Author: Mark Greene
By Jackie Kunze
I have to admit that when I was first asked to read the book “Thank God it’s Monday” for a review, one of my first thoughts was, “I cant do that, I’ve got too much work to do!” When I got book home and saw the subtitle “Ministry in the Workplace” I realised that I was just the kind of person that needed to read this book.
And I have to say that I was captivated from the first page. Mark Greene’s style is very easy to read and he uses lots of anecdotes of the modern workplace to illustrate his points. But more importantly, he draws on examples of biblical characters who faced similar challenges in their work.
He begins by challenging the commonly held perception that secular work is somehow inferior to full-time gospel work. He reminds us that the greater percentage of Christians are actually in the secular workplace and are therefore far more capable of forming trusting relationships with people who do not know God, and he gives lots of helpful suggestions on how to do that.
But Greene doesn’t just look at the workplace as a place for evangelism. He also challenges our attitude to work and the relationships we form there, including that with our boss, which I found especially helpful. He even paints a very clear picture of what Christian bosses should look like, or someone that has authority over others. Ultimately, he presents us with a blue print for the radical employee which is based on the concept of a ‘servant leader’ with Jesus as our primary role model.
One extract that really struck me was where he describes how we as Christians should stand out in the workplace as for many of our colleagues we may be the only exposure to Christianity that they might have had.
So, in conclusion, I would recommend this book to anyone who finds working in the secular environment a challenge or struggles to relate to the people that we meet on an everyday basis. It certainly challenged me to think about my own attitude to work and the way I view my colleagues.
