The Rev. Larissa Kwong Abazia (she/her) graduated with an MDiv from Princeton Theological Seminary and has served as an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) since 2007. She founded Courageous Spaces in 2021, inviting others to co-create spaces for disruption, transformation, and change. Larissa has served at all levels of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.): Vice Moderator of the 221st General Assembly (2014), the General Assembly Committee on Representation, and in congregations located in Chicago (IL), Queens (NY), Greenwich (CT), and throughout New Jersey. Most recently she has served as the Transitional Head of Operations for More Light Presbyterians and currently as the Designated Strategic Director of NEXT Church as well as a project coordinator for two grants at Princeton Theological Seminary.
Spiritual Entrepreneurship
A micro-certificate designed for faith leaders transforming ministry.
Lead with Faith. Innovate with Purpose.
Discover how spiritual imagination can transform communities, institutions, and lives. The Spiritual Entrepreneurship Mirco Certificate from Princeton Theological Seminary equips change-makers, pastors, and innovators with the theological grounding and practical tools to build ministries that respond to today’s complex world.
Format: Fully online, 4 modules with live discussion-based sessions
Start Date: September 2025
Credit: Micro Certificate earns 4 CEUs
Tuition: $299 per module | $995 for all for (a savings of $201!)
Certificate Length: September 2025 – January 2026
Program Overview
Across four dynamic modules, you’ll explore theology, innovation, design, and sustainability in ministry — guided by experienced facilitators and guest experts who are reimagining what church and ministry can be.
Who Should Enroll
Faith-based entrepreneurs who want to integrate entrepreneurial strategies and project management skills to increase their impact.
Aspiring ministry leaders who want to gain practical skills in project management and entrepreneurial thinking for faith-based initiatives
Faith-based leaders interested in learning new revenue streams and leaders looking to enhance their ability to plan, organize, and execute ministry projects effectively while staying true to their spiritual mission.
Modules
Discover how to lead with purpose and grow your business. Master spiritual entrepreneurship and leadership skills to inspire, empower, and achieve lasting success. Learn how to merge your spiritual beliefs and leadership skills for a successful business.
Learning Goals
- Apply faith-based management: Build and lead teams with integrity through a value driven context.
- Use the power of Empathy: Develop the essentials of empathetic leadership to manage business and personal relationships.
- Learn team building: Master the frameworks of team building that aligns with your mission.
Dates: Sept – Oct | Synchronous Session: Sept 15, 12PM ET
Spiritual Entrepreneurship: Design Thinking for Greater Good merges the principles of purpose-driven innovation with spiritual values to create ventures that prioritize societal and environmental well-being. This approach harnesses design thinking—a human-centered methodology for problem-solving—to address pressing global challenges with empathy, creativity, and intentionality.
Learning Goals
- Promote Purpose-Driven Innovation: Encourage entrepreneurs to align their ventures with spiritual values such as compassion, sustainability, and community well-being, ensuring their work contributes to the greater good.
- Bridge Spirituality and Business: Demonstrate how spiritual principles can be harmoniously integrated into modern business practices to redefine success beyond profit, focusing on shared value and holistic well-being.
- Cultivate Ethical Leadership: Develop leaders who embody integrity, mindfulness, and social responsibility, inspiring ethical practices within their organizations and communities.
Dates: Oct – Nov | Synchronous Session: Oct 13, 12PM ET
This is a transformative micro-course designed for faith-driven leaders who seek to enhance their ministry’s impact through effective project management. This micro-course combines the principles of spiritual entrepreneurship with practical tools to help participants plan, execute, and sustain successful ministry initiatives. Participants will learn to align their leadership style with their faith, develop strategies for managing resources, and create meaningful projects that serve their communities.
Learning Goals
- Learn fundamental project management principles
- Solidify key concepts using interactive tools
- Explore the spiritual dimensions of project context with insights from scripture
- Self-analyze your context and biases for effective project execution
- Refine plans and master crafting persuasive project pitches
Dates: Nov – Dec | Synchronous Session: Nov 10, 12PM ET
Discover how to merge faith, mission, and money with spiritual entrepreneurship. Create impactful ventures that align mission with sustainable success. Engage in practical, reflective activities and learn significant impact strategies through collaborative learning. This micro-course will offer participants a rich learning experience and opportunities for meaningful interaction with fellow participants and the instructor.
Learning Goals
- Analyze diverse examples of entrepreneurial ministry
- Build connection between money and mission
- Learn marketing best practices that include budgeting and sustainability
Dates: Jan | Synchronous Session: Jan 12, 12PM ET
What to Expect in the Synchronous Sessions
Join us live during the second week of each module for a 60-minute Zoom session. These are designed to help you apply theological insights to your context, engage with your peers, and deepen your learning through guided conversation and supplemental resources.
Why Choose This Program?
The Spiritual Entrepreneurship Micro Certificate empowers you to reimagine ministry with a bold combination of theological depth, practical innovation, and community engagement. Whether you’re discerning a new direction or seeking tools to strengthen your existing work, this program equips you to lead with clarity, creativity, and conviction. Through guided learning, rich conversation, and insights from leading thinkers, you’ll cultivate the spiritual imagination and leadership skills needed to faithfully respond to the opportunities and challenges of ministry today.
