Doctor of Ministry Focus Groups
The educational process in the Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) degree program is a contextual model of ministry engaging self-initiative and collegial action/reflection.
Into this contextual process, specialized content and focus are woven. Completion of the D.Min. program reflects doctoral competence in both a process of doing ministry and in a specialized focus.
D.Min. Intensive: August 18-22, 2008
Focus Groups for August 2008
New Church Starts
Dr. Felix D. Burrows, Sr. and Dr. Robert Crossman
The New Church Starts focus group is presented in cooperation with the New Church Leadership Institute (NCLI) of the United Methodist Church.
The program is designed to identify and equip pastors with knowledge and skills for the successful planting of new churches using state of the art, cutting-edge methods and practices. In addition, participants will gain expertise, exposure and training in a variety of models for leading existing church through re-vitalization, relocation, transition or merger.
Whether you are called to start a new church, coach or mentors others in the process of planting new churches or consult with existing congregations to regain vitality, this program promises to prepare the participant to be a more effective servant leader for the 21st Century Church.
Collaborative Leadership in the 21st Century
Dr. Harold Hudson and Dr. Daryl Hairston
Collaborative leadership is defined as allowing people to utilize their potential to create community through teamwork. This group will be creative and innovative in meeting the needs of the congregation and community through synergistic means; a “Relational Collaborative model,” that will allow church leaders to work with other entities to achieve greater effectiveness and efficiency in creating community (w)holeness.
Congregational Development and Church Administration in an Urban Setting
Dr. Felix Burrows
The focus of this group is to equip and provide transformative tools for the empowerment, development and redevelopment of churches in urban settings. The students will concentrate on healthy and vital church growth while looking at a variety of administrative models and systems that bring measurable results in the urban context for ministry. Students will also concentrate on effective ways to build collaborative relationships with the ecumenical religious, social and political systems within the community using community organizing principles.
Developing Leadership for Effective Programming in the Post-Modern Generation
Dr. Walter Mack and Dr. Harry White
This program is designed to enhance the qualities of church leaders, and equip them with the tools to develop and implement ministry program that will be effective for their context of ministry. The emphasis for this study is to provide a method for students to take a realized concept or ministry idea, and actually implement a program that will be effective for ministry in the Post-Modern Generation.
Developing the Theory, Practices and Power of Spiritual Nurture Ministries through Prayer and Blessing
Dr. Jacqueline Nowak
This Doctor of Ministry group will engage in cooperative learning, experiencing the basic model of Blessing Based Spiritual Nurture and being challenged to explore its potential in a variety of ministry contexts. Blessing Based Spiritual Nurture (BBSN) is spiritual formation grounded in respect for children and all persons as inestimably valuable to God. BBSN focuses upon “going alongside” a person seeking to deepen connection with or become more united to God, as she or he grows in relationship with God and others; it is a way of reminding adults of all ages and life situations of the blessings that are theirs from a loving and gracious God.
In its sharing, the group will cultivate their own spirituality in Sabbath quality relationships and patterns; they will work collegially through extensive use of United’s online learning system. Under Dr. Nowak’s mentorship, with consultant Dr. Donald Rogers, Col. Robert Cowden Professor Emeritus of Christian Education at United, students will develop focused foundational statements from biblical, theological, liturgical, educational and experiential resources. In the research aspect of this work, cohort members will identify a particular application for spiritual nurture; refining technical aspects of the practices of and training for their ministry.
The Ministry of Supervision in 21st Century Leadership Formation
Dr. Marilyn Evans and Rev. Dr. Mark Shimer
This doctoral peer group will focus on the concept that supervision is ministry when set within the Divine Intention. Supervision has the potential to empower people in their journey of development as leaders. This particular approach to supervision utilizes a process for supervisory conversations which is holistic in nature and includes attention to persons and their stories. Reflection on theological dimensions as a way to integrate beliefs and actions for a more effective ministry is the heart of the supervisory conversations. Excellent supervision enhances self awareness, ministering competence, team relationships and a deepened faith commitment.
This doctoral peer group will concentrate on the principles and practice of supervision which can be used in twenty-first century churches and organizations where leaders will need to be formed and transformed for their work. Students will develop projects that will utilize supervision as a means for helping others develop faithful and significant leadership responses to critical needs in the church and other organizations. The peer group will covenant together for mutual learning, support, and spiritual growth.
Pastoral Care and/or Counseling
Dr. Jerome Stevenson
This unique Doctor of Ministry Program is designed to empower and inform clergy who want to focus their ministry on pastoral care and/or counseling. The student will meet in focus groups on the Dayton campus of United at least twice per year in a week long Intensive, and will meet in between these Intensives for four days of peer session with their mentor.
It will have two foci: The student will participate in the appropriate session for either pastoral or counseling certification. The overall objective of this program is to help the student to focus on a project conducive to his/her context of ministry.
Program Requirements
- Each student must have completed four quarters of CPE or be enrolled in an accredited program to be completed within the next 24 months.
