More than retooling is required if we are to be effective in ministry in our changing culture. These times in which we serve are having a dramatic impact on the way we think about and engage in ministry. Instead of implementing the latest trend, pastors are realizing that they need to look at ministry differently in order to engage in authentic, transformative ministry.
With this realization comes an understanding that pastors can no longer be mere professionals or technicians trying to fit "successful" models to their own ministry situations. Rather, they are discovering that they need to become better practicing theologians, wise reflective practitioners, more faithful discerners of what God is doing in their midst so that they can truly fulfill the calling that God has placed upon their lives.
For too long we have been led to think that ministry is primarily about knowing and doing the right gimmicks learned at one conference after another when, in reality, God has called our churches to be missional communities continuing the ministry of Christ in our own settings. The fact is that there is no church like your church and God desires to do something unique through the ministry of each local congregation. The challenge then is to discover what this unique thing is.
If the above represents how you are thinking about ministry, then Northern’s Doctor of Ministry program may be right for you. Northern’s D. Min. is designed to (1) help you discern God’s activity in your midst, (2) guide you in discovering an approach to ministry in which your congregation participates with God in God’s mission, and (3) enable you to develop a fresh approach to ministry within your context, an approach that is unique to you and your congregation.
Northern’s D. Min. in Ministry Leadership is a cohort-based program which brings you together with others in an interactive learning community where together you are helped to define a ministry issue that arises from within your context and challenged to explore that issue through four exploratory seminars focusing on ecclesiology, culture, leadership, and spirituality. The result of this intensive reflection is your developing a ministry action response to your ministry issue which you implement, evaluate, and present through a thesis.
Cohorts are continually being formed with start dates in January and July of every year. The five year program involves you in seven seminars and a thesis. Cohorts have a maximum enrollment of 15 participants, so we encourage you to contact us at your earliest convenience so that we can reserve a place for you. To enable your participation, Northern is one of the few Doctor of Ministry programs which offers financial aid through its Partners in Ministry Grant program. If you qualify, Northern will cover one-fourth of your tuition.
As you consider further education through Northern, I invite you to contact me directly by calling 630-620-2123 or emailing mthomas@seminary.edu. You may also contact my assistant, Nury DeAngel, at 630-620-2108 or ndeangel@seminary.edu. We look forward to working with you in getting started in a program of study which will change the way you engage in ministry in the 21st century.
Michael Thomas
Director of Doctor of Ministry Studies
