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2026-2027 Academic Draft Catalog

Doctor of Ministry (DMin) in Faith and Cultural Engagement

Purpose

The Doctor of Ministry (DMin) degree is the highest professional degree for those in parish or related ministries. It is designed for educated, experienced practitioners who desire to stimulate renewal in themselves and their ministries through the integration of their experience with advanced training, research, and reflection. The DMin is distinctive from academic doctorates such as the PhD and ThD in that its primary focus is on the practice of ministry.

The Doctor of Ministry in Faith and Cultural Engagement prepares pastors and Christian leaders to embody the gospel faithfully in a polarized and complex world. This program is for leaders committed to public witness but weary of combative or partisan approaches. It equips them to guide their communities with wisdom, humility, and conviction while addressing the cultural, social, and political issues shaping public life through cultural intelligence and spiritual depth.

This DMin program is organized around the following themes: 

  • Public theology and Christian witness: Students study how theology and leadership engage public life, facing the challenges of cultural conflict while developing a voice that is both prophetic and pastoral. They learn to speak into contested spaces with theological clarity, humility, and hope.
  • Communication and storytelling: Students explore narrative and media as ministry tools, creating strategies that reach across audiences and platforms. Their work is grounded in biblical exegesis, situational awareness, and practical application for Cultural engagement.
  • Practice-Integrated ministry research: Students design and complete a Doctoral Project in their ministry context that addresses a real need, problem, or opportunity. This work is collaborative, design-informed, and oriented toward immediate impact.
  • Formational intensives for an expanded perspective: Students participate in three in-person gatherings in strategically selected U.S. cities, gaining broadened perspectives through immersive learning with faculty and guest leaders. These experiences expand vision, deepen formation, and strengthen vocational clarity.

The program is offered in a hybrid format combining online coursework, faculty interaction, and cohort-based learning with the three intensives. Through guided reading, reflection, research, and writing, students remain active in ministry while engaging in a rigorous, relational, and formational doctoral journey.

Program Learning Outcomes

Graduates of this Doctor of Ministry track will:

  • Engage the intersections of Christianity and culture with theological depth, historical awareness, and interdisciplinary insight to cultivate a faithful public voice and spiritual maturity. 
  • Gain skills in Collaborative Design for Ministry and Nonprofit Contexts to address a chosen need, problem, or opportunity (NPO) in ministry environments.
  • Contribute a solution to an NPO in one’s context through the completion of a professional doctoral project.

Graduates serve in various roles, including pastors, nonprofit and public sector leaders, educational leaders, chaplains, and other ministry professionals. 

Admission Requirements

Applicants must complete the following to be considered for admission to the program:

  • Submit Portland Seminary application
  • Completed master's degree in a ministry-related field from an accredited institution. Applicants not holding a ministry-related master's degree may be admitted by demonstrating the ability to thoughtfully understand and explain the Bible and their theological tradition, adapt their ministry to their context, clearly understand their ministerial identity/role and vocational calling, and a commitment to ongoing personal and spiritual growth. Applicants submit an admission application, including essays, transcripts, resumés, and other relevant materials to address these standards.
  • Competitive grade point average reflected on your official transcripts - Transcript evaluators give greater weight to graduate-level courses and more recent transcripts.
  • Documentation of significant ministerial experience/context (from CV or resumé) that enables the applicant to engage as a ministry peer with other students and in the research sequence in this advanced professional doctorate
  • Evidence of an advanced level of competence and reflection in the practice of ministry beyond the master's level 
  • Doctoral-level writing skills
  • An entrance interview with the director of the Doctoral program (by invitation only)

Non-native English speakers must submit a TOEFL score of 80 (Internet-based) or IELTS 6.5 and complete the Declaration of Finance. For more information, international applicants can reference the International Graduate Admissions page.

Based on an assessment of these factors, applicants may be accepted, denied, or asked to provide further information or complete additional coursework to create a pathway for meeting eligibility in light of the ATS criteria.

 

Transfer Credit

Transfer credit from another doctoral program may be allowed up to a maximum of 19 semester hours. Transferability of credits earned at this institution and transferred to another is at the discretion of the receiving institution.

Residence Requirements

All work leading to the DMin must be completed within seven years from the time of matriculation. Extension of this limit requires the approval of the director. Program extension requests must be received prior to the conclusion of the sixth year. Reinstatement to the program after withdrawal requires Admissions Committee action and may subject the student to additional requirements for the degree.

Due to the cohort model used for this DMin program, students must maintain full attendance throughout each module experience. However, a student in good standing who must interrupt his or her studies for compelling reasons may petition the director for a leave of absence of not more than one year. Students who discontinue enrollment without an official leave of absence will be withdrawn and required to apply for readmission.

Course Requirements

The Doctor of Ministry program requires three years and the completion of 38 semester hours of coursework as a minimum for graduation. The project portfolio is completed in the third year. Of the total hours required for the degree, 16 hours are in prescribed 'taught' courses and 22 hours in the project portfolio research sequence. The program also requires participation in three face-to-face intensives.

Doctoral Project

The Portland Seminary Doctor of Ministry program requires students to develop a project portfolio documenting their 3-year research journey, culminating in the production of a doctoral project and project launch plan. The goal is to contribute to their ministry context, gain expertise in their research topic, and learn a research and design process that they can apply repeatedly after graduation. 

