ICAS-Accredited Degree Program
Doctor of Ministry in Missional Leadership
D.Min. credential
Lead a church that treats its own neighborhood as its mission field, through a professional doctorate in missional leadership.
Doctor of Ministry in Missional Leadership: 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 missional leadership is for pastors turning congregations outward where they already stand. A congregation turns outward through its calendar and budget or it does not turn outward at all. This ICAS-accredited Kingdom of Life University pathway covers missional ecclesiology and its critics, exegeting a local community with method, reshaping congregational culture, witness where Christian assumptions are no longer shared, mobilising ordinary members, civic partnership, and evaluating whether anything actually changed.
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 Missional Leadership 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: Missional Leadership - Doctoral Competency-Based Ministry Assessment
- Credential
- Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) in Missional Leadership
- 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
Turn a congregation outward through structure rather than exhortation
Read a local community with methodological rigour
Mobilise ordinary members rather than relying on staff
Evaluate missional change honestly
Learning Outcomes
Skills and competencies you will develop
Synthesize doctoral-level theological evidence, research judgment, and ministry wisdom for faithful leadership
Produce a community analysis and a structural response to it
Redesign a congregation's calendar and budget around outward witness
Build a partnership with a local civic institution on agreed terms
Complete a doctoral project evidencing measurable missional change
Career Opportunities
Where this degree can take you
Lead pastor
Missional network leader
Denominational mission officer
Missional church consultant
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 that forms a congregation's sense of being sent, done with the whole congregation rather than for it.
Doctoral Seminar: Old Testament Theology
The Old Testament on a people set among the nations for their sake, which is the theological root of the missional claim.
Doctoral Seminar: New Testament Theology
The New Testament's sent church, its structures and its decisions under the pressure of unplanned expansion.
Doctoral Seminar: Christian Doctrine
The ecclesiology at issue, since most disputes about missional change are ecclesiological underneath.
Doctoral Seminar: Missional Ecclesiology
Missional ecclesiology, covering the theological claim that the church is sent, and the criticism that the term has become a slogan.
Doctoral Seminar: Exegeting a Local Community
Exegeting a local community, covering demographic and ethnographic method and the listening that must precede any plan.
Doctoral Seminar: Reshaping Congregational Culture
Reshaping congregational culture, covering calendar, budget, and structure as the things that actually determine outward orientation.
Doctoral Seminar: Witness in a Post-Christian Setting
Witness in a post-Christian setting, covering plausibility, the loss of shared assumptions, and communication with people who are not asking.
Specialization Subjects
Six more that take the field into the places it actually gets used.
Doctoral Seminar: Mobilizing Ordinary Members
Mobilising ordinary members, covering the gap between stated commitment and actual participation, and the practices that close it.
Doctoral Seminar: Partnership With Local Institutions
Partnership with local institutions, covering schools, councils, and charities, and the terms on which a congregation can work with them.
Doctoral Seminar: Evaluating Missional Fruit
Evaluating missional fruit, covering indicators, attribution, and the honest assessment of whether anything has changed.
Doctoral Seminar: Doctoral Missional Leadership Project
The doctoral missional leadership project, covering design, intervention, evaluation, and the written argument.
Doctoral Seminar: Spiritual Formation and Christian Vocation
The leader's formation, and the specific hazard of directing outward-facing ministry while ceasing to practise it.
Doctoral Seminar: Integrative Theology and Ministry
A doctoral missional project reshaping a congregation's structure, evaluated with indicators that could show failure.
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 Missional Leadership 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.