Abstract
Transformative Dialogue in a Doctor of Ministry Program can function as a transformative learning experience that fosters Professional Ministry Development for ministers. Transformative dialogic moments shape the identity of learners by means of creating learning spaces to facilitate Professional Ministry Development. The sharing, respect, and commitment to the ideas and needs of the group can serve as a mephato which is a cohort called together to receive training and/or mobilize each other to construct useful knowledge together as a collective. These groups or cohorts provide a unique container for transformative learning within their relationships fostered through self-awareness, group identity, and critical consciousness. Triggered by moments of cognitive dissonance, the Doctor of Ministry group works and dialogues in peer sessions and unique ministry contexts as a means for personal and social transformation. Transformative Learning literature emphasizes the role of relationships with others in such a group as the Petri dish— the growth-supporting environment— that provides both the container and space in which such learning can occur, and the dialogical processes through which learning takes place. In this article, the authors explore the concept of Transformative Dialogue Groups as a development tool for Professional Ministry Training in a Doctor of Ministry cohort or mephato.