We know life is overwhelming these days and good books can help. We’re here so you don’t have to waste too much time figuring out what to read next (and why.) As always, we invite you to use the easy order form button at the end of this BookNotes column. We are grateful for your interest in keeping the reading life alive and well. 

A RAMBLING INTRODUCTION TO OUR 4 CATEGORIES OF LABOR DAY BOOKS

It just so happens that as we approach Labor Day I am in the middle of a captivating novel —  Work to Do by Jules Wernersbach (University of Iowa Press; $19.95 // our sale price = $15.96)  — which is sort of a romp and sort of serious and somewhat odd story about a handful of folks on one side or another of an attempt to unionize the workers at a fictional food co-op and natural food store, set in Austin, Texas. The old, wealthy patrons, the college students, the heat (and the flood) and the competition from Whole Foods in their old hippy neighborhood is the setting, but struggles about profit and loss, worker solidarity and relational and sexual tensions, and dreams and visions and hopes and goals all possibly down the drain — all told from different angles. The author nails the chit-chat about organic this or that, gluten-free and vegan products, exotic brands and upbeat trends in contemporary alternative health stuff. You’ve been in places like that. You’ve seen the flyers on the bulletin board and the worker’s tee shirts; their store logo is a raised fist clenching broccoli. Ha!

Work to Do and its tale of the investors vs the postmodern workers at Guadalupe Street Co-op (which, they note, isn’t really a co-operative) deserves to be mentioned now because it describes the ordinary joys and struggles of working in retail. It’s hard work keeping shelves stocked, rotating through the daily details, waiting on customers, cash registers humming (in a good way) and the back room fluorescents humming (in a bad way.) The many paragraphs about work made me smile.

The electricity goes out. A staff member gets sick. A customer is disgruntled. A delivery truck doesn’t show up on time. Products sell out. We’ve been there.

My dad worked for a while in the 1950s managing a chain grocery story and, as our family legend has it, he abruptly quit when an outside suit from headquarters told him how to stack up a display of peas when he knew better; they were his customers, after all, neighbors that he knew, and he knew what worked in the matter of merchandising. He was not a union man and he wouldn’t have appreciated the foul language and the cool references to indie music in Work to Do would have baffled him, not to mention the gender fluid characters, but, still, I wished he was around to talk about the hard work of running a grocery story and how low-wage workers could be more graciously valued.

I wrote a few pages about glorifying God in our mundane moments of retail work in the fabulous collection called Ordinary Saints: Living Everyday Life to the Glory of God edited by Ned Bustard (Square Halo Books; $24.99// our sale price = $19.99.) In a book replete with hobbies and hardships — chapters about watching movies, gardening, doing art, and smoking a pipe (Malcolm Guite wrote that one, of course) alongside pieces on grief and loss and pain — it is nice to also see a few in that book about the workaday world. If the Bible calls us to live all of life for the glory of God and we are told to do all that we do in the name of Jesus, then it is a fair question to ask what that looks like.

I’ve raved before about the wonderful read called Work in Progress: Confessions of a Busboy, Dishwasher, Caddy, Usher, Factory Worker, Bank Teller, Corporate Tool and Priest by the fabulous writer James Martin (HarperOne; $29.99 // our sale price = $23.99.) I pitched it to you before for those who love memoirs or are fans of Father Martin. Sure it is a light-hearted coming-of-age story (and is, as you might expect from a guy who wrote a book about humor, really funny) but there is something important about this guys journey, looking for meaningful employment, good work, purpose, a calling. Sure, he ended up a Jesuit, but he honors the world of work by walking us through his working life, from his jobs as a small town kid to his time in the high-end financial district in New York City.

So, sure, read it for fun, for what Mary Karr has called his “graceful storytelling voice and keen eye for detail.” She says it is “his most layered and lyrical effort” yet. But also, in this season of the Labor Day weekend, I commend it as a nitty-gritty, down and dirty (and very humane) treatment of a handful of ordinary jobs. Like the subtitle lists, he’s worked in an ice cream shop, been a caddy, worked in factories, and been in the corporate world. The title itself Work in Progress speaks of his calling to vocational ministry by way of his other careers. Hooray.

And, to add to the mix here in my introductory comments, I had reason recently to tell a customer here in Dallastown about one of my favorite books, Tish Harrison Warren’s beautiful and honest Prayer in the Night: For Those Who Work or Watch or Weep (IVP; $24.99 // our sale price = $19.99.) It is in fact a book about praying the compline prayer in the Episopal and Anglican tradition but, more generally, about praying in the nighttime of weeping. But, also, in the midst of this prayer designed for those keeping watch, even in sorrow, there is this marvelous prayer about work. Tish’s chapter about work and its possible role in bringing restoration and hope, is brilliant. I was glad to recall and re-read that chapter here before Labor Day.

This upcoming holiday is not just for the end-of-the-summer cookouts but is designed for us all to ponder the role of work, and to honor, especially, those who work hard doing the kind of work that has often been demeaned, so much so that unions have had to organize workers into collectives that could demand more fair treatment. (One of my early passions was trying to help the United Farm Workers who stood with migrant workers against big agribusiness.) One does not need to be a Marxist (or even a Wobbly) to know that too often those with lots of money and power pay little heed to the needs of those who work in their factories and slaughterhouses and fields and data centers. I think the case is out whether unions these days do all that they should to help workplaces become more human and labor to be more meaningful, but there is no doubt that something has to give. Whether or not one recalls the country hit from the 1960s (“Take This Job and Shove It”) or Dolly’s fabulous “Nine to Five” or the title of the rocker “Working for the Weekend” many of us live our work-lives in less than healthy settings. Or our imaginations have been captured by our consumer culture so we do not even care about finding meaning in the hours spent at work; we are just putting in the time until we can get to our real lives.

Whether it is the socio-cultural-economic degrading of working conditions or the negative assumptions we carry in our bones about why we work, anyway, with a sneaking hunch that it is just a “necessary evil” rather than a venue in which we find purpose in serving our neighbor and the common good, for whatever reason, many folks just don’t like their jobs much.

BOOKS CAN HELP

In this BookNotes column from Hearts & Minds, offered around Labor Day (as I do many years) we offer books that folks can read to help heal the wounds of work. Whether we need to step up like a Joseph or a Daniel and speak God’s truth into our work world or whether we have to deepen our desire to think Christianly about our particular career or calling, whether we might fight for social change in complicated institutions or whether we need to just nurture our own vision for a Christian view of work in more quiet ways, these books can help.

I can’t name all the titles we have in this genre but I seem to think that Hearts & Minds may have the most extensive selection of books about a theology of work and a faith-based views of careers and callings than any bookstore in the land.  Not many ask about them, but we stock them, endlessly. I hope others promote this sort of stuff but most Christian bookstores I’ve visited don’t even have a section on work (let alone career areas like business or architecture or farming or law or medicine or teaching or engineering.) So if you are looking for anything in this genre, we are the place to call.

