Christian Spirituality Focus

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"Combining skill-building and academic rigor, along with faculty who have expertise in the field of Christian spirituality and are committed to living deeply spiritual lives, this program helps students deepen their own lives of prayer while learning to help others do the same."

The Rev. Dr. L. Roger Owens, Hugh Thomson Kerr Professor of Pastoral Theology

Join the Next Christian Spirituality Cohort

The next cohort is anticipated to begin in June 2024.

After serving some years of ministry, many people find that not only are their own souls feeling empty but that they never really learned how to help others deepen their lives of prayer, even though this is something they long to do.

Taking Back What is Learned

Student David Wirt says: "I have been able to take back after each term to my congregation the gifts that I have received here at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary."

Cohort in Community

Corinne Cameron is grateful for the D.Min. Program. "It's been a gift to my soul." The cohort model has provided community and support throughout the program.

What is the D.Min. Christian Spirituality Focus like?

The Doctor of Ministry Christian Spirituality Focus is designed to give Christian ministers the opportunity to explore the depth and breadth of Christian spirituality across time periods, cultures, and contexts while providing key skills to equip them to help the people they serve become increasingly open, available, and responsive to the work God is doing in their lives and in the world God so loves. Students will experience the joy of study in a community of learners, the rejuvenation that comes from attending to their own lives of prayer, and the satisfaction of widening the impact of their ministries by receiving a certificate in either Spiritual Direction in Ministry or Leading Spiritual Formation.

All students must be in one-on-one spiritual direction before Intensive II and throughout the remainder of the program and should ideally have experience in one-on-one spiritual direction before the program.

After Intensive II, students seeking a certificate will engage in the ministries of either spiritual direction or spiritual formation with bi-monthly distance peer-supervision sessions.

Spiritual Direction in Ministry: Monthly meetings with at least two directees beginning after Intensive II and continuing for 18 months, with nine peer-supervision sessions.
Leading Spiritual Formation: Monthly leadership of spiritual formation (or equivalent—leading a retreat would count as two months of spiritual formation) beginning after Intensive II and continuing for 18 months, with nine peer-supervision sessions.

Students may choose to receive a DMin in Christian Spirituality without receiving a certificate. In this case, students will not engage in peer-supervised ministry, but will engage in all other practices sessions and complete the DMin project/thesis.

What are the classes like?

Each course will:

Engage students in biblical and theological reflection
Make space for the students to practice prayer and reflect on their own lives of prayer
Attend to how the subject matter of the course is shaped by culture and context and takes diverse expressions
Provide some opportunity for students to relate the subject matter of the course to their own ministry contexts or to the ministries of spiritual direction and spiritual formation

During the program, students will take the following courses:

Christian Spirituality: Traditions, Contexts, Practices
Research Methods
The Ministry of Spiritual Direction
The Ministry of Spiritual Formation/Teaching and Leading Spiritual Practices
Spirituality, Church, and World
Deep Listening/Psychological Concepts for Spiritual Direction and Spiritual Formation
Spirituality and Discipleship in the Gospels
African American Christian Spirituality
Practicing Discernment Together
Protestant Spiritual Traditions

Who will teach in this cohort?

Students will learn from PTS professors Roger Owens, Leanna Fuller, Tucker Ferda, and Ken Woo, and practioners Amy Oden and Shan Overton, among others.

DMIN CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES

Upon completion of the Doctor of Ministry in Christian Spirituality Focus, students will be able to demonstrate the ability to:

Identify their own gifts and areas for growth in the ministerial practices of spiritual direction and/or leading spiritual formation among individuals and in the context of Christian communities.
Articulate how key themes and practices of Christian spirituality, as expressed in more than one historical or cultural tradition, relate to the practices of ministry, including but not limited to the ministries of spiritual direction and leading spiritual formation.
Express with cultural sensitivity the way the themes and practices of Christian spiritualty are shaped by diverse cultural and historical circumstances.
Use appropriate tools of social analysis to describe how the themes and practices of the Christian spiritual traditions take shape in a particular context and reflect theologically on that description.

In Episode 5 of Doing it Different, Porsha Williams Gates of Porshanality Media facilitates a discussion with the Rev. Ayana Teter, Dr. Edwin van Driel, and Dr. Roger Owens highlighting faithfulness and adaptability as vital to the work of ministry in this moment and as central to the discussion and learning in the Doctor of Ministry program.

Listen to Episode 5.

LEARN MORE ABOUT PITTSBURGH SEMINARY’S D.Min. PROGRAM

Connect with the Doctor of Ministry Office to learn more about our next Christian Spirituality cohort. We'd love to have you join us! Apply now to reserve your space in a future focus. Financial aid and scholarships are available for those who qualify.

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