Session 1 - What is an Entrepreneur?

Session 2 - Looking for opportunities in your locality

Session 3 - Developing the vision and taking the initial steps

Session 4 - Structuring and resourcing the project

Session 5 - Launching the project

Session 6 - Leadership Qualities

Session 7 - Dr. Bill Bolton - Entrepreneurial Leadership in the Church

Is there a place for the entrepreneur in the church? Have we seen such people in the Bible or in the church in past centuries? Well the answer to this is undoubtedly 'yes' but perhaps the church has been slow to acknowledge it.

I have spent the past few weeks working with Rev. Tim Mitchell delivering a course entitled 'Entrepreneurial Ministry' where we have sought to define and encourage the form of leadership which is needed for Fresh Expressions of Church. This has taken place at New Cross Community Church Sutton in Ashfield, in the Ashfield Circuit. The six session course delivered by Tim and myself culminated in a final session last Saturday led by Dr. Bill Bolton who is an international consultant in enterprise development and entrepreneurship. He was the Founding Director of the St. John's Innovation Centre, Cambridge and held a personal UNESCO chair in innovation Technology Transfer. Having been a leading industrialist, Bill is also a Lay Reader and has served on the General Synod of the Church of England. It goes without saying that his seminar was a fitting, stimulating and challenging conclusion to the course.

Bill listed a number of entrepreneurs from the Bible including Noah, Abram, Jacob, Paul and, of course, Jesus. He pointed out that entrepreneurs think differently which is why they can be such an awkward bunch for what has become, in many respects, a traditional church. Entrepreneurs thrive in a changing world where the established way of doing things is under question. The situation in the Western European Church is certainly changing and the emergence of Fresh Expressions of Church is an attempt by the church to engage with the shifting sands. Therefore we need entrepreneurs to lead us forward in this new paradigm.

Entrepreneurs are people who are not content with the status quo but want to change the way things are. They are people who habitually innovate and build something new. They never retire! They see opportunities where others see only problems and they won't be deterred from achieving their goal, even if the end product is not clearly seen at the start.

Industry has its fair share of entrepreneurs - Sir Richard Branson, Anita Roddick and Sir Alan Sugar to name a few. They are not always easy to get on with and don't suffer fools gladly. What encouraged me about Bill's seminar was that the church is finally waking up to entrepreneurship and actively encouraging this new ministry. For people like myself who have an industrial background, much of what Bill has said has a familiar ring about it. However, this is the first time I have heard this subject related to the Bible and the church and I look forward to what might emerge as a result of the course we have been running.

Bill has written "The Entrepreneur and the Church" - a Grove Book which can be purchased from Grove Books Ltd, Ridley Hall Road, Cambridge CB3 9HU - telephone: 01223 464748.