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Course
The Big Debate: Is the Church a Business?
~15 Hours
Are you curious about how better business practices could improve your church’s operations but are hesitant to adopt them into your ministry? In The Big Debate: Is the Church a Business?, find a healthy balance between biblical and secular principles for leading a church. Gain clarity on business practices, their nuances, and their relationship to the church, both historically and today.
2 instructors
About This Course
The “church versus business” debate inevitably arises in the life of a congregation. What should the relationship between business and church entail, and should there even be a “debate” at all? This course will analyze the relationship between the church and the business world. Join Mike Bonem, executive pastor, business leader, and author of five books on ministry leadership, as you go beyond the simplistic answers to the church–business questions, and discover a more robust framework for deciding when and how to apply business practices in ministry settings.
This is part of the Business of Ministry Certificate.
Learning Outcomes
- Compare and contrast biblical and secular principles for leading a church.
- Explain “business” practices, their nuances, and their relationship to the church.
- Evaluate the church’s current practices that under- or over-rely on business principles.
- Develop a framework that will shape future leadership and organizational practices.
Created in partnership with the Church Leadership Institute, which is part of the De Pree Center, and FULLER Equip.
- Administration
- Ministry Admin Training
- Professional Training
Introduction
1. Getting Started
2. Framing the Debate
Understanding "Business"
3. What Is a “Business”?
4. Reframing the Question
What Is a “Church”?
5. Biblical Understanding of “Church”
6. The Development of the Church
7. The Growth and Professionalization of the Church
The Business of the Church
8. Where Is “Business” Needed?
9. The Measurement Dilemma
10. Why These Questions Matter
Bringing It All Together
11. Principles for Business in the Church
12. Case Studies
Conclusion
13. Putting It All Together
14. Next Steps
Your Instructor
Mike Bonem
Executive Pastor, Business Leader, Author
Mike Bonem is a consultant, coach, author, speaker, husband, and father. He offers a unique mix of world-class consulting and executive leadership experience to help churches, ministries, and their leaders turn vision into results. Mike works with congregations, denominational bodies, and faith-based non-profits on vision discernment, strategy implementation, and organizational design. He also coaches ministry leaders, helping them grow their capacity. He has developed and taught seminars for the Willow Creek Association, The Purpose-Driven Church (Saddleback Church), Christian Leadership Alliance, and Leadership Network. Mike served over 10 years as an executive pastor. He also holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, was a senior consultant with McKinsey & Company, and held executive leadership roles in two businesses. He is the author or co-author of five books on ministry leadership, including his most recent, The Art of Leading Change: Ten Perspectives on the Messiness of Ministry.
CLI
The Church Leadership Institute (CLI) is a consulting and coaching group, a laboratory of church leadership, and the “Harvard Business Review” of the church. While there are a number of good resources and consulting groups at work in the larger church today, the De Pree Center Church Leadership Institute brings four distinct aspects to this work: Convene: Through our alumni and partner organizations, we bring the diverse church together across denominational and cultural lines to address the largest questions and challenges for the widest possible learning. “We talk to people who don’t talk to each other.” Research: Nested in a graduate school, our resources and experiences are grounded and will continually be grounded in research. Ongoing research will enable us to continually learn and offer those learnings to the larger church. Reach: As a non-profit institution with a technology platform and international reach, we can raise money and serve churches that could never afford the expertise of consultant agencies and pour the money from our consulting services back into other congregations, thus strengthening the larger body of Christ Formation: As an institution of formational education, our experience and expertise is on the formation of the inner life, character, resilience, and wisdom necessary for leadership—both individuals and congregations as a whole.
