This Doctor of Ministry program is an exciting and dynamic opportunity for congregational renewal while equipping clergy leaders. It involves a course of study for pastor and congregation that supports their mutual transformation toward a missional posture.
Three fundamental and crucial realities drive this Doctor of Ministry program:
1. It's God's mission, not ours.
In John 20:21, Jesus said to the disciples and says to us, the church: "As the Father has sent me, so I send you." God is a sending God. The church, as the body of Christ in the world, is a "sent" people. The mission is God's mission to create the world anew. The church is being called in this new era to discern its participation in that mission as a sign, foretaste, and instrument of God's new creation.
2. The North American context has changed.
Whether or not your church has moved its location in the last few decades, it is today literally in a different place. The cultural context has changed dramatically. There was a time when church participation was expected of all. The fastest growing "church" in North America is the "unchurched.
The opportunity for congregations is to recognize the new set of circumstances, culturally and locally, and seek the positive meaning and opportunity in them. Today and tomorrow's context for the ministry will require new ways of thinking, new ways of seeing, and new ways of behaving, if the church is to move faithfully into the future.
3. Transformation efforts involve cultivating a missional church.
The opportunity before the church is to share in and to practice a dynamic life together that demonstrates the contours of God's new creation in the midst of the old. This opportunity includes - but goes beyond - plans, strategies, and programs, to living together as a people who are being transformed by the Spirit toward their true baptismal calling and purpose. It means developing the practices that cultivate the church as a worshipping, witnessing, learning, serving, and stewarding community of the risen Lord Jesus Christ - a new creation community.
How does a church understand and participate in God's mission? How does the Holy Spirit seek to shape each local congregation for God's mission in this time and in this place? Questions such as these are at the center of each church's transformation journey.
Doctor of Ministry in Congregational Transformation
A creative and collaborative approach
This Doctor of Ministry offers an opportunity for creative collaboration between local church leaders, seminary, and a church research and development agency,. It offers an opportunity for sharing the gifts, time, and energy of each in a creative and fruitful partnership.
The missional transformation of the local church as the goal. As the local congregation seeks to participate in God's mission more faithfully and fruitfully, it will require the formation of a disciple community. In many churches, this requires a radically new vision, new ways of thinking, and new patterns of behavior. For practical purposes, this represents a re-orientation for congregation leaders and members.
An opportunity for the pastor. The focus of this Doctor of Ministry program is equipping of pastoral leaders to guide a journey of missional transformation. This journey is focused around discerning and living out God's mission within the congregation's practical circumstances. In this Doctor of Ministry program United Theological Seminary and the Center for Parish Development team up to equip pastoral leaders with -
- Practical skills for creating awareness and readiness for transformation in the congregation.
- Theological grounding in a missional orientation
- Key skills for leading and managing transformative change through five phases of a missional renewal journey.
- Practical processes and resources for developing lay involvement and leadership, team learning, visioning, collaborative strategic decision-making, and more.
The UTS Doctor of Ministry Program provides a tried and tested path for clergy leaders to pioneer new models of ministry. The UTS Doctor of Ministry offers a creative collaborative approach to self-directed learning and critical reflection - an approach that cultivates transformative learning. Participants discover a deeper synthesis of the spiritual, intellectual, and practical in ways that strengthen their prophetic and pastoral competence in guiding congregational transformation.
How would a Doctor of Ministry in Congregational Transformation Work?
A Congregational Transformation focus group of clergy leaders will be formed. The Doctor of Ministry program will have these components extending over a 3-year period:
For the clergy participant:
- Five intensive seminars for clergy participants, each one a week in length, meeting in January and August. Each intensive provides (a) plenary sessions to introduce methods and resources supporting the participant's doctoral work; (b) specific sessions to address each phase of the doctoral program; and (c) focus group sessions addressing leadership issues and practices supporting the transformation journey.
- Nine peer seminars (typically 2-day gatherings) on themes supporting the transformation journey and the specific area of doctoral focus within it. The collegiality developed here is an essential support for personal and congregational transformation. Biblical, theological, conceptual, and practical reflection, exploring questions and issues for discussion and learning for transformational leadership forms the basis of the peer sessions.
- Support of the doctoral mentor, Dr. Roland G. Kuhl, Director of Educational Initiatives for the Center, and adjunct faculty at UTS.
For the congregation: A lay coordinating team is equipped with leadership skills training and resources to guide their church through faithful and fruitful renewal and change.
- Six one-day training workshops are provided the team. Includes high quality training manuals, Bible studies, and detailed guides for planning and facilitation.
- A three-year phased journey of transformation and renewal integrated into the flow and life of the congregation that includes -
- Discovering the local and cultural contexts for ministry, embracing the factors and forces that impact the congregation's current and future circumstances.
- Discerning a compelling shared vision of God's calling and sending of the congregation to participate in God's mission.
- Organizing the life of the church around God's vision as discerned.
- Developing a forward looking plan of action to guide the church into the future.
About the UTS approach to the Doctor of Ministry Degree
The Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) program at United Theological Seminary (UTS) is an advanced professional degree in the "Practice of Ministry," which brings together religious leaders to pioneer new models of ministry that empower both minister and context to transform society. The program is under girded by Action Research Methods to call participants toward deeper spiritual and intellectual synthesis that strengthens prophetic and pastoral competence.
The UTS Doctor of Ministry process is a contextual model in which each participant engages in a collaborative approach to self-directed learning and critical reflection, which leads toward transformative learning within the individual and the context.
Each participant individually designs a doctoral project after studying the context of ministry and visioning practical possibilities with the context, peers and professional advisors. A "replicable model of ministry" is designed in collaboration with members of the context, which addresses a specific need within the context. All projects must be action oriented with the objective of producing structural change within the context.
This program uses a distance education model. The student spends 5 days each semester on the UTS campus. Peer Sessions may be on the UTS campus or other location that the mentor and group chooses. All other studies are done at home or in context
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