- Each student must have completed the required coursework in an accredited program with a M.Div degree or equivalent in Pastoral Care and Counseling.
- All fees for these requirements will be paid by the student in addition to United tuition and fees. Federal student loans are available through our Financial Aid office.
Sexual and Domestic Violence: The Role of Churches and Faith Institutions
Dr. Sharon Ellis Davis and Dr. Colleen Birchett
The epidemic of sexual and domestic violence against women, children, and the elderly is causing devastation within our communities (especially African American communities). Sexual and domestic violence contributes to the disproportionate high rate of incarceration and HIV/AIDS in African American communities. It contributes to the dislocation of families and high rate of divorce. It causes physical, social, emotional, spiritual, and even economic devastation to its victims, their children, and families. Yet the church has been strangely silent about those who are suffering in silence. This program and course of study encourages pastoral and faith institutional leadership to engage the Bible, theology, ethics, and the human sciences to develop programs and methods that validates the experiences of victims, facilitates breaking this cycle of violence while holding abusers accountable, and contributes to the healing, wholeness, and wellness of victims, families and communities.
Spiritual Formation for Preachers, Leaders of Worship and the Arts
Dr. Richard Eslinger and Elise Eslinger
This group is designed to train Christian leaders as formation practitioners. Formation practitioners are defined as persons proficient in teaching the fundamentals of spiritual formation that increases a consonant relationship with God, self and others. Students will enhance their own spiritual development within the context of ministry with particular foci on worship, preaching and the arts. Spiritual disciplines and practices will also be offered that emphasize Wesleyan spirituality among others.
Groups full for August 2008
Preaching and Leadership
Dr. Ricky Woods and Dr. Terry Thomas
This special Doctor of Ministry program is designed to help pastors and clergy who want to focus on preaching to the present and next generation of people. The program is designed to help pastors explore present day issues for communicating the gospel in the new century by engaging colleagues, examining resources, and involving the laity. The overall objective of the program is to produce the next generation of highly effective preachers/leaders.
Groups beginning January 2009
Christian Education And Urban Ministry Development
Dr. Damon R. Jones
This Doctor of Ministry program will use Christian education as the foundation of all other ministries of the church.
Participants will use Christian education as the vehicle to equip and empower pastors and church leaders to become more effective in ministry, in the faith formation of its members and provide outreach ministries to the surrounding community.
Participants will be trained and exposed to the dynamics of teaching in various communities of faith and curriculum development.
Participants will research various elements of teaching, literature on teaching, foundations of Christian Education, teaching strategies, and analyzing various contexts in order to be more effective in teaching practices.
Congregational Transformation
Dr. Roland G. Kuhl
In this unique Doctor of Ministry focus both pastors and their congregations are engaged in a process of congregational transformation in light of a missional perspective.
Taking seriously “God’s mission needs a church,” pastors and congregations will be equipped to discern and participate more faithfully and fruitfully in God’s mission through an integrated curriculum. Together they will learn how to give attention:
- to their missional context,
- to the leading of the Spirit,
- to the gifts of one another, and
- to the processes of change in order to support the transformation for their church towards a missional posture.
This focus group represents a unique collaboration between United Theological Seminary and the Center for Parish Development in Chicago, IL. We invite you to participate in this imaginative collaboration which will transform you and your congregation.
Developmental Pneumatology: A Holistic Approach to Spiritual Formation for the 21st Century Church
Bishop Monroe Saunders, Jr. and Dr. Carolyn Showell
Developmental Pneumatology: the study of spiritual experience from its Old Testament pre-forms through the New Testament Pentecost Day phenomena unto 21st century application.
Among the most controversial experiences of the early formation of the Christian church was the out pouring of the Holy Spirit at the feast of Pentecost. This spiritual manifestation has been viewed as a time specific phenomena which bore no lasting intent of replication by some; and an enduring and essential practice of the church by others. However viewed, the object of this study is to examine the Pentecostal experience from a developmental perspective; one from which we shall derive a contemporary theology of the Pentecostal experience as relates to spiritual formation, personal transformation, ecclesiastical accountability, social and community responsibility.
Ministry, the Church and the Justice System
Dr. Harold Dean Trulear
The American criminal justice system affects the lives of countless millions of citizens from those who are incarcerated, to their families, to communities and victims. Prison ministry and prisoner reintegration programs require signal attention, especially as the number of persons incarcerated and returning from incarceration escalate in record numbers.
This Doctor of Ministry cohort will investigate and develop ministry strategies that incorporate the following issues:
- Philosophy of Criminal Justice
- Public Policy and Criminal Justice
- Prison and Jail Ministry
- Economics of Corrections Construction
- Prisoner Reentry and Reintegration
- Ministry with the Families of the Incarcerated
- Alternative Sentencing
- Restorative Justice and Reconciliation
- Juvenile Justice Initiatives and Prevention
- Understanding and Collaboration with the Justice System
This cohort will include classroom experiences, field work in prison and jail settings, and inquiry into and development of working models that intersect with individuals and families at various stages of involvement with the criminal justice system.