ICAS-Accredited Degree Program
Doctor of Missiology in World Christianity
D.Miss. credential
Discover the stories and voices of Christians around the world, and see your own faith as part of a much wider church.
Doctor of Missiology in World Christianity: 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 World Christianity is for those researching global Christian movements and their theologies. Most Christians are now African, Asian or Latin American, and most theological curricula have not noticed. This ICAS-accredited program treats that shift as the central fact: the churches that grew, the theologies they produced, the migrations that carried them, and what partnership means between churches of very unequal wealth. Kingdom of Life University teaches it from the sources.
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 Missiology in World Christianity 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
- World Christianity - Doctoral Competency-Based Ministry Assessment
- Credential
- Doctor of Missiology (D.Miss.) in World Christianity
- 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
Describe the present shape of global Christianity with demographic accuracy
Read a contextual theology as theology rather than as a regional curiosity
Assess whether a contextualisation is faithful, syncretistic, or merely unfamiliar
Evaluate a cross-cultural partnership for dependency and genuine mutuality
Learning Outcomes
Skills and competencies you will develop
Synthesize doctoral-level theological evidence, research judgment, and ministry wisdom for faithful leadership
Analyse the growth of Christianity in a specific region and its causes
Engage a non-Western theological text on its own terms
Apply criteria for faithful contextualisation to a concrete case
Critique a partnership model against the power realities it operates within
Career Opportunities
Where this degree can take you
Missions leader
Global church partnership director
World Christianity researcher
Intercultural ministry trainer
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 from somewhere — how location shapes what a reader notices, demonstrated on passages that Western and non-Western readers consistently hear differently.
Doctoral Seminar: Old Testament Theology
The Old Testament in churches that know famine, exile, ancestral religion and colonial occupation from experience rather than from commentary.
Doctoral Seminar: New Testament Theology
The New Testament's own cross-cultural crisis in Acts and Galatians, and what the first Gentile controversy established about contextualisation.
Doctoral Seminar: Christian Doctrine
Doctrine as a global conversation, including the Christological and pneumatological emphases that have emerged outside the Western tradition.
Doctoral Seminar: Christianity in Africa
African Christianity from the Coptic and Ethiopian churches through missionary expansion to the African Independent Churches and today's numerically dominant congregations.
Doctoral Seminar: Christianity in Asia
Asian Christianity across very different conditions: India, China, Korea, Indonesia, and the Middle East, with attention to minority status and state relations.
Doctoral Seminar: Latin American Christianity
Latin American Christianity from colonial Catholicism through liberation theology to Pentecostal growth, and the social changes each accompanied.
Doctoral Seminar: Global Pentecostal Movements
Pentecostal and charismatic movements worldwide, their origins, their variety, and the debates about prosperity teaching, healing, and indigenous leadership.
Specialization Subjects
Six more that take the field into the places it actually gets used.
Doctoral Seminar: Migration and Diaspora Churches
Migration as a driver of Christian change: diaspora congregations, reverse mission, transnational networks, and the churches formed in displacement.
Doctoral Seminar: Contextual Theologies
How theology is done from particular locations, covering the major contextual theologies and the criteria by which contextualisation is judged faithful.
Doctoral Seminar: Persecution and the Suffering Church
Churches under pressure: restriction, discrimination, and violence, the theologies of martyrdom that arise, and the ethics of advocacy from a position of safety.
Doctoral Seminar: Partnership in Global Mission
Partnership between churches of unequal wealth and power, including funding, dependency, short-term teams, and what genuine mutuality would require.
Doctoral Seminar: Spiritual Formation and Christian Vocation
Formation in a global church, including the discomfort of discovering that your own spirituality is culturally particular rather than simply Christian.
Doctoral Seminar: Integrative Theology and Ministry
A regional or movement study researched from its own sources and written up as a contribution to the field.
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 Missiology
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 World Christianity 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.