In a way, this was one of our earliest distinctives when we opened our bookstore: in 1982 we wanted ordinary “butchers, bakers, and candlestick makers” to find something to help them relate Sunday and Monday, God’s care for their personal sin-sick souls as well as their public lives in the world of work and business and careers and economics. We worship, yes, but we also work, and some have said the Hebrew word in the Bible for work and worship are, in fact, the same word. How about that?

If you are interested, please read my other columns and see our other book lists HERE (where I shared links to some songs and websites and even a passioante talk I gave once at a conference about business.) Or, HERE or HERE. (where I list about a dozen links to important organizastions and resources.) I know I’ve shared these in years past but they are columns and reviews that I think are enduring and a topic we often need reminded of. I hope somebody prays for your job at church this week, but I know many of us will go unnoticed. Which is why you need these books — because chances are you aren’t hearing this in your local congregation. Am I right?

We hope these are helpful for your deep-down (maybe sublimated) interest in this topic. I’m sure you care. We are here to help. Read on.

ELEVEN BRIEF or INTRODUCTORY BOOKS TO START LEARNING ABOUT THIS TOPIC

Reweaving Shalom: Your Work and the Restoration of All Things Hugh C. Whelchel (Institute for Faith, Works & Economics) $9.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $7.99

This is one of the best short books we can suggest; it’s not even 60 pages and yet is profound. It is Biblically and theologically rich with discussion of what shalom is, why work matters, and the hope that our small role in God’s redemptive plan is significant. Can we “work for the shalom of the city” where God has planted us? The late Hugh Whelchel had over twenty-five years of experience in corporate business work and a Master’s degree from Reformed Theological Seminary. This short booklet is a fabulous little resource and we are honored to stock it.

Why not buy a couple to share with somebody who needs it.

Reintegrate Your Vocation with God’s Mission Bob Robinson (Good Place Publishing) $14.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $11.99

I list this one early here because it is easy to read and essentially a small group study book. There is in each chapter some good (brief) reading to do so it really can be done solo but the insightful and important questions for reflection deserve conversation partners. These exercises Bob offers are great!  Use it as a small group resource— there is nothing like it in print — or use it alone; either way I am sure you will be challenged, struck with new ideas, introduced to new authors (he has lots of great pull-quotes and boxed citations that show up nicely from all the right sources) and you’ll end up realizing it has, as Dr. Tom Nelson says on the back, “the potential to truly change your life.” A small-town bookstore owner in Dallastown has a blurb on the back, too, so there’s that. Don’t miss Reintegrate!

I hate to seem pushy, but if you are in a small group (or could imagine yourself starting one) this really is ideal to be read together and discussed. Sure it is fine to work through it yourself, but you’ll appreciate the conversations done with others.

Faithful Work: In the Daily Grind with God and for Others Ross Chapman & Ryan Tafilowski (IVP) $15.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $12.79

Again, really short and sweet, this handbook is an excellent introduction to the topic; one of the very best. One third of our waking lives are spent at work — there is no reason to leave God out of it. Work is, they say, “central to God’s mission to redeem souls, systems, and structures.” God uses our work to “bring hope to the brokenness and fallenness of our surrounding culture.” I love how they give a big picture of the framework for a missional vision of meaningful work — to love God and neighbor in the daily grind. You should buy a couple.

Chapman is now the CEO of the excellent Denver Institute for Faith & Work. Tafifloski is both a professor at Denver Seminary and a pastor and has worked with the Denver Institute. Faithful Work is a hand-sized compact book and less than 100 pages.

Women, Work, & Calling: Step Into Your Place in God’s World Joanna Meyer (IVP) $15.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $12.79

The wonderful Joanna Meyer is also a key leader at Denver’s Institute for Faith & Work and is one of the most beloved and esteemed figures in the movement of the last decade that is helping church folks think about their vocations and callings with a Kingdom-of-God vision for faith and work. I would say that this book is simply a must-read for any woman in the work world; it is concise and clear and powerful. In fact, I think it is so good in highlighting the key stuff about our vocational imaginations that it is good for anyone who wants a biblical framework for work and calling — men and women alike. Yes, it has some guidance for the particular sorts of challenges faced by women in the work world but it also wisely invites readers to pursue purposeful relationships, “collaborating and building strong relationships with others.” Women, Work, and Calling is both visionary and practical, faithful with a big picture and really helpful with day to day faithfulness. And it is short. You can do this! I very highly recommend it.

Work That Makes a Difference Daniel M. Doriani (Presbyterian & Reformed) $14.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $11.99

I will mention below a bigger book Dan did that this small one sort of spun off from, but for now, I want to celebrate this little one as one of my favorites in this field. During the COVID year of quarantine, Dan started to interview hundreds of people — maybe as research for the other, larger book. He has been teaching about the relationship of faith and life, faith and work, calling and career, and making a difference as God’s agent in the work world for decades, so it is great to see his books on this. (He is a pastor and Bible scholar and has contributed this book for a cohort at the St. Louis Center for Faith and Work.) But besides his pastoral theology and his respected Bible commentaries, this little volume is a gem. In just over 110 pages he invites us to think about ways to concretely live out faith in the marketplaces of the world. What does it look like to serve God and neighbor by doing good and transformative work; what are the Biblical and theological foundations? How do we step into our employment, knowing we are ordained by the God who blesses our human work? The discussion questions and exercises are very, very good.

You’ll smile when you learn that Doriani’s one grandfather was a farmer, the other an opera singer.  And as he put himself through college and seminary, he’s had his own share of colorful jobs.  I like his bigger volume (below) very much, but this is a short and concise introduction and particularly good for small group conversation. Yay.

Every Waking Hour: An Introduction to Work and Vocations for Christians Benjamin T. Quinn & Walter Strickland (Lexham) $12.95 // OUR SALE PRICE = $10.36

This small hardback is now out of print but we have a few left. It’s very neat a compact sized hardback. It was a companion to another small hardback, Every Square Inch about a Christian worldview and cultural engagement (that one written by Bruce Ashford.) The two lively authors here are captivated by their Biblical but broad worldview influenced by authors such as Herman Bavinck and Abraham Kuyper, as well as John Stott and the fun gang that created the popular For the Life of the World video curriculum. When they cite that you know it’s worth reading. Biblically-informed, thoughtful, foundational.

The Gospel Goes to Work: God’s Big Canvas of Calling and Renewal Stephen Graves (KJK, Inc.) $10.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $8.00

I’m not going to lie — I first ordered a big batch of these because the design was just so great; colored ink, not splashy but creatively arranged, a good (if small) font. It’s a really great looking little book, especially for younger readers who want a cool visual appeal. And, the price was awesome. And now we have it on sale! This is solid but also way cool.

Graves did a series of these little studies but this is the one that seems to me to stand out. He has worked as an executive coach and has helped many relate their deepest values to their careers, has given leaders a fresh framework for thinking well about how the gospel should shape our work — and how it really could. He uses this bit he calls “The Baseline and the Blue Sky” and it can apply to any worker doing any kind of work in any setting. This is a very cool little book. Get a few, while supplies last.

