ICAS-Accredited Degree Program
Doctor of Philosophy in Church Planting
Ph.D. credential
Explore how a vision for the gospel can become a new church where people find faith, friendship, and a place to grow.
Doctor of Philosophy in Church Planting: Your Grant Price
Applications are free. Eligible applicants receive their admission and Grant decision before any one-time program fee is requested.
Published tuition
$24,900.00
$649.00 Registry & Assessment Fee
$149
Doctoral Degree
2026 Life in Christ Grant is active
Ministry Experience, Evaluated Against Academic Standards.
Documented prior learning may be considered when it aligns with program outcomes; every credit decision follows academic review.
Program Overview
About this program
Doctoral study in Church Planting is for experienced planters building networks and assessing others. Planting forces decisions most ministers inherit already made: what a church is, who belongs, who leads, how it is funded. This ICAS-accredited Kingdom of Life University program works through those, plus reading a community honestly, building a founding team, and the unglamorous questions of money and endurance that decide whether a plant survives its first decade.
Competency-Based Ministry Assessment
Recognition of demonstrated learning in theology and ministry
Experienced ministry practitioners demonstrate competencies developed through years of service, theological study, and continuing learning. The assessment connects that learning with the published outcomes of the Doctor of Philosophy in Church Planting through biblical understanding, theological reflection, research, and ministry judgment.
70
Audited questions in this pathway bank
30
Questions drawn for each sitting
60 minutes
Time available for the knowledge component
24 hours
Interval before reassessment
Theological knowledge and degree outcomes
- Published bank title
- Church Planting - Doctoral Competency-Based Ministry Assessment
- Credential
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Church Planting
- Question construction
- 14 pathway subject-bank sources contribute 5 questions each, producing the complete 70-question bank.
How completion is reported
- The knowledge component contributes 40% and assessed ministry experience contributes 60% to one weighted result.
- The reported result is no lower than 80%, matching the 80% degree pass mark.
- Reassessment draws a fresh question set and is included in program access, with no additional fee or limit on sittings.
- The integrated assessment covers the published degree plan; separate course assessments, a capstone paper, and a dissertation defense are not required.
Program Objectives
What you will achieve
Integrate advanced theological inquiry and ministry judgment in service to the church and its mission
State an ecclesiology robust enough to guide the decisions a plant requires
Read a community accurately before forming a plan for it
Build a founding team that can survive its own early dynamics
Plan for multiplication from the beginning rather than after establishment
Learning Outcomes
Skills and competencies you will develop
Synthesize doctoral-level theological evidence, research judgment, and ministry wisdom for faithful leadership
Produce a contextual analysis of a specific community and its implications
Draft a planting plan covering team, funding, gathering, and timeline
Design worship and discipleship practices for a congregation's first two years
Identify the personal support structures a planter needs and secure them
Career Opportunities
Where this degree can take you
Church planter
Planting network leader
Missional pastor
Denominational planting director
Major Subject Areas
The fourteen subjects you study, and the ones the ministry assessment draws on
Foundational and Major-Core Subjects
Four foundations every pathway shares, then four that belong to this field.
Doctoral Seminar: Biblical Interpretation
Establishing what a text says when there is no inherited tradition of reading it in this congregation, because a plant's habits are set in the first two years.
Doctoral Seminar: Old Testament Theology
The Old Testament's account of a people being formed — covenant, gathering, and worship established from nothing.
Doctoral Seminar: New Testament Theology
Acts and the Pauline mission as the New Testament's own planting material, read for what it does and does not prescribe.
Doctoral Seminar: Christian Doctrine
The doctrine of the church, decided rather than assumed: membership, sacraments, order, and discipline, since the plant will need answers immediately.
Doctoral Seminar: Theology of the Church Plant
Why plant churches at all, and what a church is such that a new one can be started: ecclesiology as the thing that decides almost every later planting question.
Doctoral Seminar: Reading a Community and Context
Learning a place before proposing anything: demography, history, economy, existing congregations, and the listening that precedes a plan.
Doctoral Seminar: Gathering a Core Team
Recruiting and forming a founding team, covering calling, character, role clarity, covenant, and the early dynamics that decide whether a team survives.
Doctoral Seminar: Evangelism in Planting
Evangelism where there is no congregation to invite people to, including relational networks, hospitality, and the first public gatherings.
Specialization Subjects
Six more that take the field into the places it actually gets used.
Doctoral Seminar: Forming Worship and Discipleship
Establishing worship and discipleship from nothing: liturgy, teaching, membership, and the practices that will still be there in ten years.
Doctoral Seminar: Funding and Stewardship
Money and the plant: funding models, external support and its timeline, generosity formation, and the decisions that determine early viability.
Doctoral Seminar: Leadership Resilience
Sustaining the planter, covering isolation, marriage and family strain, unrealistic expectation, and the support structures that have to be arranged in advance.
Doctoral Seminar: Multiplication and Sending
Planting churches that plant churches: leadership pipelines, sending capacity, and the decisions early on that make later multiplication possible.
Doctoral Seminar: Spiritual Formation and Christian Vocation
The planter's own endurance, marriage and isolation, and the support that has to be arranged before it is needed.
Doctoral Seminar: Integrative Theology and Ministry
A planting project: context analysis, plan, implementation and evaluation, written up with the decisions and their outcomes.
Admission Requirements
What you need to apply
- Master's degree in theology, ministry, or a relevant field from an accredited or recognized institution
- Official graduate transcripts demonstrating advanced academic preparation
- Research statement identifying a proposed area of theological or ministry inquiry
- Scholarly or ministry-focused writing sample
- Current curriculum vitae documenting relevant research, church, or ministry leadership experience
- Three ministry or academic recommendations and a faculty interview
Degree Completion Requirements
Requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy
Graduation Requirements
- Complete at least 60 doctoral semester credits in the approved degree plan
- Pass the Competency-Based Ministry Assessment for the degree
- Satisfy every doctoral-core, research-methods, specialization, elective, and Competency-Based Ministry Assessment requirement group
- Integrate theological knowledge with assessed ministry experience under the published result-weighting policy
- Recognize demonstrated learning against every published degree-plan requirement
Culminating Experience
Demonstrate doctoral-level theological synthesis, research judgment, and ministry leadership through Competency-Based Ministry Assessment, combining theological knowledge with assessed ministry experience.
Credit Distribution
| Requirement Area | Credits | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Advanced Doctoral Core | 24 | 8 courses. Doctoral theory, disciplinary foundations, and scholarly leadership. |
| Research Design and Methods | 12 | 4 courses. University-wide doctoral preparation in quantitative, qualitative, measurement, and research-ethics competencies. |
| Area of Specialization | 15 | 5 courses. Focused doctoral inquiry supporting the learner's research agenda. |
| Doctoral Elective | 6 | 2 courses. Any doctoral-level major course from any school that is not already part of this degree plan. |
| Competency-Based Ministry Assessment | 3 | 1 course. Integrated doctoral theological knowledge and assessed ministry experience, recognizing demonstrated learning across the published degree plan. |
| Total Degree Credits | 60 | All requirements must be completed within the approved degree plan. |
Program Details
Program Length
Self-Paced
Self-Paced Learning
Total Credits
60 credit hours
Up to 30 Transfer Credits
Published Degree Plan
20 courses
Across 5 required curriculum groups
Format
Flexible Study
Assessment Format
Competency-Based Ministry Assessment
Selected Degree
Doctorate
School
School of Theology and Ministry
Institutional Status
ICAS Accredited
Ready to Begin Your Accredited Church Planting Degree?
Applying costs nothing, and the work you have already done may count. Have a look at what this pathway asks for before you decide.