Fuller has been teaching missiology since 1965 and the PhD program goes back to the 1980s. It is hybrid—mostly online, allowing students to study in context, but with residential components. During the first year, the cohort is formed together for academic vocation. Students study missiology as a discipline (broadly understood) and are exposed to an interdisciplinary approach. Following their own research interest, each student designs a coherent program of original research in close consultation with faculty instructors and mentors, and in discussion with their peers. Students are required to justify their research proposal with reference to the relevant literature and to identify primary sources and data. Many students plan to employ rigorous qualitative and quantitative methods. After evaluation, students then carry out their research proposal through a faculty-supervised and tutorial-based model that allows them to study with experts in their field at Fuller and beyond. The program emphasizes methodological competence, sustained critical inquiry, and increasing scholarly independence. As part of the CMR research community, students continue to engage with each other through colloquia, the annual Missiology Lectures, and other events, all of which are accessible in person or online. The PhD ICS program culminates in a dissertation that makes a substantive contribution to scholarship in Christian mission, world Christianity, or related fields such as global studies, contextual theology, missional church, intercultural practice, and biblical, historical, cultural, religious, social, or decolonial studies.

Students admitted to the PhD in Intercultural Studies join a cohort of PhD and ThM students learning together in a diverse community of scholars. This collegiality is lived in important ways through CMR, which is made up of PhD and ThM students in all years of the program (totaling more than 50), plus faculty and scholars visiting through the Global Research Institute. As befits missiology, PhD ICS students come from all continents, and students and faculty share intercultural and transnational research interests. The Center for Missiological Research administers the PhD program, connects students across different year groups, and arranges shared activities for all members of CMR. The center’s activities include regular academic colloquia, informal fellowship, spiritual formation events, and special lectures, such as the annual Missiology Lectures.