Working from the Inside Out: A Brief Guide to Inner Work that Transforms Our Outer World Jeff Haanen (IVP) $18.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.19

I really love this book and although he is not the only person offering a sort of contemplative spiritual formation perspective for our workaday lives, he does it as nicely and as compelling as anyone. Who among us doesn’t need some fresh energy for our work, for a balanced lifestyle, for caring about the Monday world? Haanen has been there, so much so that he founded the excellent Denver Institute for Faith & Work (see the two above related with the Denver Institute.) He later wrote a lovely little book on retirement from a fine Christian perspective. But this one? Wow.

This really is an invitation to a journey, to “pull the veil on the deep emotional and vocational challenges faced by the majority of workers” and it shows not only how our work lives can be a manifestation of our faith, an integrated part of our discipleship, but also what sort of inner resources we need to be of use to God in the work world.  The title says it all!

I like how Jeff touches so seamlessly with everything from vocation to civic health, from emotional life to spiritual formation. Using our minds, our bodies, our hearts — it is a multi-dimensional and deeply spiritual approach to finding the deepest purpose of work and labor. A truly wise book, in only 150 pages.

Mere Christians: Binge-Worthy Biographies That Show You How to Glorify God in Your Work Jordan Raynor and Kaleigh Cox (Harvest House) $24.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

Okay, this is a regular-sized, large hardback but I list it here because the print is big and there is artwork in the design, so it isn’t dense, and it is like five short biographies, giving it a structure that is really easy to read. One reviewer says it is “unlike any set of biographies ever written, filled with exciting twists and page-turning cliffhangers.” Okay, so, it’s vivid.

And it really does offer insights about Christian truths, Biblically-informed values that made a person’s work significant in culture-changing ways. We can all be history-makers. He looks at Fred Rogers, the Presbyterian TV host, Fannie Lou Hamer (courageous, black civil rights leader and advocate for women workers) Ole Kirk Christiansen (the founder of LEGO), Hannah More (the poet and writer who worked with Wilberforce against the British slave trade) and C.S. Lewis, literature professor and children’s author. Each little biography designed to help you integrate faith and work and sense of calling and purpose.

I almost rolled by eyes when I read the hype on the back cover — “Each profile is mercifully short, extremely entertaining, and profoundly-helpful with clear takeaways on how to glorify God in your own work.” But you know what? Jordan knows his stuff — I name his Sacredness of Secular Work in another list, below — and this fun set of bios is a friendly way into this conversation. Hooray.

The Seamless Life: A Tapestry of Love & Learning, Worship & Work Seven Garber (IVP) $21.99 //  OUR SALE PRICE = $17.59

Speaking of short and sweet, this really is one of my all time favorite little books, a compact sized book (on nice paper to reproduce full color photos.) It seems to be a travelogue report of Steve’s journeys, speaking engagements, visits, and memories, telling about this place or that, this workplace, that career area, a story of this kind of experience or that kind of sorrow. The beautiful and the profound come under his gaze and he writes eloquently about these seemingly one-off experiences.  It’s really good.

I’ve read some of the several page entries out loud in classes and speaking engagements  — they are that eloquent and compelling! The heart of this call to seamless living is to close the gap between Sunday and Monday, between worship and work. He loves to talk about passionate, life-long learning so that we can be shaped into people of character people who care, and do something important with what we know.  To live seamlessly, with coherence, really is an unspoken desire, often frustrated by the modern world. Here, he invites us to relate our love for God and our worship and our work. Many of us are in deep gratitude to Steve’s particular, elegant style, but his Fabric of Faithfulness, Visions of Vocations, and Hints of Hope are admittedly not simple. This, one, though, so conversational, with short chapters. Yay.

The Seamless Life gently weaves coherence and grace from he far corners of vocations, friendship, and spirituality. — Sandra McCracken, singer-songwriter and recording artist

Serious Dreams: Bold Ideas for the Rest of Your Life edited by Byron Borger (Square Halo Books) $13.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $11.19

Dare I say it? Push by own book? I suppose it’s my job (speaking about noble work) and, to be honest, no other bookseller or algorithm is going to bring it to your attention. I tend to mention it boldly in the Spring as a gift idea for college graduates. That is its reason for being in the world, why I called the authors and transcribed their college commencement addresses; we need a nice little graduation book for collegiates. The talks were all so good, giving wise and inviting advice to young adults setting out to find purpose in careers and callings, vocations and employment.

Not all the talks in Serious Dreams: Bold Ideas.. are exclusively about work, but nearly all emphasize a faithful, coherent vision of making sense of our loves and longings in ways that helps be knowingly salt and light and leaven in the cultural institutions we find ourselves in.  Naturally, in sending off college grads, there really was a missional vibrancy in these commencement addresses and I was glad to get to pull them together. You’ll find short chapters (with discussion questions) by Claudia Beversluis, Steven Garber, Richard Mouw, John Perkins, Amy Sherman, and Nicholas Wolterstorff. Oh, and that Byron Borger guy has a rousing one. I feel a little awkward suggesting it, but I think you may appreciate — or you may know somebody else who would appreciate — these inspiring, relatively short chapters of good talks about serious dreams and thinking about being sent into the work-worlds. Even if you never went to college or have long ago graduated. Do me a solid, friends, and send us an order. I think you’ll enjoy them. And it’s a nice way edging into this big conversation about labor and our working lives.

TEN MID-LEVEL, EASY-TO-READ TITLES TO DEEPEN YOUR WALK INTO THIS TOPIC

Why Your Work Matters: How God Uses Our Everyday Vocations to Transform Us, Our Neighbors, and the World Tom Nelson (Brazos Press) $21.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $17.59

For years, Tom Nelson’s amazing Crossway book Work Matters was one of the top go-to books, basic but fascinating, thorough but not daunting. It was just a perfect book for those starting their journey into this topic (or for those who had, indeed, already considered it a bit.) Rev. Nelson wrote the book from the point of view of a pastor who had neglected equipping his congregants to think well about their life in the work world and it was his own story of repentance that fueled the book. “Professional malpractice,” he called it, and his earnest awakening made for a compelling read. Alas, over time he has matured and thought more about this topic, so this 2026 re-release is a considerably re-written new book. That is, it is not just a rehash or a mere title change, but an almost fully new edition. There is some overlap but it is well worth having, even if you read the first edition. It’s not complex but it is just over 200 pages in 11 good chapters.

Rev. Nelson is the senior pastor of Christ Community Church, and founder and executive chairman of Made to Flourish.

An expanded and revised edition of a classic? What’s not to love!

