Doctor of Ministry
Field Mentoring
As you choose a Field Mentor you will want to look for:
- A person with pastoral experience who can relate to the kinds of concerns you face in the ministry.
- A person who is able to reflect on ministry (having the capacity to understand and verbalize the reasons underlying his/her pastoral action.)
- An active listener with whom you can share your ministry and who can serve you as a "coach", asking the kinds of questions that enable you to think through and talk out matters pertaining to your ministry.
If possible, the field mentor should be someone who has some interest in or experience with the particular focus you have chosen for you Project-dissertation.
You will meet with your field mentor at least once per course, soon after attending the course, during the period you are taking intensive seminar classes in your D.Min. program. The meeting should include a discussion of the course you took and how you can apply what you learned to your ministry. The Field Mentor is expected to send to the D.Min. Office a Field Mentor Report on each session. If you will send us the name, address, telephone number, and email address of the person who has agreed to fulfill this role, we will send a letter that expresses our gratitude and explains what we are asking him/her to do.
Spiritual Director
If you choose to concentrate your work in the area of Spiritual Formation, you will select someone to work with you as a Spiritual Director. You will share with the person from your on-going dialogue with God, for example: How you are seeking God's leading; where you experience God's work in your life; how you are relating to God about difficult life situations and draining ministry experiences; as well as ways that you are learning to celebrate God's gifts and see your life as graced by His presence.
You will look for such qualities as these in a spiritual director:
- An ability to listen in a discerning way.
- A prayerful person who can encourage you in your own life of prayer.
- One whose own experiences with God has made him/her aware of and sensitive to the dynamics of spiritual growth.
You will meet with your Spiritual Director the equivalent of once for each course you take during the period of time in which you are taking intensive seminar classes in your D.Min. program. The meeting should include discussion of the course you took and how you can apply what you learned to your personal life. The Spiritual Director is expected to send the D.Min. office a report, in the form of a letter, on each meeting as well as the spiritual director report.
If you will send us the name, address, telephone number, and email address of the person who has agreed to fulfill this role, we will send a letter that expresses our gratitude and explains what we are asking him/her to do.
Research Reflection Team (RRT)
You are to organize a Research Reflection Team (RRT) comprised of four to eight persons from your ministry setting and/or community. Organize the team and begin meeting immediately after you have completed the DM803 course and begin working on your dissertation. This is a mission-oriented small group with two basic foci:
- To help you in your program, and
- To guarantee that your program is contributing to the local institution.
Auxiliary benefits can include:
- Providing a sounding board for you,
- Helping the congregation share ownership in the project,
- Helping the congregation feel good about the time their pastor is spending on the project, and
- Generating new ideas that would not have come otherwise.
The RRT meets at least nine times (5 times for Beeson Pastors) while you are designing, executing, and evaluating the contextual project (which forms the basis for your dissertation).
Purposes of the RRT: The following purposes shall guide the work of the RRT
- To assist you in designing your learning goals for the project-dissertation.
- To assist you in coordinating the work of your ministry in the local institution with the Doctor of Ministry program, and to give guidance and make suggestions for modification of the local program or the Doctor of Ministry studies.
- To assist you in planning, designing, implementing, and evaluating your project.
- To give you evaluative feedback on your ministry.
- To offer you support and encouragement.
- To interpret to the congregation the scope and nature of your D.Min. program and the benefits derived, by you and by the local church.
Significant to you and to your church will be the development between the RRT and you of a relationship characterized by trust, openness, honesty, and candor. The group can hold you accountable to a high standard of performance in the practice of ministry and in the Doctor of Ministry program.
Minutes of RRT Meetings
The RRT will elect a recorder who shall be responsible for taking minutes of each session following these guidelines:
- Heading (Page 1)
- The title, "Research Reflection Team Minutes"
- Name of D.Min. participant
- Date of meeting
- Time of meeting (i.e., 7:00-8:30 PM, etc.)
