DMin in Transformational Leadership

Purpose/Objective

The church in Asia is growing and maturing, and so must her leaders. Leaders who received formal ministry training in the past are leading a growing and developing movement for Christ today. The needs and issues of their social, culture and religious context, and the skills required to address these concerns are changing. These leaders need fresh input, wise mentors, and personalized guidance to reflect on what they have learned from years of experience in order to maximize their gifts/abilities for God’s kingdom. They also need to select, train, develop, and mentor emerging leaders to facilitate movements in their context in order to reach more people for Christ.

The purpose of this program is thus three-fold:

First, we seek to further develop the capacity of established ministry leaders for godly influence and ministry impact, helping them to focus their ministries so they will finish well. The program is designed to rekindle participants’ spiritual passion, strengthen their biblical/theological foundations, upgrade their leadership skills, expand their networking/resourcing capacity, and clarify their ministry focus.
Second, we want to promote a Christ-centered worldview to better address contextual issues of the majority people’s culture and religion around them, and thus respond to their questions and issues.
Third, we desire to equip established leaders in intentionally training the next generation of emerging Asian Christian leaders and thus contribute to the fulfillment of the Great Commission.

Target Group

This program is designed for Asian ministry leaders who have completed their foundational ministry training, grown in ministry skills through experience and self-study, and are now in or are moving into ground breaking leadership roles. These leadership roles build on the abilities and wisdom needed for multiplicational ministry, but also require a different leadership perspective and skill set. This program focuses on those needs.

Core Values

The core values of IGSL undergird the Doctor of Ministry program. The program is designed to rekindle the participants’ spiritual passion, upgrade their leadership, sharpen their networking and interpersonal skills, and clarify their ministry focus while strengthening their biblical and theological foundations.

The Doctor of Ministry in Transformational Leadership program consists of 30 semester credits and unfolds in phases:

Participants will concentrate on courses and participate in mentored learning experiences chosen to meet their own long-term goals and objectives as leaders. This includes a thorough personal audit to reflect on their gifting, leadership styles, spiritual life, ministry experience, and calling. From this they engage in a process of life and ministry direction setting, establishing personal life goals in spiritual development, leadership ability, and future ministry.

Papers and Assignments Every paper and/or assignment given to encourage deepened development of “Head, Heart, and Hands” of ministry and the development of a personal philosophy of ministry related to their context.
Continuous Feedback Through various social media avenues, the needs and interests of the student as well as problems and issues shall be identified. This is the “Iron-Sharpening” process.
Dissertation/ Project Proposal Students will develop a research project that reflects their ministry context and the issues they need to address for gospel impact.
Comprehensive Exam Challenges students on understanding developed and relevancy to their context.
Dissertation/Project Represents scholarly inquiry and original contribution that creates missional impact.

(exceptions will be weighed carefully)

The Doctor of Ministry in Transformational Leadership program is aimed at leaders of church and parachurch organizations who:

Have completed a M.Div. or equivalent degree with a GPA of at least “B+” and have an adequate graduate-level academic background in biblical, theological, and ministerial studies to pursue doctoral work.
Have been in active Christian leadership for at least 5 years after completing their master’s degree.
Are in leadership of church planting work, a multi-staff church (or cluster of churches), a parachurch ministry, a regional/national ministry, or a denominational ministry.
Meet other appropriate character, ministry, and academic standards, including English proficiency.

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