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Workplace Discipleship 101: A Primer
Workplace Discipleship 101 contains encouragement and practical advice for Christians who are serious about living out their faith in their daily work lives. This book is packed with simple, practical suggestions organized in an intuitive format with straightforward language.
Answering questions such as "How can I serve Jesus while I'm at work?" and "What does it look like to follow Jesus in my field of work?", this book provides Christians with practical insight and biblical inspiration no matter where they work.
The book is split into three main sections: "Preparation" (how to get ready), "Presence" (what we do at work), and "Post Workplace" (beyond the workplace).
Key points and features:
- Biblically and theologically based.
- Presents information in an easy, understandable way.
- Discusses the importance of work and discipleship.
- Offers insightful questions for application.
- Fills a hole in the growing "faith at work" genre of literature.
"Few people I know have thought more deeply and practically about the integration of the Christian faith in the workplace than David Gill. In Workplace Discipleship 101, David Gill's keen intellect, ethical clarity, and encouraging heart frame a persuasive and practical guide for all apprentices of Jesus who long to embrace an integral faith. This book is an invaluable resource I have been waiting for. I highly recommend it!"
Tom Nelson, Lead Senior Pastor, Christ Church, Kansas City; President, Made to Flourish; Author, Work Matters: Connecting Sunday Worship to Monday Work
Answering questions such as "How can I serve Jesus while I'm at work?" and "What does it look like to follow Jesus in my field of work?", this book provides Christians with practical insight and biblical inspiration no matter where they work.
The book is split into three main sections: "Preparation" (how to get ready), "Presence" (what we do at work), and "Post Workplace" (beyond the workplace).
Key points and features:
- Biblically and theologically based.
- Presents information in an easy, understandable way.
- Discusses the importance of work and discipleship.
- Offers insightful questions for application.
- Fills a hole in the growing "faith at work" genre of literature.
"Few people I know have thought more deeply and practically about the integration of the Christian faith in the workplace than David Gill. In Workplace Discipleship 101, David Gill's keen intellect, ethical clarity, and encouraging heart frame a persuasive and practical guide for all apprentices of Jesus who long to embrace an integral faith. This book is an invaluable resource I have been waiting for. I highly recommend it!"
Tom Nelson, Lead Senior Pastor, Christ Church, Kansas City; President, Made to Flourish; Author, Work Matters: Connecting Sunday Worship to Monday Work
- GenresBusiness
272 pages, Paperback
Published October 1, 2020
2 people are currently reading
19 people want to read
About the author
David Gill
123 books4 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 16, 2021
Summary: A practical guide to living as a follower in one’s workplace focused on how we get ready for our work, impact our workplace, and beyond our workplace.
As a teenager who had been raised in a Christian home and church, one of the things I struggled with in high school was making the connection between Sunday, and Monday through Saturday. Had it not been for the Jesus movement and later, the collegiate ministry I was involved with, I may have walked away from Christianity. To say Jesus is Lord but then live six days a week as if he has nothing to do with them seemed just a wee bit inconsistent. Atheism seemed more consistent and less hypocritical.
David Gill writes out of a similar conviction. Observing that we spend the largest part of our waking hours at work, Gill contends it only makes sense for those of us who follow Jesus to learn how we may do so during those hours. He then proceeds to give us a book (part of Hendrickson’s “Theology of Work” series) grounded solidly in a theology of both discipleship and work and incredibly practical in its applications.
The book is organized in three parts. The first considers how we might “get ready for our work.” He begins by inviting us to commit to be a workplace disciple and share it with someone else who won’t let us evade that commitment. He then writes about prayer, both crisis prayers and ongoing prayer with models of workplace prayers and even how to use the Lord’s prayer in praying about our work. He addresses the other side of our communication with God in listening to Him in scripture, understanding it as centered around Jesus and God’s mission in the world, and then offers ways to engage the scriptures personally and in groups. He urges us not to go it alone but to have a “posse” of the like-minded and offers helps for forming such a group. Finally, Gill believes we need to be lifelong learners, and particularly commends the importance of reading (I knew there was a reason I liked this guy). He makes extensive suggestions of books to get us started on a theology of work.