- Number of the Report (i.e., #1, #2, etc.)
- Names of group members present.
Form
The minutes should be typed, single spaced, with a double space between paragraphs. They should summarize the areas discussed and any decisions made. They need not go into such detail as "Mr. Jones suggested... to which Mr. Smith responded... " It is our experience that a one-page, single-spaced summary is usually sufficient. Anything shorter is too brief, anything more lengthy becomes tedious. It is your responsibility to send each set of minutes to the D.Min. Office. These minutes are read, and placed in your file to help us track your progress.
Dissertation Committee
Faculty Mentor
- Selection and Assignment
Mentors will be assigned by the Dean after consultation with the student and prospective faculty member. These assignments are normally made at the time a student takes DM803. Whenever possible, mentors shall come from disciplines which relate to the advisee's area of concentration. When this is not possible, Mentors may nominate an Internal Reader who may have more expertise in an area of the project dissertation. In addition, Mentors are encouraged to work in an interdisciplinary fashion, consulting with faculty members from other areas vis-a-vis the project- dissertation. In this manner, through the mentor, the advisee indirectly accesses the resources of the Asbury Theological Seminary faculty.
The Mentor serves as an "integrator" helping you to reflect upon the relationship between theory and practice in ministry. The Mentor also serves as a "mentor" in the dissertation-project process.
- Functions
- Integrator
- Schedule times for telephone conferences or personal meetings.
- Report to the D.Min. Dean each anniversary of assignment regarding contacts with you.
D.Min. Office will supply report forms and will request information regarding conferences, phone calls, letters, visits with you as well as an update on your progress vis-a-vis graduation time line.
- Mentor
- Recommend a suitable Internal Reader to D. Min. Dean before the proposal final draft is submitted and a proposal hearing is requested.
- Attend a proposal hearing with you, the internal reader, and D.Min. Dean to determine if you are ready to proceed with the research phase of the process
- In consultation with the internal reader and D.Min. Dean either approve, approve with modifications, or disapprove the dissertation-project proposal and application for admission to candidacy
- Require regular dissertation-project progress reports from you
- Read/critique/return materials submitted within two weeks of reception when possible
- Channel all feedback on dissertation-project materials to you, including any feedback from the internal reader. (With the possible exception noted in the following item)
- Prepare you in advance of mentor's sabbatical leave by attempting to work as closely as possible up to the date of the sabbatical and arrange for feedback while the mentor is on sabbatical
- Utilize other faculty for input when not a specialist in topic advisee has chosen
- Meet with internal reader over completed dissertation-project.
- Inform you when you are ready to defend your dissertation-project and chair the dissertation-project defense hearing.
- Make recommendation to Dean regarding completed dissertation-project
- Integrator
Internal Reader
- Selection
The internal reader is selected by the mentor after consultation with the student and Dean of Doctor of Ministry Studies.
- Role
The role of the internal reader may vary from committee to committee, but generally the person is chosen to complement the strengths and weaknesses of the mentor.
- Responsibilities
Specific responsibilities for all internal readers include:- Serve as a member of the dissertation committee
- Function as resource person to the mentor, as requested, with regard to areas of individual expertise
- Participate in proposal hearing
- The mentor, internal reader, and Dean of the Doctor of Ministry program must all accept the proposal. The finished dissertation-project will be evaluated against the approved proposal. A "Modification to Proposal" must be approved and accompany the student’s proposal whenever any significant changes to the original proposal are made
- Participate in dissertation defense hearing
- When critiquing both the proposal and the finished project-dissertation, take into account:
- Grounding in the literature
- Design of the study
- Logic, flow, and clarity of expression
- Grammar, spelling, and punctuation. (The dissertation committee may require anyone with a severe handicap in this area to secure a technical reader at personal expense).
D.Min. Dean or Other Program Representative
Either the Dean of the Doctor of Ministry Program or a faculty representative of the program will round out the dissertation committee. This person will help you uphold the standards of the program and will be available for consultation as needed.