ICAS-Accredited Degree Program
Doctor of Ministry in Church Planting
D.Min. credential
Start congregations built to outlast their founder, through a professional doctorate in church planting practice.
Doctor of Ministry 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
The Doctor of Ministry in church planting is for experienced planters researching survival, succession and multiplication. The interesting question is not how a plant launches but whether it survives its first decade and whether the founder can leave. This ICAS-accredited Kingdom of Life University pathway covers the ecclesiology that decides a plant's questions, rigorous context analysis, core team and launch, funding and viability, planter endurance and family, founder succession, and multiplication.
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 Ministry 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
- Doctor of Ministry: Church Planting - Doctoral Competency-Based Ministry Assessment
- Credential
- Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) 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
Decide the questions a plant forces from a stated ecclesiology
Analyse a planting context with methodological rigour
Plan for founder succession from the beginning
Build capacity for multiplication rather than for a single plant
Learning Outcomes
Skills and competencies you will develop
Synthesize doctoral-level theological evidence, research judgment, and ministry wisdom for faithful leadership
Produce a rigorous contextual analysis of a planting field
Design a launch and funding plan with stated viability checkpoints
Draft a founder succession plan with timeline and criteria
Complete a doctoral project evidencing planting outcomes beyond launch
Career Opportunities
Where this degree can take you
Lead church planter
Planting network director
Denominational planting executive
Planter coach and assessor
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
Exegesis as the founding habit of a congregation with no inherited tradition, since the first two years set what follows.
Doctoral Seminar: Old Testament Theology
The Old Testament's account of a people gathered and constituted, and the worship established where there was none.
Doctoral Seminar: New Testament Theology
Acts and the Pauline mission read as evidence about planting rather than as a template to be copied.
Doctoral Seminar: Christian Doctrine
The doctrine of the church decided explicitly, because a plant has to answer membership, sacrament and order immediately.
Doctoral Seminar: Theology of the Gathered Church
A theology of the gathered church sufficient to decide the questions a plant forces, covering membership, sacrament, leadership, and order.
Doctoral Seminar: Reading a Planting Context
Reading a planting context at doctoral level, covering demographic and ethnographic method and the discipline of not importing a prior strategy.
Doctoral Seminar: Core Team and Launch Strategy
Core team formation and launch strategy, covering recruitment, covenant, timing, and the evidence on what predicts survival.
Doctoral Seminar: Funding and Sustainability
Funding and sustainability, covering models, external support timelines, generosity formation, and the point at which viability is decided.
Specialization Subjects
Six more that take the field into the places it actually gets used.
Doctoral Seminar: Planter Endurance and Family Health
Planter endurance and family health, covering isolation, marital strain, and the support structures that must be arranged before they are needed.
Doctoral Seminar: Handover and Founder Succession
Handover and founder succession, covering the founder's particular difficulty in leaving and the planning that makes succession possible.
Doctoral Seminar: Multiplying Planting Networks
Multiplying planting networks, covering assessment, training, coaching, and the institutional capacity that multiplication requires.
Doctoral Seminar: Doctoral Church Planting Project
The doctoral church planting project, covering design, intervention, evaluation, and the written argument.
Doctoral Seminar: Spiritual Formation and Christian Vocation
The planter's endurance, marriage and the founder's particular difficulty in handing over what they began.
Doctoral Seminar: Integrative Theology and Ministry
A doctoral planting project evaluated beyond launch, with succession and multiplication in view.
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 Ministry
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.