Transforming Work: Encouragement from God’s Word for Your Day-to-Day Work Simon Flinders & Paul Grimmond (Matthias Media) $16.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $13.59

Author Simon Flinders is an Anglican Archdeacon to the Archbishop in Sydney Australia where he has done a lot on this topic; Paul Grimmond is a Vice Principle at Moore Theological College there. That they are a part of the broader Anglican communion is appealing to me, and that they are clearly gospel-centered, deeply Biblical, unmistakably evangelical, makes this appealing to many. I love how they use the Scriptures well (with explanations of the cultural mandate) and delve (as one put it) “with warmth and insight into questions around relationships and responsibilities.”  They insist that cliches are inadequate — like, for instance, cheap talk about achieving some “work/life balance.” Conservative evangelicals in Europe and down under are light years ahead of most American evangelicals, it seems, and we’re grateful for this delightful read.  8 Chapters, under 190 pages.

Faith at Work: Christian Vocation in the Professions edited by David W. Loy (Concordia) $29.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99

This isn’t the first time Lutheran folks have led the way and these individual essays are all written by Lutheran experts in their respect fields. They all offer (to greater or lesser degree) a Biblical and theological foundation for their particular sense of calling into their careers and employment. They each wonder how they are serving their neighbor by doing their part — Luther taught that, you know, that God cares for us through our neighbor’s work. Just imagine if there was nobody making your car parts or inventing your software or growing the what for your daily bread; some worker planted cables that got this internet info right to your inbox. Praise the Lord!  Anyway, the first part of this very readable book offers a foundation with five essays on Christian vocation. The essays for the rest of the book explore this as it relates to very specific professions. It seems to me that readers from any career area will be inspired to see how these sisters and brothers integrate their faith with their jobs. Granted, these are all professionals, but no matter your work place, this is lovely to see.

The first part of Faith at Work, by the way, has a chapter on work in the Old Testament, another on work in the New Testament, a good piece on vocation and human flourishing, another on economic systems, and a chapter called “Preaching to Professionals in a Secular Age.” I’m no preacher, but this was good stuff. If you are a preacher, you need to read this chapter!

The next part has a chapter on counseling, one on nursing, a bit on teaching, a piece on serving in healthcare administration, and another on serving God in public health work. There’s a fine contribution on coaching, one on law and justice, a chapter on business and one on the vocation of being a pharmacist. The print is large and it is only 180 pages. It isn’t a hard read at all, but I’ll bet there’s some stuff here you’ve never seen before. Enjoy!

The Sacredness of Secular Work: 4 Ways Your Job Matters for Eternity (Even When You’re Not Sharing the Gospel) Jordan Raynor (Waterbrook) $25.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $20.00

I’ve highlighted this often before so I don’t need to say much more other than to remind you that this is a treasure of a book, so interesting and compelling. Granted, it seems to be for those who think that personal evangelism is the only way we bear witness to God’s grace and that doing such gospel-sharing is the way we redeem our moments in the seemingly secular places we live. But, frankly, there really are not that many fire-breathing folks who only give out gospel tracts. Most of us know that how we live day by day is complex and that caring well means all kinds of levels of compassion and competency and embracing what some call a common kind of grace. So this book, despite the subtitle, will convince you of the depth of meaning of your seemingly secular job and that even if you don’t think a Christian view means you have to be talking about church all the time, it will guide you to a higher regard for your daily jobs.

(And it is a great adult follow-up to his lovely picture book for children called The Creator in You published by Waterbrook; $14.99 // our sale price = $11.99.)

There are some inspiring ways your work can reveal God’s Kingdom and there are some surprising strategies Raynor shows that “ensures vocation has an eternal legacy.” This really is a very good book. Deeply researched, it is still an easy read.  With the footnotes it’s only 180 pages. You’ll enjoy it.

Make Work Matter: Your Guide to Meaningful Work in a Changing World Michaela O’Donnell (Baker) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

You’ve seen her name here at BookNotes before (she co-write a fabulous personal growth title with our friend Lisa Slayton called Life in Flux: Navigational Skills to Guide and Ground You in an Ever Changing World.) She has worked as executive director of Fuller Seminar’s legendary Max De Pree Center for Leadership and consults regularly about leadership ethics, vocation and calling, and this very important topic of how to actually move from theory to practice, so to speak, from the theology of work to actually doing work that is meaningful and good. Her guidance here is very impressive and I have found it helpful even in our little business.

O’Donnell writes in Make Work Matter for those who maybe feel stuck, helping us name our frustrations and how to “lean in and let go” as we embrace a sense of being called. Of course, much of this is about “who you will become,” and she offers insights about being rooted in relationships and trusting your own creativity to do good work. She shows how to build resilience amidst challenges in your workplace. You may not be an entrepreneur, but there is something motivational about her showing how to find more meaningful ways to work. There’s stuff about empathy and imagination and reflection on the interior processes that help us “take the next doable risk.” This is rich, solid, brave, and very helpful.

Working in the Presence of God: Spiritual Practices for Everyday Work Denise Daniels & Shannon Vandewarker (Hendrickson) $25.95 // OUR SALE PRICE = $20.76

Although it isn’t a simple, short, beginners-level book to read (see the above category), Working in the Presence of God is inspiring and could be as transformative as any you’ve read in this field. The subtitle seems to say it all — this is about spirituality in the marketplace, praying and being attentive to the Spirit in our working lives. However, thinking about conventional prayers and meditations and liturgies of the ordinary doesn’t quite capture what this is about as there is much more to it than that. Yes, it invites us to spiritual disciplines and to “practice the presence of God” in the work-world. But it doesn’t spiritualize spirituality, it doesn’t offer a merely interior mysticism, but invites us to a real-world, creation-based, embodied sort of spiritual formation that allows us to see all of life (including out day-to-day jobs) as holy. Could our work-place be sacred space?

There are reflections on typical spiritual disciplines — sabbath, confession, solitude, prayer, lamentation — showing how they can be practiced at work. Wow, can we go beyond just remembering that Jesus is Lord of all areas of life and actually be attentive to the Risen Lord even in our busy and sometimes painful workplaces? Can our work become a venue for Christian maturity and can our witness there point gently to the light of Christ? This hardback book is remarkable. Highly recommended.

Practices for Working in the Presence of God: A Guided Journal Sharron Vandewarker & Denise Daniels (Hendrickson) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

This solid and well made paperback journal has lots of solid content, more insight and reflection on the ideas of the companion hardback, Working in the Presence of God. For those who want to carry not just the ideas about their faith but the spirituality of their lives into the marketplaces and hospitals and schoolyards and computer desks and medical labs and factory floors of their lives, this guided journal will help you do this. More than a few prompts and ideas, more than a collection of prayers and Psalms and other litanies, Practices for Working in the Presence of God has all that and more. Much more.

