ICAS-Accredited Degree Program
Doctor of Ministry in Global Missions
D.Min. credential
Carry the gospel where the church is not yet established, through a professional doctorate in frontier global missions.
Doctor of Ministry in Global Missions: 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 global missions is for field-experienced workers forming churches where none exist. Frontier work means a language you do not speak, a church that does not yet exist, and decisions about risk that are not finally yours to make. This ICAS-accredited Kingdom of Life University pathway covers frontier strategy, deep language and culture acquisition, contextualisation with stated limits, church formation in new soil, ministry under restriction, and the handover so often deferred.
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 Global Missions 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: Global Missions - Doctoral Competency-Based Ministry Assessment
- Credential
- Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) in Global Missions
- 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
Plan frontier work with an accurate reading of the context
Apply explicit criteria to contextualisation decisions
Hand over to indigenous leadership on a stated timeline
Weigh risk to local believers as their decision rather than yours
Learning Outcomes
Skills and competencies you will develop
Synthesize doctoral-level theological evidence, research judgment, and ministry wisdom for faithful leadership
Produce a field strategy with contextualisation criteria made explicit
Design a leadership handover plan with timeline and readiness criteria
Build a risk and security framework that respects local agency
Complete a doctoral project evidencing indigenous church formation
Career Opportunities
Where this degree can take you
Field team leader
Mission agency director
Frontier strategy coordinator
Missiology instructor
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 carried across a language and a worldview, where what counts as evidence differs before what is believed does.
Doctoral Seminar: Old Testament Theology
The Old Testament read where ancestors, spirits and sacrifice are live categories rather than historical background.
Doctoral Seminar: New Testament Theology
The New Testament's first Gentile controversy, and what it settled about how much culture a convert must leave.
Doctoral Seminar: Christian Doctrine
Doctrine translated into a culture with different assumptions about guilt, honour, community and the dead.
Doctoral Seminar: Frontier Mission Strategy
Frontier mission strategy, covering peoples without an existing church, the data behind the categories, and the critiques of that framing.
Doctoral Seminar: Language and Culture Acquisition
Language and culture acquisition at depth, covering method, plateau, and the years the work actually requires.
Doctoral Seminar: Contextualization and Its Limits
Contextualisation and its limits, covering the models, the criteria for faithfulness, and the judgements that cannot be deferred.
Doctoral Seminar: Church Formation in New Soil
Church formation in new soil, covering the emergence of leadership, indigenous forms, and the pace at which outside input should reduce.
Specialization Subjects
Six more that take the field into the places it actually gets used.
Doctoral Seminar: Ministry Under Risk and Restriction
Ministry under risk and restriction, covering security, the ethics of risk to local believers, and the decisions that cannot be made from outside.
Doctoral Seminar: Indigenous Leadership Handover
Indigenous leadership handover, covering timing, criteria, the founder's difficulty in leaving, and the ways handover is postponed.
Doctoral Seminar: Field Member Care and Endurance
Field member care and endurance, covering isolation, family, crisis, re-entry, and the avoidable causes of attrition.
Doctoral Seminar: Doctoral Global Mission Project
The doctoral global mission project, covering design, fieldwork, evaluation, and the written argument.
Doctoral Seminar: Spiritual Formation and Christian Vocation
Endurance on the field, where isolation, language failure and slow results are the normal conditions rather than setbacks.
Doctoral Seminar: Integrative Theology and Ministry
A doctoral global mission project with fieldwork, contextualisation criteria, and a stated leadership handover.
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 Global Missions 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.