ICAS-Accredited Degree Program
Doctor of Soul Care in Freedom Recovery Ministry
D.S.C. credential
Explore how Christian hope, caring relationships, and accountable community can support people and families on the path of recovery.
Doctor of Soul Care in Freedom Recovery Ministry: 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
Doctoral study in Freedom Recovery Ministry is for those directing recovery ministries and training leaders. Churches are full of people in recovery and mostly do not know it. This ICAS-accredited Kingdom of Life University program covers what addiction actually is, the main recovery models compared on their evidence, group facilitation, family systems, the theology that makes relapse survivable, and the congregational habits that quietly exclude people trying to stay sober.
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 Soul Care in Freedom Recovery Ministry 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
- Freedom Recovery Ministry - Doctoral Competency-Based Ministry Assessment
- Credential
- Doctor of Soul Care (D.S.C.) in Freedom Recovery Ministry
- 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
Understand addiction well enough to avoid moralising or medicalising it
Facilitate a recovery group with structure and appropriate boundaries
Work with the family system rather than the individual alone
Respond to relapse in a way that makes return possible
Learning Outcomes
Skills and competencies you will develop
Synthesize doctoral-level theological evidence, research judgment, and ministry wisdom for faithful leadership
Compare recovery models and justify the one you adopt
Facilitate a group session and handle a difficult disclosure appropriately
Design a family support element alongside individual recovery work
Audit a congregation's practices for how they affect people in recovery
Career Opportunities
Where this degree can take you
Recovery ministry director
Pastoral care minister
Chaplain in treatment settings
Christian nonprofit leader
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
Reading Scripture with people whose shame makes certain texts unusable, and the discipline of not moralising a medical condition with a verse.
Doctoral Seminar: Old Testament Theology
The Old Testament on bondage and deliverance, and the psalms of people who cannot get themselves out of where they are.
Doctoral Seminar: New Testament Theology
The New Testament on grace, freedom and the body that carries its weaker members, read where the stakes are immediate.
Doctoral Seminar: Christian Doctrine
The doctrines that decide whether a church helps or harms: sin and sickness, responsibility and powerlessness, grace and perseverance.
Doctoral Seminar: Theology of Sin, Suffering, and Grace
Sin, suffering, and grace as they bear on compulsion, covering responsibility, powerlessness, and the theological errors that make recovery harder.
Doctoral Seminar: Understanding Addiction
What addiction is: the main explanatory models, tolerance and withdrawal, co-occurring conditions, and the evidence behind competing accounts.
Doctoral Seminar: Recovery Models and the Church
Twelve-step, medical, behavioural, and explicitly Christian recovery programmes compared, with their assumptions and their results made explicit.
Doctoral Seminar: Leading Recovery Groups
Facilitating a recovery group, covering structure, confidentiality, ground rules, difficult disclosures, and the leader's own limits.
Specialization Subjects
Six more that take the field into the places it actually gets used.
Doctoral Seminar: Family Systems and Addiction
Addiction as a household reality, including enabling, codependence, children's experience, and work with families rather than only with the person.
Doctoral Seminar: Relapse, Failure, and Perseverance
Relapse as expected rather than exceptional: response, shame, re-entry to the group, and the theology of perseverance that makes return possible.
Doctoral Seminar: Referral and Clinical Partnership
Knowing when clinical treatment is required, how to refer, and how to maintain a working relationship with medical and treatment services.
Doctoral Seminar: Building a Recovery-Friendly Church
Making a congregation genuinely hospitable to people in recovery, including language, alcohol at church events, leadership, and confidentiality culture.
Doctoral Seminar: Spiritual Formation and Christian Vocation
Formation for people whose spiritual life has to survive relapse, and for leaders who will watch it happen.
Doctoral Seminar: Integrative Theology and Ministry
A recovery ministry project with a stated model, group practice, family element and evaluated outcomes.
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 Soul Care
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 Freedom Recovery Ministry 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.