Benefits of D.Min. Program

What’s unique about Golden Gate’s D.Min. program?

You’re a person, not a number
Quality education at a reasonable cost
Personalized learning goals and learning flexibility through specialist seminars
Practical focus of seminars, in short-term intensive format
Limited trips to accessible seminar sites (San Francisco, Denver, Phoenix, Portland, Southern California, etc.)
Cultural and vocational diversity within cohorts
Peer support and relationships
Seminars co-taught by seminary faculty and leading practitioners
“360-degree” field-based mentoring process

What should I expect to gain from the D.Min. experience?
“We minister out of who we are.” This philosophy means the program focuses not just upon content, but on the person of the minister. We will help you identify your strengths, and your styles of interaction, conflict, and supervision. You will develop a learning covenant where you set your own goals. You will learn a great deal about your self, time use, emotional responses, and operational theology through a journaling process and various methods of theological reflection upon ministry.

Is the D.Min. program hard or easy?
It is rigorous, requiring serious attention and a re-shaping of your priorities. It may feel more like a ministry boot camp that an academic process, but the outcome is definitely worth it. One of our favorite quotes is from former Cowboys coach Tom Landry: “We make men do what they don’t want to do, so they can become the players they always wanted to be.” This sounds a little more coercive than you will experience in our program; however, to achieve excellence there must be a certain level of discipline – of doing what you would not normally do on your own.