Purpose

As part of its overall mission to educate persons for service in the Christian Church, Erskine Seminary offers the Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) degree. The purpose of the D.Min. degree is for qualified persons to increase their effectiveness as servant-leaders in the ministry of the Church, to the glory of God. The D.Min. degree focuses upon professional leadership in the Church and is intended for persons preparing for advanced pastoral leadership in local congregations or specialized ministries within the Church.

Goals

• Graduates will understand the Bible’s message in light of its own literary, historical, and theological
  settings.

• Graduates will be prepared to articulate the relation between the Bible and the contemporary contexts in which ministry takes place.

• Graduates will be prepared to utilize the Church’s historical and theological heritage as an important
  resource in their personal spiritual development and ministry.

• Graduates will write and speak using theological language that is clear, well-considered, disciplined, and meaningful for those to whom they minister.

• Graduates will engage in contemporary theological discussion.

• Graduates will develop a clear, focused agenda in ministry, taking into account a working theology of the Church, the realities of the contemporary world, and a coherent model of ministry.

• Graduates will explore the contextual dimensions which affect Christian ministry today, notably the data of contemporary life at the points of culture, congregational and community demographics, ethical issues, and major events of the day.

• Graduates will be prepared to serve the Church with Christian character and integrity in their personal and professional lives.

• Graduates will be prepared to view their ministries in light of the Church’s mission to worship, follow, bear witness to, and serve Jesus Christ.

• Graduates will integrate Biblical and theological norms, ministerial functions, and contextual dimensions of ministry into a meaningful, workable, effective whole.

• Graduates will be prepared to communicate the Bible’s message, so as to make clear that its meaning is relevant for today.

• Graduates will increase in competence in the various functions of ministry, such as preaching the Gospel, leading worship, teaching, pastoral care and counseling, evangelizing, disciplining, and carrying out the mission of the Church.

• Graduates will have identified, designed, prepared for, conducted, and evaluated an act of ministry that can become a paradigm through which to approach other acts of ministry and view ministry as a whole.

• Graduates will be prepared to foster a sense of community among those they serve in Christian ministry

Residency and Graduation Requirements

A student must complete 36 semester hours of work to qualify for the D.Min. degree. The program is designed to be completed in three years (four years maximum) with a normal course load of six (6) semester hours of study per semester. Students may take up to twelve (12) hours of their D.Min. program on a cross-registration basis at sister schools of the Atlanta Theological Association and the Charlotte-area Theological Schools, with which Erskine has cooperative agreements. In any case, to earn the Erskine Doctor of Ministry degree, students must take at least eighteen (18) hours at Erskine, including the two foundations courses, two electives, and the project/dissertation.

Relation to Other Degrees

In contrast to a professional or terminal degree, such as the Ph.D., the D.Min. degree is a practical degree that builds upon the basic foundation of at least three (3) years of post-M.Div. degree experience and is intended as a means of increasing one’s effectiveness in ministry. An M.Div. degree or its equivalent from an accredited seminary or graduate school is a prerequisite for admission into the Doctor of Ministry program.

Persons who may not wish to pursue a Doctor of Ministry degree but who desire to have the experience of advanced study at a doctoral level, may apply for admission into the Advanced Certificate in Applied Theology (ACAT) program. The admission requirements of the ACAT program are essentially the same as those of the D.Min. degree program. To qualify for the advanced certificate, the student must complete thirty (30) semester hours of D.Min. level course work with a cumulative grade point average (Cum. GPA) of at least a “B” or better. The certificate program does not include the project/dissertation requirement. At any time during the ACAT program, the student may request admission into the D.Min. program without loss of earned academic credit for doctoral level work completed with a grade of “C” (2.0 on a scale of 4.0) or better, and a cumulative grade point average (Cum. GPA) of at least a “B” (3.0) or better. All requests for admission into the D.Min. program from the ACAT program must be considered by the D.Min. Committee.

Curriculum

The D.Min. curriculum seeks to develop further the leadership competencies required for Christian ministry in contemporary society. A three-dimensional perspective guides the overall design of the program. The norms dimension addresses the Biblical and theological foundations of gospel, Church, and ministry; the functions dimension emphasizes the professional skills used in the practice of ministry, such as preaching, pastoral care, administration, teaching, and the like; and, the contexts dimension encompasses the environment and realities of the modern world in which ministry must take place. The program seeks to integrate the dimensions of norms, functions, and contexts into a working whole for each minister. All D.Min. courses embody these three dimensions in varying mixtures. The candidate’s own work-setting serves as a primary learning resource for the Erskine program. Much of the course work involves in-service projects of direct benefit to the candidate’s ministry. In addition, regular classroom time provides occasions for disciplined study, critical reflection, and evaluation concerning ministry issues.

The program also emphasizes learning from group interaction among peers. The faculty cultivates interaction among candidates, thus promoting openness, caring, and cross-fertilization of ideas. Erskine’s classes typically contain people from many denominations, ethnic and cultural backgrounds, locations, and points of view, which make the sharing among peers a desired and recognized feature of the D.Min. program.

The focus of the Erskine D.Min. program is ministry in general, but the school conducts the program with such flexibility that it easily can be tailored toward more specialized interests. In the course of meeting the elective distribution requirements, a student may select among various elective courses offered at Erskine, take courses offered at other accredited schools, design one’s own courses on an independent study basis, take an elective course as a directed study, and/or focus the project/dissertation in a particular area. Additionally, students may take electives that concentrate in the area of worship through courses offered by the Institute in Reformed Worship at Erskine Seminary.

The D.Min. program has also been adapted to meet the particular needs and demands of the military chaplaincy. Erskine offers a variety of courses on post at Fort Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina. The faculty is flexible and willing to work with chaplains whose duty stations may change quickly or place them at some distance from the Erskine campus. Some distance learning courses are available through EDEN, the Erskine Distance Education Network.

The basic requirements of the D.Min. degree are as follows:

*Students concentrating in worship must have 12 hours in designated Worship Institute courses. The required norms, functions, and contexts elective courses may come from the Worship Institute course offerings as well. All other requirements remain the same.

Students may enter the D.Min. program in any semester (fall, spring, or summer). They are expected, however, to take one foundations course each semester until both foundations courses (SD 01 Models of Ministry and SD 02 Acts of Ministry) are completed. The preferred—but not required—sequence starts with the Models of Ministry course, followed by the Acts of Ministry course. Entering students will need to pay attention to when and where the foundations courses are offered in a given year.

Elective courses are offered under the umbrella headings of norms (SD 20-49), functions (SD 50-69), and contexts (SD 70-89). Every student is required to take at least one elective from each of these areas. The remaining four electives may come from any of the three areas. D.Min. elective courses may also be taken for credit on a cross-registration basis from any of the ATA or Charlotte-area schools that offer them (see below, “Cooperative Agreements”). Apart from these schools, with prior approval from the Director of the Doctor of Ministry Program, limited transfer credit will be considered for elective courses taken in other, doctoral level, accredited programs. Candidates may also take an Erskine elective as an independent or directed study. When considering any of these options, candidates should consult with the Director of the Doctor of Ministry Program. Requests for an independent or directed study must be submitted in writing to the Director of the Doctor of Ministry Program. Forms are available from the Registrar. The D.Min. Director presents the request to the D.Min. Committee for approval, and the committee then forwards approved requests to the Dean who assigns the supervising professor. This procedure is to be followed prior to student contact with a professor about the possible course of study; the student is not to negotiate a course of study with a professor until the request has been approved by the D.Min. Committee, and a professor assigned by the Dean.

The student must register for candidacy in the semester following the completion of the second foundations course. To attain candidacy status and move forward in the program, a student must have a cumulative grade point average (Cum. GPA) of at least 3.0 (“B”) and must have a D.Min. prospectus that has been approved by both the project/dissertation advisor and reviewer. The student has until the end of the fourth semester to attain candidacy. A student may not continue in the Erskine D.Min. program beyond the fourth semester without attaining candidacy status. The student must write the prospectus describing the project in conformity with the requirements set forth in the Erskine Theological Seminary Doctor of Ministry Manual. Students are required to attend the Prospectus Design Seminar prior to writing the prospectus. Likewise, students are required to attend the Dissertation Writing Seminar prior to writing the dissertation. These two seminars are offered twice a year as scheduled by the D.Min. Director.