2007-2008 Academic Catalog

Seminary Course Descriptions

Doctor of Ministry

Year 1 Courses

DMIN 511 Spirituality and the Personality
3 hours. A study of the relationships between personality, practices of spirituality, and spiritual formation. Using the resources of biblical and theological studies, the traditions of spiritual formation, and the insights of various tests of counseling and psychology, students will assess their own personality and spiritual journey. They will also consider how they may use specific understandings and practices to stimulate and sustain their own holistic spiritual development.

DMIN 512 Spiritual Formation in the Minister
2 hours. An exploration of the particular opportunities, challenges, and liabilities that the life of ministry brings to spiritual formation. This course examines the formational roots that animate the minister, as well as the experiences in ministry that threaten spiritual vitality and authenticity. Special attention is also given to the practical means in ministry to nurture spiritual development in oneself.

DMIN 513 Introduction to Research and Resources
1 hour. Introduces the tools for study and research in spiritual formation and leadership. This will include orienting students to the resources of both campuses (George Fox University's Murdock Learning Resource Center, Portland Center library, Internet presence and capacities, etc.), as well as how to use electronic communication and software tools effectively in research. Additional course fee required.

DMIN 514 History and Theology of Christian Spirituality
2 hours. Examines the biblical, theological, and historical foundations for understanding spiritual formation and for practices in spirituality, and explores how spiritual experience and theology influence one another. Includes reflections on spirituality in shaping ethics. Students will be challenged to look for specific ways in which to integrate the subject matter of this seminar into their own ministry settings.

DMIN 516 Contours of Leadership in Emerging Culture
3 hours. A cornerstone course in which students develop a learning plan that identifies their educational and ministry goals, the four conferences or seminars they will be attending throughout the duration of the program, a narrative rationale for the selection of the particular conferences or seminars thus identified, and the specific paper and practical project they intend to produce for the first module. They will attend the first of these conferences or seminars, write an essay, and complete a practical project that is in keeping with the stated goals of their learning plan. Additional course fee required.

DMIN 517 Engaging Leadership Concepts
2 hours. An interactive course that engages students in synchronous and asynchronous online interaction. The purpose of the course is to provide a forum in which students hone each other's thinking about one's role and philosophy of leadership in the emerging culture.

DMIN 521 Leadership in Biblical and Theological Perspective
3 hours. A biblical and theological analysis of the dynamics of leadership in the context of Christian community. This course considers how biblical and theological principles can interact with models found in the behavioral sciences and contemporary studies of organizations and leadership. Students will be challenged to explore their own leadership styles and gifts, as well as how these may be applied to their leadership in local congregations and Christian organizations.

DMIN 522 The Person and Work of the Leader
2 hours. An exploration of what goes into shaping and empowering leaders of congregations and parachurch organizations for effective collaboration in pursuing their goals and vision. In this course, students will study positive models in such areas as personal style, spiritual giftedness, conflict management, and decision-making processes. Students will be required to apply what they learn to their particular ministry settings.

DMIN 523 Research Topic/Literature Review
1 hour. The process of developing a topic proposal for the dissertation and for completing a foundational review of literature in support of the topic. Additional course fee required.

DMIN 524 Dynamics of Leadership and Congregations
2 hours. The study and practice of recognizing and interpreting the character and dynamics of congregations or parachurch organizations using a systems perspective. Introduces a variety of practical approaches for observation and discernment of the systems' culture, politics, development, emotional health, and structure, so that ministers may more accurately locate and understand the communities they serve.

DMIN 526 Vision and Voice in Postmodern Culture
3 hours. A course aimed at helping the student clarify his or her strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges as well as the particularities of one's gift mix, personality type, and ministry context. Students will develop and implement a preliminary action plan that accounts for one's weaknesses and challenges and that maximizes one's strengths, opportunities, spiritual gifts, and personality type in one's ministry context. Students will attend a conference or seminar, write an essay, and complete a practical project that is in keeping with the stated goals of their learning plan.

DMIN 527 Developing Leadership Strategies
3 hours. An interactive course that engages students in synchronous and asynchronous online interaction. The purpose of this course is to refine one's thinking about the role of vision and voice in effective leadership and to help students clarify an action plan that embodies specific strategies for one's ministry context.

DMIN 528 Spirituality and Leadership
3 hours. A course on personal spiritual formation. Students are challenged by the reading and writing assignments, as well as the retreat ("advance") experience, to reflect on who they are as persons in relationship with Jesus Christ and how one's identification with the person of Christ impacts one's self-perception as a leader. Students will reflect on what it means to be a leader after the manner of Jesus Christ with a view toward establishing a "Christ-centeredness" to one's understanding of vision and voice in leadership. Additional course fee required.

