The Doctor of Ministry (DMin) Program at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary participates in the seminary’s mission by connecting faith leaders with each other, with scholars recognized in their fields, and with distinguished practitioners of Christian ministry. Through carrying out its mission, the program equips the Church with leaders who can observe, analyze, implement and improve a focused practice of ministry.
We welcome students from a variety of ministry settings and from multiple church traditions and provide a contextually grounded pedagogy that supports all students in applying what they learn in the classroom in the practice of their ministry in their respective ministry sites.
Spending a couple of weeks on campus in intensive classes worked well for me to be able to then return to my church and immediately apply the things I was learning. The people in the church I was serving noticed the increase in my energy, confidence, and skill every time I learned and applied new information.
Rev. Dr. Becca Girrell (G-ETS 2021)
I plan to continue the legacy of the Black prophetic preaching tradition I have inherited, encouraging God’s people to take seriously the divine invitation for us to embody discipleship beyond the walls of our buildings.
Rev. Dr. Jon Robinson (G-ETS 2021)
One of the benefits of a doctor in ministry program is the opportunity to step back from the regularity of ministry responsibility, connect with other talented and courageous church leaders, and learn from the perspectives and contexts of others.
Rev. Dr. Curtis Daniel Brown (G-ETS 2018)
The most transformative experience while studying at Garrett-Evangelical has been community coexistence during the in-person courses. Sharing with pastors from different cultures and with diverse ministerial realities in a multicultural setting was an experience that I will cherish forever.
Rev. Dr. Edwin Cotto-Pérez (G-ETS 2021)
To meet your specific vocational goals and needs, Garrett offers the following tracks for DMin students:
This track equips faith leaders to understand social movements and religious movements as partners, building skills for mobilizing faith communities in their response to systemic injustices in specific situations and contexts
Garrett partners with the Association of Chicago Theological Schools to offer the ACTS DMin in Preaching. The mission of this program is to offer preaching practitioners the opportunity to use their homiletical gifts to advance the work of ministry to which they have been called, and through academic study and praxis in their ministry setting, to hone their preaching skills and most importantly to advance the church’s mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ and make real the reign of Christ in the world.
This track is designed to provide today’s leaders with a variety of spiritual practice and an understanding of the history and theology of Christian spirituality and orientation to the diversity of the global landscape in which leaders serve.
This track engages Black Church leaders in exploring traditional and contemporary culture(s) of the Black Church as well as explore the pastoral and administrative leadership needed to foster a vital, vibrant, relevant and transformative congregation for the 21st century.
Rev. Dr. Gennifer Brooks is director of the doctor of ministry program and the Ernest and Bernice Styberg professor preaching. She is an ordained elder in The United Methodist Church. Her most recent publication is Bible Sisters: A Year of Devotions with the Women of the Bible (Abingdon, 2017). She is also the editor of Black United Methodists Preach! (Abingdon, 2012) and the author of Unexpected Grace: Preaching Good News from Difficult Texts (Pilgrim Press, 2012) and Good News Preaching: Offering the Gospel in Every Sermon (Pilgrim Press, 2011).
DMin faculty, course instructors and members of advisory teams (both lay and ordained) join students in a collegial atmosphere of teaching and learning in which each has a particular role to play in enriching the program. Such mutuality and responsibility mark the character of every aspect of the program: the classroom, writing and evaluating assignments, advisory sessions, conferences and research.
In addition to academic development for ministry, the program recognizes the value of and the need for spiritual formation that encourages a sense of accountability as preparatory to the student earning the title Doctor of Ministry. Such a person should be both equipped academically to deal with the practice of ministry, and personally and spiritually mature enough to be an exemplar of what a practitioner of ministry should look like.
Our DMin program values and encourages peer learning by admitting students into a cohort of persons who are studying within the same track, and who will work through the same courses as a united group. Both the academic curriculum and the financial structure of the program are built with the expectation that students will remain with their cohort throughout the degree program.
Each DMin track has a unique group of faculty members whose strengths and gifts fit the needs of that particular track to provide the best educational experience and leadership preparation for its students. All of our scholar practitioners join students in a collegial atmosphere of teaching and learning in which each has a particular role to play in enriching the program.
Classes for DMin students are offered in a hybrid model of on-campus intensive courses and online courses to give you high quality theological education in a flexible format. Pending your needs and the rotation of the courses, other course options may be available.
To assist DMin students in affording their education, all admitted students are guaranteed a scholarship, a rare find among DMin programs. Garrett is also excited to offer increased scholarship opportunities for admitted Black and Latinx students thanks to our partnership with the Lilly Endowment’s Economic Challenges grant.
A DMin student’s program culminates with a final project or thesis that involves the application of a theology of ministry and data from research to a particular aspect of professional ministry. The project facilitates the demonstration of professional excellence in the ability of the student to contribute to the practice of ministry through research, design, implementation, analysis and evaluation of results.
Summer 2022 | Apply by March 15, 2022
Summer 2022 | Apply by February 15, 2022
January 2023 | Apply by November 15, 2022
Summer 2023 | Apply by April 1, 2023
