Uniqueness of the McCormick DMin
The McCormick DMin program addresses subjects relevant to ministry today — group dynamics, a changing religious landscape, cross-cultural competency, and organizational change – and provides opportunities for you to apply the course content to your local ministry. The McCormick DMin program is comprised of various cohorts addressing the specific needs and concerns of particular groups of students. For example, we currently have cohorts that focus on Korean immigrant churches (Korean American cohorts), Latinx ministries (Apostolic Assembly cohorts), professionals in ministries who have a pastoral care emphasis (Pastoral Care cohorts), and congregations that desire to take a more prophetic role in impacting positive change in their local neighborhoods and communities (the Prophetic Leadership cohorts). Students in each of these cohorts matriculate through a similar schedule of courses, with courses focusing on the particular contexts and concerns mentioned above. Additionally, there is a thesis project of the student’s choosing—benefiting the student’s ministry as well as the broader church. In addition, one’s place of ministry becomes a site for reflection and analysis, integrating academic inquiry with professional context. The thesis project is rooted in the student’s place of ministry, in partnership with the congregation or agency, and ordered toward the transformation of ministry in that specific setting. To do so, the program integrates theory and practice, values experiential knowledge, focuses on peer-based learning in cohorts, and provides theological education that addresses both the internal needs of congregations and the external needs of the broader communities in which the congregations or agencies are located.
Because students often come into the program with a stated concern for a particular area of ministry, McCormick offers a range of non-core courses that focus on the areas of parish revitalization, pastoral care, executive leadership, building beloved community, and public witness. Both core and non-core courses allow students to engage a critical challenge in their ministry through interdisciplinary research – sociological, organizational, psychological, political, economic, historical, theological, and biblical analyses.
Contact Information
For more information, please contact DMin Admissions dminadmissions@mccormick.edu
McCormick is accredited by the Association of Theological Schools of the United States and Canada.