Doctor of Ministry Degree

In addition to the General Admission Requirements, the student must have completed three years of vocational ministry experience. A significant portion should be after the completion of the M.Div. Please contact the Seminary-Graduate Studies Office for further details.

The successful doctoral student must be a mature and responsible individual, able to act on his own initiative. Doctoral programs are more flexible and varied than those leading to other graduate degrees and are designed to build upon the individual’s previous academic preparation. All doctoral programs must be approved by the Seminary Doctoral Committee. A minimum of 30 credit hours beyond the M.Div. degree or its equivalent is required for the D.Min. degree, including 21 credits of courses with a DM prefix (which may include TH 538), 3 credits for TH 640, and 6 credits of research (DM 790).

All work, including the defense of the major project, must be completed within six years. The six years begin with the first course taken in the D.Min. program. Students who are unable to complete their degree in six years may request an extension, not to exceed a total of ten years to complete degree requirements.

All D.Min. courses, except Research Study (major project), are taken in one-week modules offered in January, May, and August and via online learning (up to four courses). A maximum of three courses (nine credit hours) can be completed each year unless permission is granted by the Seminary Committee. This schedule allows the student sufficient time for application of course material in his home ministry as well as sufficient time for the completion of pre-course and post-coursework.

Students must be registered for Continuing Major Project Services to be completed at the students’ home residence when they are doing their independent research.

Students in the Doctor of Ministry program complete a minimum of 24 credit hours of coursework. At the completion of all required coursework or upon submission of the Major Project Topic Overview (whichever comes first), the D.Min. student must register for Continuing Major Project Services (equivalent to a minimum of 6 terms) continuously until the major project is successfully defended and presented ready for binding. Defense of the major project will be scheduled after the major project has been acknowledged by the Seminary Doctoral Committee and primary reader as worthy of the formal defense procedure.

Written and oral comprehensive examinations are not required for the Doctor of Ministry degree.

Every candidate for a doctoral degree is required to prepare and present a major project that is acceptable in form and content to the student’s Doctoral Committee and the Seminary. The major project differs from the standard doctoral dissertation, which is generally more theoretical in nature. The project is more practical in orientation, focusing on the application of knowledge to the individual’s ministry.

The student must register for Continuing Major Project Services until the project is completed, whether or not the student resides in Pensacola. If the final copy is not acceptable and not presented for binding within 30 days after the defense, a $150 final copy extension fee will be charged for each additional 45 days.

All major projects and other projects prepared as part of the requirements for a seminary degree automatically become the property of Pensacola Theological Seminary and may not be published or reproduced without the written consent of the College.

A Doctor of Ministry student is required to maintain a 3.00 grade point average while completing his seminary studies. A student is eligible for candidacy for a D.Min. degree after he has completed all his coursework and received the Seminary Doctoral Committee’s approval of his major project proposal.

See Graduation Requirements.