Entrepreneurship among Quakers

Earlham School of Religion (ESR) is hosting a conference this weekend called "Risk, Courage, and the Entrepreneurial Spirit."

I went to the keynote address yesterday morning, by Samir Selmanović, an evangelical entrepreneur who now pastors in New York City. The talk, called "That Fierce Heat of Living," elaborated on what it means to be spiritual and an entrepreneur. "Entrepreneurs believe that God is everywhere," said Selmanović. He said there does not need to be a sense of urgency in the entrepreneur's activity - she is simply charged with paying attention. 

Paying attention, just like Christ did.

"Let's talk about Christ," said Selmanović. "He lived an ordinary life. He went to work, opened the shop, cut the wood, made the pieces of furniture, sold them, cleaned the shop, closed the shop, and went home. The thing was, he was absolutely present in his life - he paid attention." 

Selmanović said that he has done experiments in which he's taken long passages of New Testament scripture and replaced the name Jesus with the name Steve. The religious participants in his worships have been at a loss to identify who Steve is, so ordinary does this man sound. 

What made Jesus different was that he saw the Kingdom of God on earth, not something far in the future. Early Friends were the same. Jesus behaved, in his moments of teaching and truth-telling, as if he were already living in God's Kingdom, which is probably the most proactive way of bringing that vision to light. Therein lies the message for entrepreneurs: start acting according to your vision, and let others join in. 

In order to illustrate this concept of acting first, in a way that is in accordance with your vision, regardless of the attitudes of others toward you, Selmanović showed a short video. (I recommend watching without the sound).

I wish I could find a version of the video without the voiceover, which we had during the address. You can powerfully draw your own conclusions without the narration. Then take a listen with the narration. 

Are we willing to be foolish? Many participants in the conference have the difficult task of bridging religious and non-religious fields in the entrepreneurial efforts. It might be difficult to sell a spiritual endeavour to those who are biased against religion. At the same time, to hush-up the spiritual side of a vision would be to dance in a straight jacket: it seems to me it would feel inauthentic. 

Youth groups have this problem. There are so many kids who want to participate in extra-curriculars, but youth groups do not draw substantial numbers. Why not? Youth groups are not cool? Kids are wary of a religious group because of the stigma which might be attached? The activities are uninteresting or inauthentic? 

I'm reminded of my Ramallah Colleague Olivia's drama project with the Friends School students. She involved over 50 students in a play production which involved all kinds of skills: acting, directing, set designing, instrument playing, makeup artistry, dancing, video-making (for the trailer), and front-of-house hosting. It was amazing to watch come together, and overwhelming to consider as an undertaking. 

Maybe that's where religious education can start - drama. Kids work together, create something peacefully, and produce something they're proud of to the community.