current Technology.
Bethel provides computer software and guidance, enabling each student to participate in a system that ensures rapid transfer of information between student and advisor and among students. Students are required to use a computer to participate in the D.Min. program because of enhanced capability for research and communication.

Educational Advising.
Each student develops a relationship with a Bethel faculty member or faculty associate who serves as an ongoing project advisor. Each advisor evaluates students’ course project proposals and reports, thesis project proposals and reports, and can provide additional consultation as able.

Ministry Applications.
Employing an approach that integrates reflection and practice, Bethel’s program places learning and growth in the context of ministry. Participants consistently draw upon their studies as they design and implement their ministry projects. The program structure requires students to remain in active ministry while they pursue their education.

Publishing Project.
In the Emerging Leaders Doctor of Ministry program, students will be involved in a publishing project focusing on the cohort’s subject matter, which will culminate in a book being published under the name of, and edited by, the cohort’s professor of record. Each student will have an opportunity to make significant contributions to the book being published.

Admission to the Program

Prospective Doctor of Ministry students must apply to the program through the Bethel Seminary St. Paul campus.

Part-time visiting students from other ATS-accredited D.Min. programs may take up to two courses (12 credits, based on availability) that may be transferred into their current D.Min. programs.

Admission to the Doctor of Ministry program requires: a minimum of three years post-M.Div. in some form of professional ministry and a Master of Divinity degree or its equivalent from an accredited school, with a grade point average of 3.0 on a four-point scale. Applicants who have not completed the full equivalent of a three-year seminary degree but who have at least a two-year seminary degree may apply for provisional admission to the program. If accepted, the student must complete the equivalent work for the M.Div. degree, as well as the regular D.Min. requirements. An M.Div. equivalency is defined as a minimum of 128 graduate quarter credits, and must include Bethel’s Master of Divinity core requirements. Further information about equivalency is available from the Doctor of Ministry office, 651.635.8083.

Additional materials required with the application include: an application fee of $50; college and graduate transcripts; a personal statement detailing the applicant’s ministry experience (four to six pages); a statement of personal objectives for the D.Min. program (three to five pages); specified letters of reference; and a letter of support for your involvement in the program from the congregation and/or board of the institution in which you minister. An admission interview may be required. Complete information may be obtained through the Office of Admissions.

Persons interested in completing the program in less than the normal time may do so by transferring up to 12 quarter credits into the program. These credits may be for doctoral-level work not applied to a completed degree program at other accredited seminaries or for special pastoral or congregational development programs offered by agencies with which Bethel has formed a cooperative educational arrangement. The program’s duration may also be shortened by taking additional courses in either the second or third year through the offerings on either the St. Paul or San Diego campuses.

Doctor of Ministry Candidacy

The qualifications to become a candidate for the D.Min. degree are: completion of 36 quarter hours of course work with completed projects, completion of the thesis proposal workshop, and an approved thesis project proposal. When those pieces are complete, a letter will be sent to the student informing him or her of candidacy status.

The Bethel Seminary Catalog is provided online as a convenience for those who desire course information in electronic form. The printed version of the Bethel Seminary catalog is the official version, and it will be treated as the document of record in all seminary business.