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Southlake, TX: The King’s University announces the new Spiritual Formation and Direction concentration as part of the Doctor of Ministry (DMin) degree program. This concentration will launch in the Fall 2022 semester, and students who fulfill its requirements will also graduate with a certificate as a Spiritual Director. The Doctor of Ministry is an advanced professional program for those already successfully engaged in Christian ministry.
This concentration is geared toward ministers who are looking for new engaging ways to disciple people who are inside and outside of their congregations. “What we’re seeing is a new trend in discipleship,” says program director, Dr. Dan Call. “In the past, you could have a cookie-cutter discipleship approach in your church because most of the congregants came from the same background, but nowadays pastors are finding is no longer the case.”
With people flocking to churches from different Christian backgrounds and approaches to spirituality, a discipleship program that works for someone with a background in Catholicism might not work for someone who grew up in a Pentecostal church. Because of this wide variety, pastors are finding that a one-on-one approach to discipleship is most successful. The Spiritual Director certification is designed to immerse students into this idea and teach them to incorporate this kind of discipleship into their own ministries and to train other members of their congregations to do the same.
While this program is designed for DMin students, beginning in Spring 2024 the Spiritual Director certification will be open to people who want to work exclusively toward earning the certification. “You don’t need to be a doctoral student to earn the Spiritual Director certification at TKU,” says Dr. Call. “We will open a track for non-degree seekers who simply want to become certified Spiritual Directors.” This track will take place in tandem with the DMin program. The concentration will consist of a 24-hour spiritual retreat and a pilgrimage to a monastery in Scotland, Egypt, or Assisi, Italy (the pilgrimage will go to a different one of these locations each year).
“This concentration takes a new focus on discipleship,” says Dr. Call. “It can’t be cookie-cutter anymore.”
