This research examines whether religious conceptions of guilt in Protestant and Roman Catholic groups account for constructive or non-constructive guilt-reactions and for different guilt-frequency. Participants in three groups filled in the Leuven Guilt and Shame Scale (LEGSS), the Leuven Emotion Scale (LES) and the Post Critical Belief Scale (PCBS). Protestants were expected to experience more non-constructive guilt than Catholics, who were expected to experience more constructive guilt. Both were expected to have a higher frequency of guilt experience than the control group. Differences between the groups were found: Catholics show more constructive guilt reactions than the other groups. Differences in non-constructive guilt reactions were not found. The Protestant and Catholic group experienced guilt more frequently than the control group.

In this article we present the results of a Big Five personality test among 59 religious entrepreneurs (church planters) in Europe, and we compare these results with (a) a general database, and (b) existing research among secular entrepreneurs. Our study concludes that church planters are significantly more extravert and significantly less neurotic than the general population. Although our research also indicates that church planters are more agreeable and more conscientious than the general population, differences on these items were not significant. As to openness to experience, there was no difference between church planters and the general population. Comparison with research among secular entrepreneurs leads to rather ambiguous results. The only shared trait that can be established with some reliability is that both church planters and secular entrepreneurs are less neurotic than other people.

In theories on leadership a paradoxal development can be perceived. The growth of social constructionist theories on leadership with a strong focus on both leaders and followers goes hand in hand with a call for strong leadership with a focus on skills and traits of the leader. Situational and reciprocal theories on leadership flourish as much as theories on effectiveness of leadership in relation to personality traits and leadership skills. This paradoxal development can be overcome when the paradigms of spirituality are taken into account. In this chapter three perspectives are discussed: the impact of spiritual concepts on leadership, the contemporary developments within religious leadership, and the connection between leadership and learning in the concept of personal leadership. Spiritual concepts open the domain of leadership to growth and values. Contemporary developments in religious leadership reveal the redefinition of traditional forms of religion and the impact on leadership. Personal leadership brings in the notion of learning, and offers a promising way of connecting contemporary needs in a complex world to sources of spirituality.

In search of a renewal of their mission in the secularized West, an increasing number of (Protestant) churches have embarked on the creation of new faith communities with a strong missionary purpose. This entrepreneurial approach of mission raises a number of questions, among which the issue of leadership is paramount. Currently, however, very little reliable empirical research has been done among faith entrepreneurs, or ‘church planters’, in Europe. In this article the personality dimensions of 215 church planters are compared with 307 ‘regular’ church leaders (pastors), based on the so-called ‘Big Five’ personality test. Independent samples t-tests showed that church planters are significantly more extravert, open to new experiences, and conscientious than ‘regular’ pastors, and significantly less neurotic, while scores on agreeableness are more or less similar. These results are discussed with a view to existing literature on church planting and entrepreneurship in the West.

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