Having gotten us ready for work, the second part of the book speaks of our impact as Christians at work. First of all it means aligning our work with God. After looking at God the worker, he makes recommendations about understanding our gifted passions and pursuing them as disciples of Christ. Our model as imitators of Christ is a big part of our impact, living with the qualities of righteousness, peacemaking, and joy. He encourages us to be light in our workplaces, bringing the unique insights and questions that our shaped by our reading of scripture, with humility but without apology. We don’t have to say, “the Bible says,” but simply, “what do you think of this?” As we live in these ways, we will have chances to share our faith. As we listen to others, they will be ready to listen to us. Gill suggests various ways we might initiate but concludes “that the best time to share the gospel is when someone asks you about it and wants to hear your answer” (p. 163). Sometimes we will be confronted with wrongdoing or conflict in the workplace, and the challenge here is to be overcomers. He talks about how to identify serious wrongdoing in the workplace and how to address conflict with humility, courage and prayer.
The final part of the book moves beyond our workplace with a number of ideas of how we may contribute the gifts and skills we use in the workplace to the benefit of the wider church. His last chapter is on rest and the importance of sabbath in our lives as workers. He contends that intentional efforts to schedule and set aside sabbath, vacations, date nights, and periodically, longer sabbaticals, is crucial to gaining control of our time.
The text is broken up with periodic “chalkboards” summarizing key points and chapters conclude with a “to do” list and questions for reflection and discussion. This makes the book ideal for use in a church or workplace group. It also includes a postscript for pastors, urging them to address the workplace life of a congregation, including visiting people on the job.
What distinguishes this book from many I have read is that it is at once solidly grounded in a theology of work (without the author showing all his work!) and at the same time extremely practical and applicable. The challenge of this book is not figuring out what the author is saying or how to put it into practice, but will one practice and live into the clear steps of discipleship laid out by the author. Again, having a posse will add to the impact of this book as you urge each other on the path of workplace discipleship.
____________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
As a teenager who had been raised in a Christian home and church, one of the things I struggled with in high school was making the connection between Sunday, and Monday through Saturday. Had it not been for the Jesus movement and later, the collegiate ministry I was involved with, I may have walked away from Christianity. To say Jesus is Lord but then live six days a week as if he has nothing to do with them seemed just a wee bit inconsistent. Atheism seemed more consistent and less hypocritical.
David Gill writes out of a similar conviction. Observing that we spend the largest part of our waking hours at work, Gill contends it only makes sense for those of us who follow Jesus to learn how we may do so during those hours. He then proceeds to give us a book (part of Hendrickson’s “Theology of Work” series) grounded solidly in a theology of both discipleship and work and incredibly practical in its applications.
The book is organized in three parts. The first considers how we might “get ready for our work.” He begins by inviting us to commit to be a workplace disciple and share it with someone else who won’t let us evade that commitment. He then writes about prayer, both crisis prayers and ongoing prayer with models of workplace prayers and even how to use the Lord’s prayer in praying about our work. He addresses the other side of our communication with God in listening to Him in scripture, understanding it as centered around Jesus and God’s mission in the world, and then offers ways to engage the scriptures personally and in groups. He urges us not to go it alone but to have a “posse” of the like-minded and offers helps for forming such a group. Finally, Gill believes we need to be lifelong learners, and particularly commends the importance of reading (I knew there was a reason I liked this guy). He makes extensive suggestions of books to get us started on a theology of work.
