ICAS-Accredited Degree Program
Doctor of Ministry in Expository Preaching
D.Min. credential
Deepen your preaching through a professional doctorate focused on opening Scripture faithfully and communicating its message with clarity.
Doctor of Ministry in Expository Preaching: 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 expository preaching is for experienced preachers deepening method and training others. This ICAS-accredited pathway is for preachers who have been doing it long enough to know where their own habits are. Kingdom of Life University covers homiletical theory at doctoral level, exegetical method sustained over decades, preaching across the whole canon, doctrinal formation through the pulpit, evaluation with real listener evidence, and mentoring other preachers.
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 Expository Preaching 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: Expository Preaching - Doctoral Competency-Based Ministry Assessment
- Credential
- Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) in Expository Preaching
- 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
Locate your own practice within the main homiletical traditions
Sustain exegetical depth across a long preaching ministry
Assess the cumulative formational effect of your preaching
Develop other preachers rather than only preaching yourself
Learning Outcomes
Skills and competencies you will develop
Synthesize doctoral-level theological evidence, research judgment, and ministry wisdom for faithful leadership
Analyse your preaching corpus for canonical and doctrinal coverage
Design and run an evaluation of a preaching ministry using listener evidence
Mentor a preacher through a developmental sequence with recorded feedback
Complete a doctoral project that changes a preaching practice and evidences the change
Career Opportunities
Where this degree can take you
Senior preaching pastor
Homiletics professor
Preaching mentor
Conference Bible teacher
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
Exegetical method examined at the level where a preacher's habitual shortcuts become visible and correctable.
Doctoral Seminar: Old Testament Theology
Preaching the Old Testament across its whole range, including the books a long ministry has quietly never touched.
Doctoral Seminar: New Testament Theology
Preaching the New Testament, where following an argument is most of the work and paraphrase is the usual failure.
Doctoral Seminar: Christian Doctrine
The doctrinal diet a congregation receives over ten years of your preaching, audited rather than assumed.
Doctoral Seminar: Homiletical Theory
Homiletical theory at doctoral level, covering the major twentieth- and twenty-first-century schools and the claims each makes about what a sermon does.
Doctoral Seminar: Exegetical Method for Preachers
Exegetical method for preachers, covering the depth a weekly discipline can sustain and the shortcuts that quietly become permanent.
Doctoral Seminar: Preaching Across the Canon
Preaching across the whole canon, covering the genres a long ministry must handle and the books preachers systematically avoid.
Doctoral Seminar: Theology in the Pulpit
Theology in the pulpit, covering doctrinal preaching, the cumulative theological formation a congregation receives, and its gaps.
Specialization Subjects
Six more that take the field into the places it actually gets used.
Doctoral Seminar: Preaching and Congregational Formation
How preaching forms a congregation over years, covering the evidence on what is retained and the relationship between pulpit and congregational culture.
Doctoral Seminar: Evaluating Preaching Ministries
Evaluating a preaching ministry, covering criteria, listener research, recorded review, and the assessment of your own long-term patterns.
Doctoral Seminar: Mentoring Other Preachers
Mentoring other preachers, covering feedback, developmental sequence, and the formation of preachers within a congregation.
Doctoral Seminar: Doctoral Preaching Project
The doctoral preaching project, covering design, intervention, evaluation, and the written argument that carries the findings.
Doctoral Seminar: Spiritual Formation and Christian Vocation
The preacher's own reading, prayer and staleness over decades, and the disciplines that keep a preaching life alive.
Doctoral Seminar: Integrative Theology and Ministry
A doctoral preaching project: an intervention in a preaching ministry, evaluated with listener evidence and written up.
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 Expository Preaching 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.