De-Sacralizing Religion Entrepreneurship

Abstract

This chapter bookends the Introduction by returning to the three questions that motivated the book’s research: (1) Are church founders “entrepreneurs”? (2) What motivates religion entrepreneurship in a crowded and competitive field trying to appeal to an increasingly anti-institutional-religion customer base? (3) What factors reduce these entrepreneurs’ uncertainty and fear of failure? The chapter summarizes the findings of the book: (1) yes, church founders are entrepreneurs; (2) a mixture of self-efficacy heuristics, unexpected circumstances, and a belief in God’s direction motivates them; and (3) their ability to recognize an enduring set of needs/opportunities, their ability to marshal the necessary human and financial resources, and their ability to determine—in purely subjective ways—what success is reduce fear of failure.