Doctor of Ministry
Research Reflection Team (RRT)
You are to organize a Research Reflection Team (RRT) comprised of four to five lay persons who are active in your ministry setting. If the team is organized just prior to taking DM803, you can begin meeting immediately after you have completed the 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 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, recorded on your "Course Plan" and placed in your file to help us track your progress. Note: You can download the Course Plan for your own use as well.