ICAS-Accredited Degree Program
Doctor of Ministry in Organizational Leadership
D.Min. credential
Lead the staff, structure, and strategy of a ministry organization, through a professional doctorate in organizational leadership.
Doctor of Ministry in Organizational 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 organizational leadership is for executives aligning structure with mission at scale. Structure decides what an organisation can actually do, and mission statements do not. This ICAS-accredited Kingdom of Life University pathway covers organisational theory assessed theologically, strategy and the drift that budget and staffing quietly produce, staff culture, the governance boundary, change at scale, institutional stewardship, and measurement that does not replace the mission it was meant to serve.
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 Organizational 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: Organizational Leadership - Doctoral Competency-Based Ministry Assessment
- Credential
- Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) in Organizational 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
Align structure, staffing, and budget with a stated mission
Operate correctly on the executive side of the governance boundary
Lead change across a large or dispersed organisation
Measure effectiveness without letting the measure replace the mission
Learning Outcomes
Skills and competencies you will develop
Synthesize doctoral-level theological evidence, research judgment, and ministry wisdom for faithful leadership
Produce a strategy document that states what the organisation will stop doing
Diagnose and address a staff culture problem with evidence
Design a governance information framework for a board
Complete a doctoral project evidencing durable organisational change
Career Opportunities
Where this degree can take you
Executive pastor
Ministry chief executive
Denominational executive
Nonprofit ministry 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
Exegesis in an organisation, where the question is usually what warrants a decision rather than what a text means in isolation.
Doctoral Seminar: Old Testament Theology
The Old Testament's institutions and their decay, read as evidence about what structures do to the people inside them.
Doctoral Seminar: New Testament Theology
The New Testament on order, appointment and accountability in the earliest congregations.
Doctoral Seminar: Christian Doctrine
The doctrine of institutions: why they are legitimate, how they drift, and what a theological purpose demands of a structure.
Doctoral Seminar: Organizational Theory for Ministry
Organisational theory applied to ministry, covering the main schools and the theological assessment of what each assumes about human beings.
Doctoral Seminar: Strategy and Mission Alignment
Strategy and mission alignment, covering the drift that occurs when structure, budget, and staffing quietly determine what is actually done.
Doctoral Seminar: Staff Culture and Team Health
Staff culture and team health, covering psychological safety, conflict norms, evidence on team performance, and the specific dynamics of ministry employment.
Doctoral Seminar: Governance and Board Relations
Governance and board relations, covering the executive-board boundary, information flow, and the failures that follow when it is blurred.
Specialization Subjects
Six more that take the field into the places it actually gets used.
Doctoral Seminar: Change Management at Scale
Change management at scale, covering sequencing, communication, resistance, and institutionalisation across a large or dispersed organisation.
Doctoral Seminar: Stewardship of Institutional Resources
Stewardship of institutional resources, covering reserves, property, endowment, and the obligations owed to future rather than present members.
Doctoral Seminar: Measuring Organizational Effectiveness
Measuring organisational effectiveness, covering indicator selection, the distortions measurement produces, and what resists measurement entirely.
Doctoral Seminar: Doctoral Organizational Project
The doctoral organisational project, covering design, intervention in a real organisation, evaluation, and the written argument.
Doctoral Seminar: Spiritual Formation and Christian Vocation
Formation for someone whose week is board papers, and the drift from ministry that nobody notices happening.
Doctoral Seminar: Integrative Theology and Ministry
A doctoral organisational project: a structural intervention, implemented and evaluated for durable effect.
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 Organizational 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.