The three-year research sequence uses a process of collaborative design for ministry and nonprofit contexts. Students begin by identifying a need, problem, or opportunity (NPO) in their ministry context. A project faculty member guides their research in three phases: discover (year one); design (year two), and deliver (year three).

In the ‘discover’ and ‘design’ phases, students collaborate with stakeholders from their context to better understand their NPO, generate design solutions, and prototype the concepts in order to arrive at the most viable option for addressing it. This option becomes the doctoral project, which they then develop in the year three ‘deliver’ phase, complete with a detailed launch plan. After submitting the completed project portfolio, the examination committee makes a final assessment. If passed, students complete the remaining steps for archiving and conduct a presentation of their project prior to graduation.

Graduation Requirements

To graduate with the Doctor of Ministry degree, students must:

  • Satisfactorily complete a minimum of 38 semester hours with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or above. 
  • Achieve no grade lower than a B- in all ‘taught’ courses. If a grade of a C+ or lower is received in a designated course, two options are available: 1) retake the course, 2), with department approval, correct deficiencies for an updated grade. 
  • Achieve no grade lower than a Pass in all project portfolio research and design sequence courses. If a grade of a No Pass is received in a designated course, that course must be retaken or the grade must be improved as outlined by the course instructor's approval and direction. 
  • Fully participate in all intensives. 
  • Complete and pass the project portfolio 
  • Oral presentation of the project 
  • Be recommended by the seminary faculty for graduation from George Fox University.

Curriculum Plan

Expand All
Complete the following:
Explores the historical and theological foundations of Christian engagement in public life. Students examine how faith has shaped and responded to social, cultural, political, and economic issues in global and U.S. contexts. Through historical and theological reflection, case studies, and interdisciplinary tools, students develop the capacity to act wisely and speak faithfully into public challenges.
Equips students to act with wisdom, compassion, and spiritual maturity amid social and ecclesial division. Through case studies and consultations with leading public theologians, spiritual practices, and peer engagement, students develop a public voice rooted in conviction and bridge-building. Emphasis is placed on resisting ideological cooptation, and cultivating habits of Christian justice and reconciliation. An additional course fee may be required.
Prepares students to develop theologically-informed responses to pressing social, cultural, political, and economic issues. Students explore critical conversations around topics such as race and ethnicity, economics, politics, gender, class, ecology, and technology using interdisciplinary approaches. The course emphasizes justice-oriented, contextually aware theological frameworks for public leadership and community transformation.
Develops students’ ability to communicate theological ideas with clarity, creativity, and cultural resonance. Students craft compelling narratives and acquire practical skills for a variety of platforms and mediums. The course emphasizes storytelling as a tool for spiritual formation, leadership, and public witness. An additional course fee may be required.
Complete the following:
This course orients students to Collaborative Design for Ministry and Nonprofit Contexts and introduces research and design tools and library resources. Students identify and articulate their NPO and explore its contours by drafting a discovery plan, organizing and conducting a discovery workshop and follow up interviews with stakeholders, begin compiling a working bibliography, and synthesize their semester discoveries in the first milestone assignment. Students meet with their Project Faculty and Peer Group monthly. Pass/No Pass. An additional course fee may be required.
This course serves as the primary opportunity for students to acquire, read, examine, analyze, and synthesize professional and academic literature relevant to their Project Need, Problem, Opportunity (NPO) topic. Students produce a milestone exploration essay that examines the NPO’s history and context, the biblical and theological foundations, and identifies key voices. This academic paper is a mapping exercise that helps students understand the full landscape of the topic, and learn as much as possible about the layers of history beneath. Students meet with their Project Faculty and Peer Group monthly. Pass/No Pass.
In this course, students engage select stakeholders from their context in a design workshop and follow up interviews. Students assess the real needs of those impacted by the NPO by identifying three promising design concepts for addressing the NPO. This includes proposing prototypes, benchmarks for evaluating success, and identifying knowledge gaps that require additional research. Students generate a milestone report on their findings and meet with their Project Faculty and Peer Group monthly. Pass/No Pass.
In this course, students explore their design concepts that address the NPO identified in the previous course through a series of project prototypes. They also produce an academic essay to address remaining gaps in their knowledge. Based on what they discover, students identify one concept as their Most Viable Prototype (MVP) to pursue for their Doctoral Project. Students generate a milestone report outlining their findings. Students meet with their Project Faculty and Peer Group monthly. Pass/No Pass.
In this course, students articulate the scope, parameters, development plan, and benchmarks for evaluating success of their Doctoral Project. They develop their project and gather early feedback from stakeholders to ensure they are on target. At the end of the semester, they produce a progress report. Students meet with their Project Faculty and Peer Group monthly. Pass/No Pass.
A final course in which students complete their Doctoral Project in accordance with the scope agreed upon with their Project Faculty, and develop a post-graduation launch plan. Students will compile in a Project Portfolio their Doctoral Project and Project Launch Plan together with a formal introduction, previous milestones as appendices, and bibliography. They submit the Project Portfolio for examination by the Evaluation Committee. Once approved, students make final corrections and archive the Project Portfolio in the University Digital Commons. They conclude their journey with a Project Presentation. Students meet with their Project Faculty and Peer Group monthly. Pass / No Pass.
To maintain enrollment until the Doctoral Project is complete. Pass/No Pass. Prerequisite: DMIN 951.
‡Students must maintain continuous enrollment in the project continuation until completion. DMIN 955 is required for students who do not finish their project and its assessment within the minimum of 8 hours. DMIN 955 is repeatable each fall and spring until the project is finished.