George Fox Evangelical Seminary

Objectives

The Leadership and Spiritual Formation DMin degree is designed to engage ministry professionals in the integration of their experience with new knowledge, research and reflection.

The primary goals of the degree are to:

• Nurture advanced biblical and theological reflection rooted in the tradition of the faith community
• Deepen spiritual and moral authenticity with God, self and others
• Enhance competencies for wise servant leadership
• Equip Christian leaders for sustainable, healthy ministry in the church

Program Phases

Participation in the Leadership and Spiritual Formation DMin program can be broken into three phases:

• Application and enrollment
• Completion of the coursework
• Production of the dissertation

Online Interaction and Community

The online component is central to the curricular structure of the program. Community is established during the face-to-face experiences and enhanced through consistent online interaction. Learning takes place in the context of student-to-student exchange.

Retreats

Students meet face to face for four sessions of 10 days each. This contact time is intended to allow sufficient space for spiritually formative experiences, not just academics. Students participate in each of the four clases for each module.

A spritual director, David Nixon, leads students in a number of cohort prayer, worship and connection experiences. Additionally, he meets with with student individually for private spirtual direction.

Each of the retreats are hosted at the Cannon Beach Christian Conference Center. Founded in 1945, the center is one of the premier Christian retreat and conference centers on the West Coast.

With a full-time staff of more than 50 dedicated men and women, the center is committed to providing a friendly, comfortable atmosphere where God's people can find refreshment and renewal.

• Cannon Beach Christian Conference Center
• Find out more about Cannon Beach, Ore.

Two meals per day are provided for students while at Cannon Beach with incidentals excepted. Lodging is provided for students at the Ecola Creek Lodge, which is located about a half mile north of the main conference center. Wireless Internet connectivity will be available. Students, however, are responsible for all air-travel and local transport (car rental, taxi, etc) for each of the retreats.

All advances are 10 days and nine nights in length, beginning mid-day Monday and coming to a conclusion by Thursday at 10 a.m.

• Sample schedule
• Dates for face to face at Cannon Beach
• The LSF Retreat in pictures

Course Work Overview

During the first two years of the program, students participate in two sets of courses:

• General Courses: DMIN 511, 512, 514, 521, 522, 524, 531, 532, 534, 541, 542, 544
• Research Courses: DMIN 513, 523, 533, 543

Learn more: Explore the course catalog for descriptions of specific courses

The table below outlines the course sequence for the Leadership and Spiritual Formation DMin program. Note that Modules 1-2 and Modules 3-4 are "floating." That is, cohorts will begin with either Modules 1-2 or Modules 3-4, depending on the year, and participate with either the previous cohort (in the first year) or following cohort (in the second year), with the exception of the research courses (DMIN513-43), which follow a sequence that builds on the previous courses.

Research Courses

The research courses prepare students for the task of researching and producing their dissertation. These courses emphasize skills in information literacy, research methodology, effective use of software tools, and the process of developing a thesis. In addition, between modules 2-3, students are paired up with a dissertation advisor and begin working on their dissertation in DMIN 533 and DMIN 543.

Spiritual Formation & Leadership courses

The Leadership and Spiritual Formation DMin content courses are woven into four distinct foci - the personal and corporate aspects of spiritual formation and leadership. The following diagram illustrates how these four themes are brought together:

Taught by a variety of faculty, the spiritual formation courses explore spiritual formation with the goal of facilitating personal and communal renewal.

Taught by a variety of faculty, the leadership courses explore the convergence of leadership in relation to following Jesus Christ.

The Shape of Each Module

The general courses are divided into four modules

• Module 1: Personal spiritual formation
• Module 2: Developing personal leadership competencies
• Module 3: Leadership in the church and its cultural setting
• Module 4: Spiritual formation in the church

Students address their own spiritual formation in Modules 1-2, while in Modules 3-4 students are led to analyze the attitudes, behaviors, the relationship of leaders and followers, and the nature and purpose of congregations, using insights drawn from the classical theological disciplines, the humanities, and the behavioral sciences. Additionally, students are enabled to strategize and equip others for healthy, sustainable ministry to the churched and to the unchurched.

