A Doctor of Ministry is the terminal degree for pastors and even parachurch leaders. It is meant for ministry practitioners and has much of its classwork focused on leadership. The PhD and ThD are designed for research and academic settings. I would prefer a DMin in the local church for sure. In the academic setting, I have to admit that most of my doctoral level professors were PhD’s and ThD’s, but I preferred the D.Mins. They had real world experience and the academic guys had their experience usually from books only. Of course, this is anecdotal, but the D.Min’s were my favorite professors. They taught orthopraxy and orthodoxy, where the PhD’s and ThD’s could only offer orthodoxy.
There is a Reason
A Doctor of Ministry is the terminal degree for pastors and even parachurch leaders. It is meant for ministry practitioners and has much of its classwork focused on leadership. The PhD and ThD are designed for research and academic settings. I would prefer a DMin in the local church for sure. In the academic setting, I have to admit that most of my doctoral level professors were PhD’s and ThD’s, but I preferred the D.Mins. They had real world experience and the academic guys had their experience usually from books only. Of course, this is anecdotal, but the D.Min’s were my favorite professors. They taught orthopraxy and orthodoxy, where the PhD’s and ThD’s could only offer orthodoxy.