After some wise counsel about using the book to its full potential, the first big part is “Orienting to Work” and the first piece is “The Liturgy of Commute” and has ideas and thoughts and Bible texts and suggestions for imaginative prayer and more. The second part is under the rubric of Engaging in Work” (where there are four fabulous chapters, including ideas I am confident that you’ve never read before on confession and lament at work.) The final third unit is “Reflecting on Work” and these chapters offering marketplace / work-world ideas about solitude, prayer, and sabbath. Yep. Throughout there are black and white drawings that are just allusive enough on invite you in and make you ponder. You’ll be surprised how much is packed into this guide book, with adaptations suggested for various work-world locations. There is nothing like this and while it is a practical manual for apply the companion hardback, I think you could benefit just from this, even without the bigger book.

Working for Better: A New Approach to Faith at Work Elaine Howard Ecklund & Denise Daniels (IVP) $24.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

This has been touted — as I’ve said before at BookNotes — as one of the major new releases this year, groundbreaking in some ways. It is written by two veteran women scholars of this field (Ecklund is a socialist at Rice University and Daniels is a professor of entrepreneurship at Wheaton.) Together they offer a theologically well-grounded, research-based approach to the study of Christian influence in the work world. They’ve identified five key tensions arising from changing demographics in American culture and suggest “practical applications for all levels of workplace contribution.” Fascinating.

There has been a robust and growing movement in recent years about all of this faith in the work world —  and there Bible studies, books, podcasts, conferences, organizations, church-based ministry but also within industries and career fields. But some of the stuff being said has not changed much in decades. (Bethlehem Steel executive William Diehl spoke at our Pittsburgh Jubilee conference in the late 1970s on his groundbreaking book Thank God It’s Monday.) Ecklund and Daniels have studied the demographics of the workplace, the ways in which cultural shifts have changed how Americans think about work (and practice their careers or jobs.) This book really does push, as Curtis Chang put it on the Good Faith podcast, “beyond the tired categories of evangelism, ethics, and excellence. Working for Better is a way forward with a thoughtful combination of theology, data, and narrative.”  Yay.

Michaela O’Donnell says it is a “seminal study” and John Inazu (who has written professionally about civility and pluralism) say it is “a timely and important intervention.” If you collect resources on this topic you should know this one, for sure.

Work: Its Purpose, Dignity, and Transformation Daniel M. Doriani (Presbyterian & Reformed) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99

Oh my, I mentioned in my list above that Dan’s small book was a great brief guide for a small group to study. This is his major work on the subject and although it is almost 225 pages, it is a lovely read, full of story and theology, Biblical reflection and rooting our own experience of work in the broader redemptive narrative of Scripture. It’s one of the best and a must for anybody seriously leading in this topic.

Does all work really matter? Are some jobs more meaningful or better than others? Is “being true to your craft” enough? What does fidelity in the work space mean and look like? Can our work somehow contribute to making the world a better place, serving God and our neighbors? Doriani says yes.

Biblical scholar D.A. Carson says of the many books that treat a Christian view of work, this one is the best.

For everyone everywhere, our work is an expression of how we answer the most complex questions of life, of who we are and why we are. A historian, a theologian, an ethicist, a pastor, and (perhaps most profoundly) a grandfather, Dan Doriani takes up this complexity with seasoned wisdom born of years of paying attention to the life he has lived and the labor he has done. This volume is a unique contribution to the growing literature on the meaning of work for human beings. At one and the same time it is rooted in remarkably rich biblical and theological reflection and also pastorally responsive to the people Dan has known whose vocational questions have informed his writing. I know of no other book like Work. May it have a wide reading among those who wrestle with why we work, and why our work matters to God and the world. — Steven Garber, former professor of Marketplace Theology, Regent College; author, Visions of Vocation: Common Grace for the Common Good

A concise yet comprehensive must-read for the thoughtful and committed Christian embedded in the ‘secular’ workplace. Dan Doriani has masterfully captured the nuances of the twenty-first-century workaday world, covering a wide range of topics from discerning God’s calling to dealing with difficult corporate situations and contemporary dilemmas, such as overwork and underemployment. Doriani skillfully explains pertinent theological principles in everyday language, lacing his narrative with compelling true-life illustrations and applications. Whether answering God’s calling on the shop floor, in the corporate office, or in the home, the reader will find practical and theologically sound answers here. — Franz J. Wippold II, Emeritus Professor of Radiology, Washington University, St. Louis

Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work Timothy Keller & Katherine Leary Alsdorf (Penguin) $22.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $17.60

I suppose this is still the gold standard in our library of books about a Christian approach to work. Co-written by a wonderful woman who has been a corporate executive and leader in the Redeemer Church’s Center for Faith and Work, she and Keller offer exquisite insights about all things related to this topic.

It is hard to explain just how very important this book has been, with the famous Tim Keller validating many of us who have been saying this sort of thing for years, affirming a broad Kingdom vision of a “creation-being-regained” sort of worldview, grounded in the Bible’s gospel-centered view but laden with culturally-savvy insights about the society and our views of labor. From the goodness of it all to the hard toil, from signs of hope personally and structurally, this really offers a philosophy of the topic that is wise and charming and serious. It is a masterpiece in so many ways…

Some might say it focuses a bit too much on professional life, on careers and workspace common to Keller’s Manhattan landscape. Yes, he has investment bankers and museum administrators and top surgeons and world-famous ballerinas in his congregation. But there are public school teachers and retail workers, software designers and bus drivers, too. Biblical wisdom is applicable to all folks in all sorts of job sites and Every Good Endeavor is aptly named. It is one of the best, weighing in at about 265 pages before the footnotes and other pages… Co-written by the amazing Katherine Leary Alsdorf, one of the most important voices in this topic in the last 25 years.

Their Center for Faith and Work (CFW) groups order books from us and we have contributed to some of their older industry specific bibliographies on their website. Katherine has mostly retired and Tim of course has passed away, but CFW remains vibrant under the leadership of Paul Sohn (who wrote Quarter-Life Calling: Pursing Your God-Given Purpose in Your Twenties) and former Pennsylvanian, Robbie Brown. Just the other day I saw a whole page at the CFW website of prayers for architects. Thanks be to God.

TEN SOMEWHAT MORE DEMANDING, LENGTHY or EXPENSIVE VOLUMES

Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work Matthew B. Crawford (Penguin) $19.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.20

Not too expensive or hefty, I almost put this in the above category, but although it is often breezy and a fun story, it is at times a tad philosophical. Crawford was a University of Virginia scholar who ended up pushing white papers at some think-tank and he realized this seemed neither meaningful nor virtuous; he longed for something more tangible. He opened a motorcycle repair shop and here reflects long and hard on how we devalue blue collar work and why embodied reality calls forth — if only we’d listen —an interest in shop class. In the trades. In working with one’s hands. The New York Times Book Review called Shop Class as Soulcraft “a beautiful little book about human excellence and the way it is undervalued in contemporary America.” It’s a fun, profitable read, but, again, he is a mechanic who likes to philosophize a bit. As he ruminates on the craft of practical, manual trades, he notes that such work “can be more intellectually demanding than the sort that deals with abstractions.” And, importantly, “maintenance and repair work also cultivate certain ethical virtues” which in turn foster habits of responsibility. Wow, this is good stuff.