Having gotten us ready for work, the second part of the book speaks of our impact as Christians at work. First of all it means aligning our work with God. After looking at God the worker, he makes recommendations about understanding our gifted passions and pursuing them as disciples of Christ. Our model as imitators of Christ is a big part of our impact, living with the qualities of righteousness, peacemaking, and joy. He encourages us to be light in our workplaces, bringing the unique insights and questions that our shaped by our reading of scripture, with humility but without apology. We don’t have to say, “the Bible says,” but simply, “what do you think of this?” As we live in these ways, we will have chances to share our faith. As we listen to others, they will be ready to listen to us. Gill suggests various ways we might initiate but concludes “that the best time to share the gospel is when someone asks you about it and wants to hear your answer” (p. 163). Sometimes we will be confronted with wrongdoing or conflict in the workplace, and the challenge here is to be overcomers. He talks about how to identify serious wrongdoing in the workplace and how to address conflict with humility, courage and prayer.
The final part of the book moves beyond our workplace with a number of ideas of how we may contribute the gifts and skills we use in the workplace to the benefit of the wider church. His last chapter is on rest and the importance of sabbath in our lives as workers. He contends that intentional efforts to schedule and set aside sabbath, vacations, date nights, and periodically, longer sabbaticals, is crucial to gaining control of our time.
The text is broken up with periodic “chalkboards” summarizing key points and chapters conclude with a “to do” list and questions for reflection and discussion. This makes the book ideal for use in a church or workplace group. It also includes a postscript for pastors, urging them to address the workplace life of a congregation, including visiting people on the job.
What distinguishes this book from many I have read is that it is at once solidly grounded in a theology of work (without the author showing all his work!) and at the same time extremely practical and applicable. The challenge of this book is not figuring out what the author is saying or how to put it into practice, but will one practice and live into the clear steps of discipleship laid out by the author. Again, having a posse will add to the impact of this book as you urge each other on the path of workplace discipleship.
____________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
December 15, 2021
As a pastor, I repented some years ago about not preaching about work and the workplace and have since integrated these themes in my preaching as well as periodic sermon series.
David Gill's life message, distilled in this book, served for me as an idea starter for a fresh, six-part sermon series on workplace discipleship.
• Being intentional about our workplace adventure. Since Jesus is Lord of our lives, he's also Lord of our work life.
• Getting better at our jobs. In our relationships, not going it alone. In our responsibilities, being lifelong learners.
• Working like God works – applying God's character in our jobs.
• Impacting our workplace – knowing that God's kingdom values are often upside-down to the values of the world.
• Expressing our faith in the workplace as Christ's ambassadors and peacemakers.
• And beyond our workplace, contributing to our church and community, and following a rhythm of work and rest.
David Gill's life message, distilled in this book, served for me as an idea starter for a fresh, six-part sermon series on workplace discipleship.
• Being intentional about our workplace adventure. Since Jesus is Lord of our lives, he's also Lord of our work life.
• Getting better at our jobs. In our relationships, not going it alone. In our responsibilities, being lifelong learners.
• Working like God works – applying God's character in our jobs.
• Impacting our workplace – knowing that God's kingdom values are often upside-down to the values of the world.
• Expressing our faith in the workplace as Christ's ambassadors and peacemakers.
• And beyond our workplace, contributing to our church and community, and following a rhythm of work and rest.
June 2, 2022
If you desire to be a guiding light at your workplace but are not real sure of how to accomplish your goal; this book will help you. It is full of practical and engaging principles to help anyone desiring to be disciple-maker! The book is a great reference book packed full of ideas and instruction on how to integrate your Christian life in the workplace.
May 28, 2024
Great Book That Helped Me A Lot
This book came to me at a great time, and I am so glad I got it.
Gill details a lot of information on how to disciple in the workplace - both directly, but more importantly and more detailed, indirectly.
I got a lot out of it, and would highly recommend it.
Check it out!
4.0/5
This book came to me at a great time, and I am so glad I got it.
Gill details a lot of information on how to disciple in the workplace - both directly, but more importantly and more detailed, indirectly.
I got a lot out of it, and would highly recommend it.
Check it out!
4.0/5
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews