DMin Program Distinctives
The Doctor of Ministry program at Houston Theological Seminary is designed to be a formative experience for Christian leaders. What makes this program distinctive?
Study Hard with the Experts
At the doctoral level, you don’t want to just read about ideas, you want to engage them personally. Our program allows you to immerse in subjects with leading experts who actively publish in our fields. Unlike most DMin programs that focus on particular ministry skills or contexts, our two DMin tracks in New Testament Studies and Faith & Culture offer you the opportunity to gain doctoral-level specialization in essential subject areas. Study with faculty like Craig Evans and Ben Blackwell in NT or with Michael Ward and Philip Tallon in Faith & Culture. The DMin degree has a more applied focus than a PhD, but we reject the idea that ministers just need to be better practitioners. You won’t just learn ministry skills, but will gain foundational expertise so that you can address contemporary challenges with substance and depth. Most DMin programs are practice-based (pastoral ministry, missions, leadership, etc.), and this is most evident in the dissertation project you write, which follows exactly what you would do in a social-sciences doctorate: devise a change, apply a change, test the change, and then evaluate. We also want to address leadership formation and practice, but by opening up a wider range of approaches. With our two current tracks of New Testament and Faith & Culture, our goal is to help you become a subject matter expert and then design a project that fits your interests. Some will choose the traditional social-scientific model, but others will choose a more biblical/theological focus that engages contemporary issues. In that way, our program is as focused on content expertise as it is advanced level practice.
Grow through Community
As a leader, you regularly pour into others, but opportunities to have others pour into you are not as accessible. To meet that need, our program is built around spiritual formation through intentional community. We foster personal connection through our regular seminars. The one-week residentials each semester are devoted to seminar-based teaching, but also to worship, prayer, and spiritual direction. This is not to mention the time over meals with other leaders and faculty. In this way, we attend to holistic formation of the head, heart, and hands.
Be Inspired by Fresh Experiences
Vision is essential to effective leadership and organizational progress. So often though leaders are so engrossed in their local setting, it can be hard to gain a vision of wider opportunities and approaches. Our program is designed to facilitate encounters with leaders and organizations engaging culture with the truth of the Gospel. In that way you can increase your vision for how to engage the cultural, economic, and ethnic diversity that surrounds us. Besides encountering leaders and organizations, we’ll also have the opportunity to experience excellent venues: time at the residentials will be held at Lanier Theological Library, which provides a beautiful location to study and access to excellent theological resources for your study.
More Information
Explore more detailed information about the DMin program:
- DMin Summary Information
- DMin Program Distinctives
- DMin Costs and Scholarships
- DMin Program Structure and Semester at a Glance
- DMin Program Entry and Advancement
Feel free to contact Richard Olds, the administrator of the DMin program, directly so he can help shape a program that fits your interests, oldsrd@hbu.edu, or call the DMin office at 281-649-3383.