We also love his important work The World Beyond Your Head: On Becoming an Individual in an Age of Distraction and his fascinating reflection Why We Drive: Toward a Philosophy of the Open Road. But for our purposes here, now, read Shop Class as Soulcraft. You won’t regret it, I promise.

Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good Amy L. Sherman (IVP)$27.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $22.39

Oh my, this is such a good book, with so very much content and lots to ponder. I love that it has an energetic foreword by Reggie McNeal and a spectacularly-written and deeply moving Afterword by Steven Garber. Amy is a hero in these circles and she really gets how we are called into God’s Kingdom, living out faith to help the culture flourish. The book she wrote after this one is magisterial and, while covering so much, a truly fabulous read. That one is called Agents of Flourishing: Pursuing Shalom in Every Corner of Society (IVP $29.99 // our price $22.39.) But for the topic work in this Labor Day season, you’ve got to read Kingdom Calling to reflect on how we steward our vocational options.

I trust her instincts and admire her gifts as a speaker and writer. (Her chapter in my Serious Dreams is maybe my favorite entry as she holds up example of graduates from the college where she spoke and the ways in which they are doing good work in the world, in jobs and innovative businesses and social initiatives for the common good.)

Kingdom Calling is a serious handbook on relating faith to work and her pattern in the book is to start basic, offering a few  simple and obvious sorts of ways to bring faith into one’s job site; the next proposal is a bit more sophisticated, a deeper intentionality about faithful presence at work. There’s a third model, and a fourth, each a different angle or style of strategy for stewarding our vocational options. Not everyone can start their own (Christian) business, say, and not everyone can even deeply integrate a Christian way of thinking about the practices of her career. But can we do something? Of course. Her stories are contagious and her various “levels” of innovative commitment to a Christian sense of vocation in one’s career are all so, so helpful. This is a fabulous book articulating the ways in which we think Christianly about work and then exceptionally clear about (various ways) of how to make it happen, with different styles, instincts, or models. There is a rare blurb from the wise Katherine Leary Alsdorf which speaks volumes. This is an important, wonderful book.

One of the great bits in the book is an extended rumination from Proverbs 11:10. She was the first I ever heard ask about this, why it would be that the (secular) city would rejoice when the God’s people prosper. Do people get happy when slumlords and union busters and corporate fat cats prosper? No, they do not. People are glad when the righteous (the tsaddiqim) prosper because they see those leaders, those neighbors, those good folk, as a blessing to them and their setting. They are glad when God’s people succeed because they know that they are blessed when the tsaddiqim succeed. This is the reputation we should have as workers doing stuff that is a help to the community and to the workplace.  Her piece about this is something I’ve been thinking of for years, now.

We are, supposedly, challenged by our preachers, we learn to more deeply trust God as we bless the world, our neighbors and especially the needy flourish and so the world celebrates. Yes!  Believe me: Kingdom Calling will help those of you who are struggling to understand how this works. It is a great book and you will have greater insight once you read it.

Lived Vocation: Stories of Faith at Work Timothy K. Snyder (Fortress Press) $21.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $17.59

Again, this one isn’t that academic or pricey but it’s just a bit more sophisticated in tone than some. I think it makes sense that David Jensen (Academic Dean at Austin Presbyterian Seminary) called Snyder a “theological Studs Terkel.”  Terkel, of course, wrote the groundbreaking collection of interviews in 1974 called Working which captured some of the joy and a lot of the pain of 20th century working class lives. In Lived Vocation, Snyder ( a professor at New York’s General Seminary) interviewed and then reported on the experiences of ordinary folks, offering “the multifaceted lived experiences of real people at work, challenging our default understanding of the vocations of others.” He admits his own sense of vocation is complex and (as Jensen puts it) the result is “a beautiful interweaving of our story and theology, testimony and tradition.”

In a way this is how the doing of theology (broadly and practically understood) is an on-the-ground project, done in community, in real places. There is much to absorb and consider, especially for those who have read some of the above books, as this one breaks it down, gets really real, and helps us empathize with those trying to live into their sense of call in the real world.

A black pastor (of Bethany Baptist in NYC)  notes that most of the folks in the book don’t have any theological training as such, and says it is “a thoughtful and necessary reflection.” Indeed.

Eighth-Day Discipleship: A New Vision for Faith, Work, and Economics Richard H. Bliese (Fortress) $22.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $17.60

It is important that mainline denominational publishers, more than most other faith-based presses, it seems, take up the important task of reflecting on economic systems, a theology of markets, relating Biblical ethics to the structures of capital and capitalism. (See, just for instance, Building a Moral Economy: Pathways for People of Courage by Cynthia Moe-Lobeda, released by Fortress; $35.00 // $28.00.) Eighth-Day Discipleship places our work-lives in the context of our global economic setting, so there is a bit of a Christian critique of late-modern capitalism even though it isn’t mostly that. It has been called by Phyllis Anderson, former President of Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary “astoundingly original, accessible, and important.”

Here are two things about it: Richard Bliese has extensive ministry experience on three continents and cares deeply about evangelism and wholistic mission. He knows the gospel and cares about what some might see as core truths about personal salvation and the grace that shows the love of God. Bliese cares about disciple-making and wants the church to be active in reaching and shaping the lives (the whole lives) of folks everywhere. He is situated as a mainline Christian and draws on Luther’s Catechism for an “evangelical design” for living well. In a way, we could as easily put this book in our discipleship section or our disciple-making section as it has that missional focus.

The second thing is that Bliese reminds us that the gospel story always links belief and behavior, faith and work, the personal and public sides of life, so, to be faithful in our day and age, we have to grapple with the forces of the economy, reforming it, so to speak, being agents of resistance and transformative ways being engaged in work and service. To see a Lutheran guy citing Abraham Kuyper and to see a mainline denominational leader not fall in to standard left-wing critiques is refreshing. Maybe the Spirit really is helping us foster a new vision for faith, work, and economics. This book blends some varying perspectives and covers a lot of territory.

Worth Doing: Fallenness, Finitude, and Work in the Real World W. David Buschart & Ryan Tafilowski (IVP Academic) $25.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $20.79

I appreciate the visionary clarity and evangelical zeal in that first category of basic books above — easy, exciting, inviting us to honor the Kingship of Christ over all areas of life, basic explorations of a Christian view of work. Rejecting dualisms and working towards integration, we can think Christianly about all zones of culture and, obviously, then, work. While most admit that the workplace is often stressful and that our labor may even seem in vain at times — let alone any whistleblowing efforts to change anything all that much — those books are all mostly upbeat and hopeful. They offer greater joy and purpose as we head more knowingly into our occupations and holy callings, allowing God to meet us on the shop floor, business center, art studio, school, clinic, break-room, or lab or house (since unpaid work like homemaking is still work, as well.)

