Doctor of Ministry
Holy Presence | DMin
While pastors face constant pressure to reduce our callings and become “shopkeepers” leading religious enterprises for religious consumers, the Spirit beckons us to reclaim our vocation, to return to the vows we’ve made to be faithful to God, to the church, and to this noble work. We need to encounter God once more. And we need conversation partners who will help us renew our pastoral imagination so we can see and hear and have courage to serve God’s people with fidelity, compassion, and integrity.
The Holy Presence Cohort welcomes women and men who have been in pastoral ministry for over three years and are committed to living out their calling as contemplative pastors in the company of like-minded pilgrims.
The Holy Presence Cohort is a three-year program with two weeks of in residence per year (for a total of 6 residencies). Four times, our cohort will meet on the WTS campus in Holland, Michigan. The other two residencies will be offsite (a pilgrimage to the island of Iona and a trip to the Selah House at Flathead Lake). All travel and lodging expenses are the student’s responsibility.
Cohort Applications Are Now Open. Apply Here (use the “general application” option).
Sacred Art of Writing | DMin
In July of 2006, Eugene Peterson delivered a lecture at the famous Tattered Cover Bookstore in Denver, Colorado, titled “What are Writers Good For?” In it, he warned against “godtalk” — insisting that “One of the characteristics of language in the land of the living is that it is personal. When we use language that depersonalizes God into an abstraction or an idea or a project, the life leaks out of what we say and write, teach and pray. We are left with nothing but godtalk.”
To avoid such a dreaded thing, he encouraged those present that day to concentrate on the language used between Sundays— when and where writers have a high calling “not to tell people what words mean, but to awaken their imaginations so that they see and experience words at work.”
Our world needs brave and imaginative writers who recognize the holiness of words, who resist ugly, manipulative, commodified language, and who string together sentences that carry weight andbeauty. We need tenacious writers who avoid “godtalk”—who will honor their sacred task, in service to the God who is wholly other and yet shockingly human and write words that ignite fire and hope rather than enraging with their triviality.
The Sacred Art of Writing Cohort welcomes established and emerging writers in multiple genres and contexts to think deeply, theologically, and artfully about their work.
The Sacred Art of Writing is a three-year program with two weeks of in residence per year (for a total of 6 residencies). Four times, our cohort will meet on the WTS campus in Holland, Michigan. The other two residencies will be offsite (a literary pilgrimage to Ireland and/or the UK and a writing retreat). All travel and lodging expenses are the student’s responsibility.
Next Cohort Launches Fall 2027 / Applications Open Spring 2027
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