Each module is organized according to the following pattern:

• Ramp up: In preparation for the face-to-face sessions, students complete a number of reading assignments, introductory exercises, and discussion questions, available in FoxTALE. The FoxTALE discussion area is used to facilitate communication and interaction.
• Face to face sessions: Students meet face to face at the Cannon Beach Christian Conference Center for 10 days of spiritually formative instruction twice a year, once in October and once in February, for the first two years of the program. The sessions run from Monday through Thursday of the following week with guided retreat experiences integrated throughout the period.
• Ramp down: Special post face to face assignments will be required for each course following the face to face sessions. Assignments include an analysis of a case study, an application of information or skills learned to the student's setting, or a reflection paper.
• Asynchronous discussion: Students meet weekly in an asynchornous chat forum to discuss the assigned course materials.
• Chat: Students meet once a week for synchronous chat. The instructor for that week's assigned coursework faciliates the discussion.

The research courses prepare students for the dissertation phase of the program by helping them gain greater competence in information literacy - the art of knowing when one needs information, where to get it, how to access and evaluate it, and how to incorporate that information into one’s work.

Dissertation Options

The program includes the design and completion of a dissertation that addresses both the nature and the practice of ministry. Students begin working on their dissertation at their first face-to-face experience in DMIN513 and continue to do so throughout the program. Although the third year of the program is devoted to completing the dissertation, students will have made significant progress by the end of the second year.

The dissertation can take two forms - Track 01 and Track 02:

• Track 01: This approach allows students to write a traditional-style dissertation that addresses a ministry problem in depth and the theoretical framework that underpins a proposed solution.
• Track 02: This approach allows students (individually or in teams) to implement an artifact utilizing audio, video, web or print to incarnate a practical, real-world solution to a stated ministry problem. The Track 02 Dissertation is composed to two parts — a Written Statement and the Track 02 Artifact.

To learn more about the differences between the Track 01 and Track 02 Dissertation options, see:

• DMin Dissertation

Process for Completing the Dissertation

The research courses are designed to enable students to advance their dissertations, equipping them with the necessary skills to complete their work during the third year:

• DMIN 513: Students are introduced to the tools used for study and research.
• DMIN 523: Students develop a topic proposal for their dissertations.
• DMIN 533: Students develop a design proposal for their dissertations.
• DMIN 543: Students explore the process of research, writing, and mapping out how to complete their dissertations.

At the end the first year of course work, following Module 2, students declare which track they wish to pursue and state their choice of topic and dissertation. At this juncture, students are matched up with a dissertation advisor and, later, an expert advisor (Track 02 only) who will oversee their dissertations and provide appropriate guidance.

• Dissertation Advisor: The dissertation advisor for the students' Track 2 Dissertations, he or she is responsible to oversee student progress in the conception, development and implementation of their dissertations.
• Expert Advisor (Track 02 only): A person selected on the basis of his or her technical experience and expertise relative to the student’s chosen media venue. He or she is responsible to ensure that students adequately address the appropriate technical and design considerations when developing their artifacts.

During the third year, students turn in successive portions of their dissertation to their dissertation advisor for review and comment. Students who plan to graduate in the spring alert the DMin office by completing a "Declaration of Intent to Graduate" survey by early December. By January of the third year, the evalutaion draft of the disssertation is due. Students are to send it first sent to their dissertation and expert (Track 02 only) advisors for review before being passed along to theirs econdary advisor for evaluation. The dissertation is evaluated on an "as is" basis and a formal pass/no pass evaluation is returned to the student. If they pass, students move on to their oral defense in March. The oral defense is attended by the dissertation, secondary and expert (Track 02 only) advisors. An archival copy of the the dissertation is due by April 1. Students graduate in April/May.

Students who are unable to complete their dissertation by January or who have to make substantial revisions to the evalutaion draft of their disssertation must consult with their dissertation advisor to determine the best course of action to expedite the completion of the dissertation.