Church on Sunday, Work on Monday: A Guide for Reflection [Paperback]

Laura Nash (Author), Scotty McLennan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 28, 2001

This title takes the popular spirituality-at-work movement to the next level, filling a gap in the literature by offering concrete ways for business people and churches to work together in partnership.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Church on Sunday, Work on Monday, Laura Nash and Scotty McLennan's guide to negotiating spiritual and economic priorities, can help corporations, churches, and seminaries tackle a difficult project. The authors' goal is to improve communication between the worlds of church and business. Much of their book, drawing on extensive research including case studies and interviews, defines the obstacles to such communication: liberal church leaders are dismissive of capitalism, conservative church leaders are overly indulgent of it, and business leaders are put off by both of these unsophisticated economic perspectives. Nash and McLennan offer questions for "Reflection" and "Action" at the end of each chapter, and they provide a few general suggestions, particularly for churches and seminaries, that might improve communication between the two worlds. The book devotes most of its energy to diagnosis, however. The prescription is yet to come. --Michael Joseph Gross --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

According to McLennan (author of Finding Your Religion and inspiration for Doonesbury's Rev. Scott Sloan) and Nash, the church manages to support and nurture its people through birth, marriage and death; when it comes to helping Christians make sense of the day-to-day grind of the business world, however, churches are too often silent. It is vital for the future of the church, and for the well-being of Christian business-folk, that churches and parishioners find a way to talk meaningfully about the connections between faith and work. Clergy in particular will value this book, which is filled with tips to help them minister more effectively to the businesspeople in their midst. For example, the authors suggest that seminaries should offer more "exposure to the character of the businessperson," and that clergy should attend the occasional business seminar. This would have been a stronger book if the authors had restrained themselves from stuffing it with familiar but uninspired self-help suggestions for "reflection" and "action" at the end of each chapter, or cutesy mnemonics like "the four P's." It is hardly the final word on the subject; its riveting descriptions of the glaring gulch between church and business are more compelling than its attempts at bridging that gulch, making this more "wakeup call" than solution. Still, McLennan and Nash have made a valuable contribution to the growing conversation about church-life integration, and clergy especially shouldn't miss this book.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (September 28, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787960721
• ISBN-13: 978-0787960728
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #853,302 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Integration of Christian Morals in the Workplace, September 30, 2011

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Lynn - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Church on Sunday, Work on Monday: The Challenge of Fusing Christian Values with Business Life (Hardcover)

I highly recommend reading this book. Only, be aware that their is a lot of repetitiveness in the chapters. It was perhaps not edited as well as it could have been. Nevertheless, I very much enjoyed reading this book. Just like the beginning of a mystery novel, the beginning of this book is surprising and disheartening. Yet, as you continue to read, the writers reveal their true intent. I found it very informative and encouraging.

3.0 out of 5 stars Church on Sunday, Work on Monday - STUDY GUIDE, May 17, 2009

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A. Stricklin (Nashville, TN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Church on Sunday, Work on Monday: A Guide for Reflection (Paperback)

I was actually wanting the book, "Church on Sunday, Work on Monday," and didn't realize the listing was for a study guide, instead (which I did not need). Probably my fault for not looking closely enough. I bought the actual book on Barnes & Noble (not available on Amazon). However, the study guide arrived promptly and in excellent condition.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Few Steps Across the Chasm, December 22, 2006

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A. J. Valasek (Clemmons, NC United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Church on Sunday, Work on Monday: The Challenge of Fusing Christian Values with Business Life (Hardcover)

This book delves into the highly unresearched area of business and religion. The result is that at best, this book can only help start to help develop the construct. Although the authors provide a fair assessment about a portion of the divide, it is obvious that the breadth of denominations explored is minimal so unless you are in a few specific metro areas or in the northeast, you may scratch your head a little while reading this.

Some of the points are certainly valid for describing why there is such a large separation of church and state, but overall they are lacking. I don't think there is enough substantive points for a person to actually apply much of what is contained.

There is an underlying criticism of secular spirituality while simultaneously acknowledging the success of the approach. I think their criticism of the church body for accentuating the gap with highly divisive interpretations of the Bible is fairly accurate.

Although spirituality and religion are separate terms for most people today, there is a resistance by the authors to embrace this change. There reasoning is not exactly faulty since there is a need for religion, but a bit narrow in fearing that religion is being marginalized by its brother (or sister) spirituality.

The bottom line is that religion must change or face further scrutinization and unless absolution of power is achieved, that is unlikely. Some of the protestant groups have made much greater strides in this arena and the authors did not do those denominations enough justice.

The bottom line is that the best suited audience for this text are preachers, pastors, fathers, etc., and social researchers. Business executives will not likely benefit much from this. The reason is that the church must meet people where they are, not keep themselves holed up behind a wall trying to preserve their eroding power from a constituency that is leaving them in droves.