Board of Trustees approves new Doctor of Ministry program
July 10, 2024 [Last updated July 10, 2024] by Ryan Cornell, originally posted to EMU News.
A new doctoral program is set to launch at Eastern Mennonite Seminary next year.
The Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) in Peacemaking and Social Change program, approved by the EMU Board of Trustees at its meeting in June, is an advanced, professionally oriented degree that will equip graduates to lead in faith-based settings, including in congregations, nonprofits, community organizing, and some teaching roles. EMS faculty have designed this program to invite students to engage in embodied, critical theological reflection on theories and practices of peacemaking and social change, developing their capacity to strategically foster communities of action for constructive change toward peace.
Courses in the three-year program can be completed fully asynchronously online, and are expected to begin during the summer or fall term of 2025.
These courses include: Theologies of Nonviolence, Justice and Peace; Theologies of Liberation; Religion and Social Change; Peacemaking Practices; Scriptures and the Ministry of Peacemaking; Trauma-Informed Spiritual Care; Analysis of Self and Systems; and Research Methods and Design. Each of these courses has been designed specially for the D.Min. program.
In a 2021 survey of seminary alumni and students, 37 percent of respondents named a doctoral degree as something they believed EMS should consider adding. With enrollment in D.Min. programs steadily rising at ATS schools each year, the addition will help EMS meet an increased demand for a professional ministry doctorate.
“No other theological schools offer a D.Min. program in peacemaking and social change,” said Jacob Cook, academic program director for the seminary’s Pathways for Tomorrow grant from the Lilly Endowment Inc. and visiting assistant professor of Christian ethics. “This is who we are. This is at the heart of all we do.”
Candidates for the D.Min. program are required to have a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) degree from an accredited school — or achieve M.Div. equivalency — with three or more years of post-M.Div. ministry experience.
The new program is pending accreditation approval by the Association of Theological Schools (ATS) and The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.
For more information about Eastern Mennonite Seminary degrees and programs, visit emu.edu/seminary.
Stay tuned for future EMU News updates on this significant new academic program!
