How Will a Doctor of Ministry Prepare Me for Ministry Leadership?

Calvin Seminary’s Doctor of Ministry (DMin) degree is designed with the student in mind, providing a personalized approach to education through innovative coursework and authentic contextual engagement. The DMin program helped Colin Watson integrate his past experience and education as he stepped into additional roles of leadership and mentorship.

Prepared for Study through Ministry

Colin Watson began his career as a leader of two Fortune 500 companies, became a commissioned pastor in the CRCNA, and assumed leadership roles on the boards of denominational and ecumenical organizations. He was offered the role of Director of Ministries and Administration in the CRCNA from 2015 to 2020. While he planned to retire in 2020, the CRCNA asked him to remain on staff for another two years, where he served as Executive Director until 2022. 

Why pursue a doctoral degree at such a late stage of your career and ministry? Colin believed that a doctoral program would provide him the opportunity to prepare for additional leadership and mentorship roles in his retirement, integrating his experience into study and research. 

Integrating Experience into Education

Throughout his time in the DMin program, Colin found ample opportunities and spaces to integrate his education into his real life experiences and ministry. He quickly discovered that his faculty members were committed to focusing on how each students’ gifts, experience and call from God shaped their education and interaction with different ministry contexts. Colin’s classmates served as a regular reminder that each person is on a journey of understanding and obeying God’s leading, and, as ministry leaders, their role is to not only understand their own call, but help others walk with Christ. Colin found his cohort to be a place of active listening, open sharing, and mutual learning.

This theologically solid, academically rigorous, and deeply practical education he received laid the foundation for him to think through a pressing need in his past and present ministry contexts: promoting racial integration and understanding in the CRCNA. By using different pedagogical and research methods, Colin examined the Christian Reformed Church’s history of race relations, integration, and understanding. Working with the core belief that all people are created in God’s image–and the global Church should reflect that image–Colin’s dissertation proposed innovative solutions for better inclusion of African American leaders within the denomination. Colin’s years of corporate and ministry leadership experience culminated in this dissertation, where he was encouraged to draw on his experiences and pedagogical knowledge to propose a path forward for the future of the CRCNA.

Equipped for Leadership and Mentorship

Though technically retired, Colin’s work is far from over. He continues to take up advisory and mentorship roles in different organizations and capacities in the CRCNA and other ministry contexts. In addition, he is educating future DMin graduates by teaching transformational leadership and ethnography courses at Calvin Seminary. 

Colin’s reach of leadership and mentorship expands outside of the United States and the CRCNA into global ministry organizations. He currently serves on the World Communion of Reformed Churches, and on the North American Area Council. These opportunities, in combination with his experience and education, have helped open his mind to new possibilities for innovation and change in organizations, both in individual and corporate settings.

Colin’s story is only one example of how theory and practice go hand in hand in the DMin program. We invite you to start a conversation with us about how a DMin program could elevate your calling and prepare you for new avenues of ministry.

How to Apply

If you’re interested in learning more about our Doctor of Ministry program, our Admissions Team is available to answer any questions you may have. To begin your application, visit our  website. We’re excited to hear from you!