This book, though, Worth Doing — wow.  This one brings a deep truth about things that simply must be said. We live in a fallen world and we have limits. We have our personal sins and weaknesses and a lack of wisdom, sure, but the systems and institutions and cultural air we breathe is sullied. We all live East of Eden and yet we forget that a theology of work must take into account the implications of “finitude and the fall.”

These authors are seminary professors (at Denver Theological) and both have PhDs from important places (Drew and Edinburgh) and both invite us to take serious the goodness of our limits (a la the books of Kelly Kapic, who wrote a great introduction) and the challenges of this fallen world.

“A vital contribution to the faith-work conversation, especially for those who don’t always feel seen in traditional narratives of calling and purpose.” — Denise Daniels co-author of Working for Better: A New Approach to Faith at Work

The Church and Labor Joseph Husslein & John Ryan (Cluny Publishers) $24.95 // OUR SALE PRICE = $19.96

Cluny does classic reprints of mostly Roman Catholic scholarly works (and old fiction) and we stock some of their wonderful resources. This little remembered volume was published in 1920, presenting “the teaching of the Catholic Church on a social issues intimately connected with the other problems and assets of industrial society: human toil.”

The back cover tells us:

Compiled by Fathers Husslein and Ryan, The Church and Labor includes texts by Popes Leo XXIII, Pius X, and Benedict XV, as well as other important voices from Catholic thinkers (and the bishops from Ireland, France, and Germany, not to mention the American Bishops — all decades ago!) There are church based insight on a living wage, on “the reconciliation of capital and labor” and essays on the development of a Catholic social platform that stands for justice and social reform.

While all of the pieces are situated in older time and places, the topics are current, including a firm piece against socialism (from the German Bishops in 1920) one on industrial relations, and another on what was called “the labor question.” The prose writing, from an earlier era, is a bit complex and the book weighs in at nearly 325 pages.

Saving the Protestant Ethic: Creative Class Evangelicalism and the Crisis of Work Andrew Lynn (Oxford University Press) $35.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $28.00

Twenty years ago a scholar named David Miller (now the Director of the Princeton University Faith & Work Initiative) wrote a much-discussed book (on Oxford University Press) called God at Work: The History and Promise of the Faith at Work Movement. It was, and remains, a major scholarly research report into this movement. We here at Hearts & Minds in Dallastown were one of the few Christian bookstores who carried it, or so we were told.  Now, Andrew Lynn comes along and picks up the tale, doing academic study into the convictions and cultures of those involved in at least the conservative Protestant wing of the larger-than-ever faith and work movement. It’s an interesting survey, important for anyone offering leadership in our movement.

From marketplace ministry to the sort of alternative businesses explored by Amy Sherman, from talk of a Christian labor union (like the one in Canada, the CLAC) to Christian centers offering fellowship and industry-specific prayers and proposals, there is so much to report. Saving the Protestant Ethic — an allusion to the famous Max Weber book, I guess — shows how this public conversation and movement is not a passing fad, but increasingly sophisticated and self-aware.

No greater a social scientist than Robert Wuthnow recommends this book:

In these days when almost everything about American evangelicalism is controversial, this well-researched, fair-minded book about the evangelical ‘faith and work’ movement is a welcome contribution. Andrew Lynn has provided a great deal for supporters of the movement, its critics, and all who worry about the moral malaise present in the marketplace to ponder. — Robert Wuthnow, author of Why Religion Is Good for American Democracy

Working Blessedly Forever Volume 1: The Shape of Marketplace Theology R. Paul Stevens (Cascade) $29.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99

Working Blessedly Forever Volume 2: The Practice of Marketplace Theology edited by R. Paul Stevens & Lucas Lee (Cascade) $29.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99

Working Blessedly Forever Volume 3: The Spirituality of Marketplace Theology edited by R. Paul Stevens $29.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $23.99

Oh my, if there were one person I might call the grandfather of this faith at work movement, who, at least in the somewhat worldviewish branch the evangelical and Reformed stream of this movement, could be considered a fountainhead, it might be Paul Stevens of Regent University in Vancouver, WA. He has faithfully proclaimed a wide-as-life faith, inviting his students all over the world to embody a creation-based, redemptive lifestyle that, of course, has vast implications for work, for the market, the marketplace, and our visions of vocation.

He wrote the first book in this recent trilogy, The Shape of Marketplace Theology, and it carries a tremendously wise and eloquent introduction by Steve Garber (who also taught at Regent for a bit.) In volume 1 Stevens makes the case that doing marketplace theology involves thinking well while also being rooted in spirituality and being led to actual action in the world. It deftly explores how we ponder and pray and work. It is a magnificent first volume of many of his shorter pieces and we highly recommend this first volume.

The second volume, The Practice of Marketplace Theology, focuses specifically on the work we do, the habits of our hands and bodies and how we might embrace fresh and helpful practices as workers. He edited this one, so the essays are from dozens of people from around the world with numerous jobs and occupations in various arenas. I do not recognize most of them but they offer deep and thoughtful reflections. There are a few chapters, too, by the way, about the work of pastors and how churches can nurture marketplace theology and vision.

“Paul Stevens has made seminal, if not singular, contributions to the faith and work movement over a long and distinguished career. Working Blessedly Forever is the fruit of that blessed life in conversation with many influenced by his example. Volume 2 gathers thoughtful marketplace practitioners and practical marketplace theologians to explore how faith and work can find expression in everyday life. Highly recommended and a gift to the church and the world. “– Uli Chi, author, The Wise Leader

The Spirituality of Marketplace Theology is the third book in the Working Blessedly Forever trilogy and is, as the subtitle shows, about prayer and spiritual practices. Again, although he has several contributions, much of the book was edited by Stevens, so the chapters are from faithful voices from around the world.  My friend Steve Garber has a chapter in this one but many of the writers are not authors of books. They have various jobs, and they offer their wholistic spirituality here, helping us all “work blessedly forever.” Amen!

 

 

FIVE MUST-HAVE BOOKS FOR PASTORS AND CHURCH LEADERS

Leading Worship for Workers: How to Design Liturgies for All of Life Matthew Kaemingk and Kathryn Roelofs (Baker Academic) $22.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $18.39

When I announced this earlier this year I was thrilled to have the opportunity to tell you about it. I loved it for several reasons — firstly, of course, because of our passion about the Biblically commanded principle that we are to do our work unto God. Which is to say, worship should have something to do with our vocations in the world. This volume is a much-needed (rare, even) resource for helping congregants do what they are called to do.

Secondly, perhaps as a consequence of thinking about vocations and callings and employment (and unemployment) and so forth, we, again, grapple with the Biblical vision of God’s care about all of creation, about the awe of life on planet Earth, soiled by sin as it may be. That is, by helping us think about worshipping for work, we are led to the broader question of worshipping the God who is there, the God revealed in the Bible as worker and creator. Thinking even occasionally about leading worship for workers will remind us of the broader principle of worshipping a God who loves creation, made us as image-bearers to nurture that creation. We worship the Lamb who was slain for the sins of the world and the creation itself. In other words, besides the obvious resource about worshipping in ways that help workers in thinking of their jobs as Christian work, it also, more generally, pushes us to think generously about the gospel for life.

