The Christian churches in Asia are witnessing an increasing growth in numbers. More than that, they are witnessing an increasingly educated Christian population, consisting of people who possess post-secondary and university qualifications. In a place like Malaysia, especially in the larger cities, this has become a somewhat normative reflection of the average church member.

Thus, the Christian minister in urban Malaysia is not excluded from the pressure to flaunt his academic competence. David F. Wells notes that this pressure stems from the manner in which the minister’s identity is often “strangely dislodged from both the church and society”.

They find themselves truly fitting neither the wider societal ethos nor that of their congregations (for the congregations consist of people from the secular marketplace anyway). And since the average member in the congregation sits well in the middle-class category of the wider society and possesses at least one or two university degrees in his field of expertise, ministers too experience an increasing psychological need to be perceived as occupying a highly specialised profession just so they “belong”.

In accordance with this, they seem to be increasingly keen in upgrading their academic statures. Wells identifies the Doctor of Ministry degree as the very instrument exploited for this purpose. The craving for social identity has apparently pandered to the acquisition of academic qualifications in as short a chronological duration as possible.

Whilst the potential practical value of a Doctor of Ministry degree should not be mindlessly dismissed, swift and relatively easy acquisition may often be the very spirit that underlies the pursuit and conferment of relatively quick degrees like the Doctor of Ministry degree.

Together with the acquisition of deeper knowledge that will eventually benefit the life of the Christian community, an unhealthy inclination to hoard higher degrees is also exhibited. Wells argues that the Doctor of Ministry degree represents the professionalisation of Christian ministry, which results in the infiltration of the church with a certain modern culture which is at odds with the culture of Christ. It is, he contends, little more than a manifestation of the Christian minister’s insecurity at having been rendered irrelevant in a secular culture which attaches no meaning and significance to his vocation.

It is no wonder that the Doctor of Ministry degree has now become a “lucrative product to sell” for the seminary. For this reason, increasing numbers of seminaries are beginning to put out Doctor of Ministry degrees for sale. Malaysia has recently joined the bandwagon too. As compensation for their lack of academic rigour, these degrees are called "professional degrees". The cheaper and the faster, the better.

Adam Walker Cleaveland, who studied in Princeton Theological Seminary, comments:

I know that during my first year at Princeton, as some of us were beginning to feel the intensity of the academic pressure and others were fearing they’d never get into a Ph.D program - there were those who’d smile and say, “D.Min baby - go for the D.Min.”

The owner of another weblog called The Cutting Truth, enunciates this cutting truth about the D.Min degree:

Seminaries are all too happy. At minimal cost, the D.Min degree ushers in a wave of new students, and, more importantly, a flood of tuition money from a previously untapped demographic. It is a stroke of marketing genius, cost-saving and profit-ratcheting. Classrooms are sitting empty, just waiting to be filled at no real extra cost. All the facilities, libraries, accommodations just waiting to be filled with these newly-found students chomping at the bit to put down money. A real cash cow for the seminary. And as market-driven as a used-car dealership.

Evidently, for many seminaries, the Doctor of Ministry degree means one thing: cashflow. Keep it rolling! D.Min baby - go for the D.Min!