Year 2 Courses

DMIN 531 Leading the Church in a Postmodern World
3 hours. An analysis of the postmodern, multicultural context and its impact on Christian identity and ministry. This course examines postmodernism and its usefulness in understanding the roles of leadership in the church. Students will consider the historical precedents of the church's response to major cultural shifts, as well as the practical roles of ecclesiology and theology in the formation of leadership styles and models.

DMIN 532 Developing a Healthy Church
2 hours. This course presents the dynamics involved in a congregation's spiritual and emotional health. It explores what it means for the church to be healthy and analyzes specific strategies by which to actualize a congregation's optimal health and growth. Particular attention will be given to the essential qualities of healthy churches and how these qualities can be instantiated in one's own ministry setting.

DMIN 533 Designing a Research Model
1 hour. The process of developing a design proposal for the dissertation. Additional course fee required.

DMIN 534 Strategic Visioning in the Church
2 hours. An overview of leadership dynamics and visioning strategies in the context of the local church. The purpose of the course is to develop professional competence through increased understanding of leadership principles and strategic-planning theory. Particular attention will be given to coordinating information about the church, the church's vision, and the leader's style in order to develop and implement a specific plan of action for change and growth in the community.

DMIN 536 Leadership in Cross-Cultural Perspective
3 hours. A course that is designed to engage students in a cross-cultural experience and help them delineate how, specifically, such experiences enhance one's understanding of leadership in a postmodern context. Students will attend a conference or seminar in a cross-cultural context and write a paper and engage in a practical project that reflects specific ways in which this experience has enhanced their understanding of leadership in their own ministry context.

DMIN 537 Thinking Globally and Leading Locally
2 hours. An interactive course that engages students in synchronous and asynchronous online interaction. An interactive course in which students explore how, specifically, their cross-cultural experiences will impact their practice of leadership in their particular ministry context. Students will also be challenged to consider how they might modify their action plan developed in Module Two to incorporate these new insights.

DMIN 541 Historical Models for Spiritual Formation in the Church
3 hours. This course will explore the various ways that movements and traditions within Christianity have given shape to the process of spiritual growth. Examines in historical context the variety of models the church has used to deepen people's faith in God and to live out that faith in action. It will include monastic, mystical, Eastern Orthodox, Reformed, Anabaptist, Pietist, and Wesleyan models and will examine how these models have been adapted in contemporary developmental models of spiritual formation.

DMIN 542 Spiritual Formation and Discipleship in the Church
2 hours. This course will examine how Christians mature in faith, develop as disciples, and live out the values of the kingdom of God. Careful attention will be given to the research on faith development, discipleship, and the church as community. Students will be challenged to reflect on, dialogue with, and develop action plans for the spiritual formation and discipling of all members of the congregation.

DMIN 543 Writing the Dissertation
1 hour. The process of research and writing in preparing the dissertation.

DMIN 544 The Practice of Spiritual Leadership
2 hours. Designed as a capstone course, this seminar will encourage doctoral students to use what they have learned about themselves, both in terms of their relationship with God and their leadership skills, to develop a plan for their continued spiritual growth and the exercise of their leadership in the church. The course will address two key questions: What are the creative, growing edges of your life, the places where you sense and see the Holy Spirit at work? And how do you see these being implemented in your ministry with others?

DMIN 546 Theology and Practice of Leadership in the Emerging Culture
3 hours. A course that facilitates the process of synthesizing a coherent theology of leadership in the emerging culture that will serve to inform one's practice of leadership and guide one's thinking through the final stages of the dissertation project. Students will be challenged to reflect on the insights gained through their experiences in the program and to articulate how these experiences serve to inform their theology of leadership. Students will attend a conference or seminar, write an essay, and complete a practical project that is in keeping with the stated goals of their learning plan.

DMIN 547 Distilling a Dream for Leadership in the Emerging Culture
3 hours. An interactive course that engages students in synchronous and asynchronous online interaction. This course functions to distill a vision or "dream" for leadership that arises out of the student's theology of leadership and that guides his or her thinking in the final formulation and writing of the dissertation project.

DMIN 548 Spiritual Leadership in Christian Community
3 hours. A course on community spiritual formation. Students are challenged to reflect on the essential intermingling of leadership and spiritual formation in corporate Christian contexts and to consider that the primary objective of "spiritual leadership" is community spiritual formation. Students seek to articulate the specific ways community spiritual formation will be actualized in their particular ministry contexts. Additional course fee required.

Year 3 Courses

DMIN 550 Dissertation
4 hours. Completion of the dissertation.

DMIN 555 Dissertation Continuation
1 hour. To maintain enrollment until dissertation is complete.

Graduate

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