One of my goals for this month is to get more reviews posted, so I’m taking advantage of a few extra minutes to schedule a post for a day I rarely post on: Tuesday! The book I’m reviewing today is extremely short in length, but full of substance.
About the Book
Title: Life on Mission @ Work
Author: Tyler Edwards
Genre: Nonfiction, Christian Life
Synopsis: Many of us spend a large portion of our waking hours at work. For some, it’s hard to find time for anything else. How do we follow Jesus AND deal with the demands of our job? What if we stopped viewing our work as an obstacle and started seeing it as an opportunity? Could our relationship with Jesus change the way we view, value, and behave at work? Life on Mission at Work is focused on practical ways we can turn our work into our mission field, where our occupation becomes our opportunity to glorify God and share His love and grace with others.
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
My Thoughts
Let’s start with the format of the books. It’s short, right around fifty pages, and those pages include a few block quotes and offset Bible verses. I think this is perfect for what this book is trying to be: a handy, blunt tool for strengthening Christians who are not vocationally involved in ministry. It’s accessible and easy to read in about an hour – which may be all of the free time some have in a whole week! Also, the chapters and sections are well defined, making it is easy to visualize when you are moving from one topic to another. I find this helpful in preventing information overload.
The content itself is rock solid. Everything is on topic and useful. Ultimately, the tone is motivational to its target audience (Christians looking for encouragement/a nudge to live more appropriately), but it could easily be read as over-the-top by someone with a different mindset. The drawback here is that the target audience is so small, but I applaud the author for sticking with it.
What I like best about this book is the combination of action points and guided reflection. We’re provided with specific, attainable steps to take in order to live on mission at work (and, spoiler alert, none of them involve Bible-thumping or criticizing), which are then discussed and followed up with a few reflection questions. These questions are simple and help get the reader’s heart and mind in the right place to respond to the Biblical truth behind each point. Many Bible verses are quoted throughout the book, too, backing up everything that is said.
The Verdict
Life on Mission @ Work does what it sets out to do. It gives the reader reasons why it is important to be active in your faith while in your workplace, lays out some reasonable ways of accomplishing this, and under girds it all with scripture. It’s not light or super fun; instead it is serious and emphatic. From a purely literary standpoint, it’s probably three out of five stars. From a theological one, it’s five out of five. So I am giving Life on Mission @ Work by Tyler Edwards four out of five stars.
If you like Jefferson Bethke’s writing, you will probably like this book. The confidence and passion here reminds me of his voice while remaining distinct.
Are there any books that you go to when you need an ethical pick-me-up? Life on Mission @ Work would be a valuable addition to such a booklist.
Until the next chapter,
Jana
Reviews From the Stacks 