DMin Leadership in Chaplaincy (DMC)
Taking Ministry into the Global Marketplace
“Let your speech always be with grace” (Col. 4:6 NASB)
Students can begin the Leadership in Chaplaincy program Spring 2010 with the July seminar, DML-801 How the Nature of the Church Affects Strategies for Ministry (July 19-23, 2010); a required course in the Chaplaincy concentration. Application materials are available online or you can email the Doctor of Ministry Office at and request that the application materials be mailed to you.
Chaplains minister to persons in institutions and to the institutions themselves under the Bill of Rights which guarantees the free exercise of religion. They accomplish as much as they can given their often limited time with individual people and the limitations and expectations of institutions. They:
Work toward what is best but,
Work with what is possible.
Chaplains work for growth and improvement in all areas. They Care, Provide, Facilitate, and Advise in the areas of Organization, Prevention, and Restoration (we have 3-credit-hour courses in each area).
Our Leadership in Chaplaincy program is designed for practicing chaplains who provide point-of-service care to individuals. For chaplains to help the most, they must also work to improve the working environment. This involves supervising others and working with the institutional organization. It requires understanding systems in three areas:
1). Organizational Leadership: Effective Chaplains Lead from Where They Are (January 18-21, 2011)
Chaplains serve as servant leaders and supervisors within secular institutions. This seminar focuses on understanding the institutional organization as a human system and the means by which the chaplain can leverage moral power and limited institutional authority to provide effective servant leadership from within the “chain of command.” Students will develop a strategic plan to maximize their ministry leadership to “lead from where they are.”
2). Prevention: The Stabilizing Influence of Chaplaincy
Chaplains work within both internal and external organizational systems. Because systems break down when people break down, chaplains work with the human side of systems to bring stability that enables the systems to accomplish their purpose. Chaplains deal with communication, collaboration, and personal need at all organizational levels to help prevent the breakdown of the human side of the organization.
3). Restoration: Chaplaincy in the Time of Crisis
Crises happen. Organizations break down. Whether it is a disaster to individuals, to the organization, or even a national mass casualty, chaplains are needed to help bring a sense of calm and cooperation by developing temporary procedures and systems to meet the crisis. Crises impact people. Restoration to a “new normal” requires people working together in new ways following the crisis. Chaplains help restore effective communication and cooperation needed to move beyond the crisis.
In addition, two of the eight 3-credit-hour courses can be chosen from:
- Clinical Pastoral Education (2 units equal 3 credit hours)
- The ACPE papers required for supervisory certification (6 credit hours)
- Studies toward APC board certification (3 credit hours)
- Military War College PME and Chaplaincy Integration I & II (3 credit hours each)
- Senior Chaplain Supervisory PME and the Practice of Supervisory Chaplaincy (3 credit hours)
- Courses from other D.Min. areas of study (3 credit hours each)
The remaining three courses in the 34-credit-hour program are in:
- Learning to use what you’ve got
- Learning to appropriately work with the church
- Learning to identify root causes of problems and work toward solutions
Additional off-campus requirements are:
- One year of mentoring (1 credit hour)
- Two learning contracts to understand and work with systems (1 credit hour each)
- A project and thesis to work on an area of your ministry (7 credit hours)