Anyway, just having a book like this speaks volumes about faith and life and the Kingdom’s relevance to culture and God’s great redemptive promise to restore us fully to our image-bearing calling to work and rest. Leading Worship for Workers is surely one of the most important books published in 2026.

Worship leader and author Constance Cherry (emeritus professor at Indiana Wesleyan University) says:“

This is a handbook filled with biblically grounded, practical examples and exercises that help address the persisting bifurcation between the sacred and the secular.”

Exactly. Order it today.

Work and Worship: Reconnection Labor and Liturgy Matthew Kaemingk and Cory B. Wilson (Baker Academic) $32.00 // OUR SALE PRICE = $25.60

Well, if the Leading Worship for Workers manual is the practical handbook to accompany Work and Worship, I’d say this original text, Work and Worship, is the brilliant foundation for thinking well about both work and workship and about the combo of work and worship, together. With a forward by Nicholas Wolterstorff, you know it is serious and mature and profound — there is simply nothing like it on the market. We’ve highlighted this before and can’t say enough. Give it to your pastor if she or he doesn’t have it yet. Which they probably don’t.

Luke Bobo, who worked for Made to Flourish for a time, says it is “beautiful and timely” and notes that even though ti is methodical and persuasive, it is winsome. He says that Kaemingk and Wilson trace how this vision drew in diverse people and people groups and cultures, ancient and modern.

And listen to this, by Jamie Smith:

Here, finally, is the book that will take the ‘faith and work’ conversation to new depths of intentionality. With theological clarity and real-world accountability, Kaemingk and Willson mend what we have rent asunder. Advancing scholarship in theology of culture, it is also a must-read for those who lead worship for workers — which includes, of course, everyone. This should become a standard textbook, for the sake of the church and for the sake of the world. — James K. A. Smith, Calvin University; author of Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation and Imagining the Kingdom: How Worship Works

Pastoring for Monday: Help Your Congregation Integrate Faith and Work Matt Austen (IVP) $19.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.59

I hope you recall that we celebrated the release of this recent book just a few weeks ago. We noted that Matt Austen has been himself a pastor who has studied this exact topic of relating faith, work, economics, and vocation at Fuller. He is now President of Made to Flourish (and editor of their great magazine, Common Good.) I don’t know if he was mentored by Tom Nelson (see Why Your Work Matters to God, above) but he is now at the helm of this amazing organization that Tom founded to help clergy and church leaders made a difference in their neighborhoods and the workplaces of their congregants. If ordinary, daily work matters to God, as we’ve said, it is a fair question to ask if it matters to God’s church? I have noted before that in my own church we have never heard a careful sermon on this topic and I cannot recall ever having been prayed for as a businessperson. Perhaps you are there too, feeling a bit neglected. It would be a great gift to share this with you pastor.

If you are a pastor, you may know you most likely need a book like this.  We have and pastors need all kinds of professional resources, about doing funerals, about pre-marital counseling, about leadership, stewardship campaigns, promoting public justice, and the various aspects of preaching and leading worship. So you know you read widely to understand how to do your job, better and better. It is an honor to serve you in this journey of professional development.

If you have struggles with thinking well about this theme of work, wondering how to engage your people with this topic, I’m sure this book will help. Buy this, and you will be able to move forward in this area with greater confidence.

Put plainly, the wonderful Amy Sherman says:

Matt Rusten knows that genuine discipleship necessarily includes an intentional, consistent, practical focus on helping parishioners understand their work through the lens of faith. A veteran at this sort of equipping, he shows how to do it with excellence and specificity, providing numerous illustrations from Scripture and ordinary people’s lives. Armed with Rusten’s tool-belt of strategies and practices, clergy will learn how to effectively support and relevantly communicate with their members as they navigate many common work-related struggles. — Amy L. Sherman, author of Kingdom Calling and Agents of Flourishing

And pastor Tom Nelson, senior pastor of Christ Community Church, and founder and now chairman of Made to Flourish, of course, weighs in:

Out of a deep and refreshing well of theological reflection, hands-on experience, and timeless wisdom, Matt Rusten ignites leadership imagination, offering helpful tools to pastor congregants with their Monday in mind. This truly outstanding book is a remarkable gift to the church and a must-read for every pastor. — Tom Nelson, author of Why Your Work Matters.

Read those two endorsements again, and use the order button at the end of this column. You’ll be glad you did.

Faith Work: Galvanizing Your Church for Everyday Impact Missy Wallace & Lauren Gill (Redeemer City to City) $18.99 // OUR SALE PRICE = $15.19

These two fantastically gifted women have been at this for a long while and they know, as well as anyone, how a whole church can be inspired to live out this robust faith that focuses on a sophisticated, multi-dimensional missional vision. What does a congregation where almost every members sees their work as an opportunity to deepen their faith and truly serve God (right where they work) will do to cast that vision, to deepen those who appreciate it, to offer both theological footing and strategies to overcome the obstacles to a coherent plan of integration faith and work. This book, created out of the network of Redeemer “City to City” churches around the world, gives nuts and bolts plans and steps, like a roadmap, for implementing this sort of stuff in a big way in your church. Michaela O’Donnell (of the Max De Pree Leadership Center) says it should be “required reading for eery church leader who believes the people of God are called to live out their faith in every sphere of life — including their work.”

Every sentence, every framework, every tool and case study are the hard-won fruit of decades of ministry-tested, cross-cultural, cross-sector work, reflection and distillation.        — Rev. Abe Cho, vice president of Thought Leadership at City to City.

Discipleship with Monday in Mind Skye Jethani & Luke Bobo (Made to Flourish) $8.50 // OUR SALE PRICE = $16.80

Here we are, back where we started with a very basic, succinct, and charming little book that is inexpensive but worth its weight in gold. The subtitle says “How Churches Across the Country Are Helping Their People Connect Faith and Work.”

Happy Labor Day, dear readers. We only have a few of these left but this is a compact sized, thin (and handsomely designed) resource showing how real pastors have helped their churches connect faith and work.  In a way it introduces the whole topic for congregational leaders in short pieces, testimonials and stories of churches that did something to enhance the vocational sensibility of their congregants. It shows “what you can do to hep your congregation make the connection between Sunday worship and Monday work.”

From pastoral practice to worship planning, for how we talk about spiritual formation to how we talk about mission, it all can nature or discourage a sense that God and God’s people in the church care about the daily work of ordinary members.  This small book is under 100 pages and is a nice, quick read, perhaps to share with somebody who is’t ready for the other books on this list. Churches can introduce this view of labor and the Biblically-informed meaning of work into its life discipleship, formation, and mission. This little book shows you how others have done it.

Click below to either ask a question at our inquiry page or to order at our secure website. Just tell us what you want and we’ll take it from there.  We are sure your life will be better if you read some of these books. All are 20% off, too.

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