Learn from Leading Thinkers and Practitioners
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Kenda Creasy Dean
Kenda Creasy Dean, PhD ’97, is an ordained United Methodist pastor in the Greater New Jersey Annual Conference, and the Mary D. Synnott Professor of Youth, Church, and Culture at Princeton Theological Seminary. In addition to teaching in practical theology, education, and formation (specifically youth and young adult ministry, Christian social innovation, and theories of teaching), Dean works closely with Princeton’s Institute for Youth Ministry and the Farminary. Dean is the author of numerous books on youth, church, and culture, the best known of which include Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers Is Telling the American Church (Oxford, 2010), Practicing Passion: Youth and the Quest for a Passionate Church (Eerdmans, 2004), and The Godbearing Life: The Art of Soul Tending for Youth Ministry with Ron Foster (Upper Room, 1998).
She has directed numerous grants on youth, innovation, and the church, including The Zoe Project (2017-2021), and was co-director with Harold Masback of The Joy and Adolescent Faith and Flourishing Project through Yale’s Center for Faith and Culture. In 2013, she co-founded Ministry Incubators, Inc., an educational and consulting group that supports Christian social innovation and entrepreneurial ministries. A graduate of Wesley Theological Seminary, she served as a pastor in Virginia, Maryland, and New Jersey and as a campus minister in suburban Washington, D.C. before receiving her PhD from Princeton Seminary in 1997.
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Nate Phillips
Nate Phillips
Nate Phillips (Pastor Nate) grew up in the hills of central Maine, the son of a logger and wedding dress seamstress. He was shaped by the church through Mission at the Eastward (MATE) – a nine church cooperative parish in rural Maine. Though each of the churches is very small, he enjoyed the fruits of their cooperation at the summer camp, partnership with churches in South Africa, housing ministries, and a youth group.
Following seminary at Princeton Theological, Nate was ordained and called to serve Red Clay Creek Presbyterian Church in 2006. As associate pastor and then co-pastor, Nate led primarily in youth ministry and mission, but also served through preaching, worship design, small group facilitation, pastoral care, and staff leadership.
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Larissa Kwong Abazia
Larissa Kwong Abazia
Featuring Insights and Interviews from…
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Hanna Reichel
Hanna Reichel
Hanna Reichel is Charles Hodge Professor of Systematic Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. Reichel earned their Dr. theol. in Systematic Theology from Heidelberg University, Germany, after an MDiv in Theology and a BSc in Economics. Prior to coming to Princeton, they taught at Heidelberg University and Halle-Wittenberg University in Germany.
Reichel co-chairs AAR’s Christian Systematic Theology unit and is a member of the steering committee of AAR’s Reformed History and Theology unit, the Karl Barth Society of North America, and the annual International Karl Barth Conference in Switzerland. Reichel co-edits Brill’s Studies in Systematic Theology series and Routledge’s Karl Barth Studies series and chairs Princeton Theological Seminary’s Center for Barth Studies advisory board. A ruling elder in the PC (USA), Reichel also serves on the Theology Working Group of the World Communion of Reformed Churches, currently preparing for the General Council meeting 2025 in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Reichel is the author of Theologie als Bekenntnis: Karl Barths kontextuelle Lektüre des Heidelberger Katechismus and After Method: Queer Grace, Conceptual Design, and the Possibility of Theology.
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Erica Liu
Erica Liu
Erica has served Pres House since 2004. She is a second-generation Taiwanese-American who grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. She lives in Madison with her partner, Mark, and together they have two daughters. Erica has a B.A. in Mass Communications from UC Berkeley, a Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary, and is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. Some of her favorite spiritual disciplines include practicing the martial art taekwondo and Sabbath.
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Victoria White
Victoria White
Rev. Dr. Victoria White is a writer, pastor, designer, coach, facilitator, and teacher. She combines her gifts most effectively through her work at Leadership Education at Duke Divinity where she cultivates and supports innovative Christian institutions and their leaders.
Victoria believes in the power of networks as a way for leaders to identify often overlooked hubs of creativity, affinity, and shared passions which, when strategically cross-pollinated, can provide deep wells of resources to help communities thrive and bear witness to God’s reign. She’d prefer to do this work she loves from the sand of any beach anywhere, but for the moment she lives in central North Carolina, with her spouse and their two teenagers, and their Great Dane, Ruby.
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Mark Sampson
Mark Sampson
Mark Sampson is part of the leadership team of Matryoshka Haus, a charity working at the intersection between innovation and social impact. Mark is also a director of the Transformational Index, which offers products, tools, and services for measuring social impact, and Cocreate Consulting, a cooperative consultancy. He is currently studying for a doctorate in economics and theology at King’s College in London, considering the role of social enterprise in an alternative economic imagination. He is a KLICE award holder in business and economics. Mark holds an MA in Theology and Culture from Regent College, Vancouver, and a BSocSc in Social Anthropology from the University of Manchester. Mark is also a trustee of Paradise Cooperative, an urban farming initiative in London.
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Matt Overton
Matt Overton
Matthew Overton created Columbia Future Forge, a church-based nonprofit that puts teens to work on landscaping crews, gets them involved in a cross-training program, and has them participate in classes where they can reflect on what it means to be an adult Christian. About 125 young people a year participate in various Columbia Future Forge initiatives, including a flagship program that pairs them with adults for mentoring and life coaching. The kids can also join in several startup enterprises that Overton has developed with support from the church and other partnerships: Mowtown Teen Landscaping, Utmost Athletics, and Forge Drones.
Ready to Begin?
Take the next step in your vocational journey.