What matters to the world (big pay check, prestige) is not what matters to God. What matters to God is whether one is Christlike from 9-5. Unfortunately, people are often encouraged to check their faith at the door when they come to work. In response, Michael Zigarelli offers Faith At Work. He seeks to answer how Christians can overcome formidable faith""obstacles""in the workplace. Drawing on the wisdom of the Beatitudes, Zigarelli has created a very practical and encouraging resource for anyone seeking to translate their Sunday faith into Monday morning.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Zigarelli, author of Management by Proverbs, again explores biblical principles for keeping Christian faith alive from 9 to 5. Drawing heavily on the Beatitudes, he encourages workers to forsake worldly values such as money, prestige and power, concentrating instead on cultivating Christlike humility in the office. He generally assumes that readers hate their jobs and must overcome a sense of "Monday Mourning" to drag themselves to work. He also seems to presuppose that his worker-readers will all be male; his examples overwhelmingly feature men successfully responding to various career challenges. The women he depicts are without exception either victims (such as the secretary whose boss made her sit in a bar and beep him if she saw a woman he might find attractive) or victimizers (such as the malicious academic colleague who tried to deny tenure to the author, a self-described "na?ve . . . father of three"). The book is often marred by Zigarelli's snide tone; in the chapter on meekness, for example, he sarcastically attacks Yale Divinity School, painting YDS students as goddess-worshippers and Bible-corrupters. Zigarelli offers up some helpful statistics on the changing workplaceAfor example, we are working 120 hours longer per year than we did 20 years agoAand some fine suggestions for cultivating compassion for co-workers and a habit of gratitude. But the book's overall tone is harsh and very audience-specific: only white-collar Christian males who despise their jobs need apply.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
AWESOME AND A MUST READ BOOK!!,
By Stephanie (Virginia Beach, VA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Faith at Work: Overcoming the Obstacles of Being Like Christ in the Marketplace (Hardcover)
"Faith at Work" IS AWESOME AND A MUST READ BOOK!! For those of you who skip the introduction and just read the required text - the INTRODUCTION is a MUST READ!!To be totally honest, I read the Introduction first to see if the book would be worth my time reading vs skimming. After I found myself in tears halfway through the Introduction, I just had to read the Epilogue to find out what happened - and I found myself crying again. And as I read the rest of the book, I found myself crying out in repentance when the author seemed to had written my thoughts and actions from MY own hands. FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO SKIPPED THE INTRODUCTION OR SKIMMED THE BOOK, let me give you a summary..... "The time comes for the obligatory short speeches commemorating [your retirement from your co-workers]....Now take this scene one last step. Imagine for a moment that the person at the podium is not your co-worker, but Jesus Christ Himself....He says your name [Stephanie]..."I'm going to tell you good folks what [Stephanie] did at work all of these years that really mattered," He begins." Imagine if this story was TRUE and Jesus Christ as one who spoke "commemorating your work throughout the years. Tell me, would you drop your head in shame or in humility? Would you sneak out of the room in disgrace or would you wait till the end to thank Jesus for helping you to endure till the end? This story pierced my heart and I began to cry out to God for forgiveness. Tell me, during these years leading to YOUR retirement, did you (and me) forget "what mattered to God" and replace it with "want mattered to me"? Were we in the pursuit of pleasing God, pleasing man, or pleasing me? Were we being Christ-centered or "me-centered"? Boy did this book burst my bubble and bring me back into the "right" perspective! "Faith at Work" helps you to understand and define what's "keeping you from being more Christ-like in your job and your career." It helps you to identify the barriers and tells you how to overcome them though the principles of the Beatitudes. The book holds your interest with real stories - some with wonderful outcomes like the "Veggie Tales' and others with not so good outcomes like "The Revenge of the Granny." This book is better than a "dinner and a movie" - well maybe just the movie (smile). I've decided that I would not just ask the questions WWJD (that's What Would Jesus Do), but I would take it one step further (like the book suggests) and DWJWD - that's Do What Jesus Would Do. This book has not only helped me to overcome the obstacles of being Christ-like at work but most importantly it has helped me to overcome the obstacles of being Christ-like PERIOD. I pray that in reading "Faith at Work" that your heart will be cleansed, your spirit renewed, your life changed, and your retirement speech from the Lord in line with the Beatitudes. Blessings upon you all,
5.0 out of 5 stars
A challenging "New" Kind of Leadership,
By
This review is from: Faith at Work (Paperback)
I purchased Zigarelli's book, "Faith at Work," online after reading its introduction. I was EXPECTING it to be a typical book of religious ethics with a familiar 'God will make you prosperous if you just follow these three easy steps.' I was surprised to find that it was one of the most spiritually challenging books I have read - so much so that we in Life Journey Ministries have decided to use it as required reading for our "Freed to Let Faith Transform Your Work" online course.I particularly appreciate Michael Zigarelli's work as a whole. His ability to combine obvious expertise in organizational management with a very practical application of the Christian faith is invaluable. But in "Faith at Work," he has produced a work that causes any Christian leader in today's marketplace to sit up and take notice. This will NOT be an easy book to practice! It will truly require faith and trust in Christ to perform. It is not for the spiritually faint-hearted! Zigarelli's application of the beatitudes to leadership in many ways is an oximoron. The beatitudes operate from a totally different understanding of power than any management or leadership training I have received. It is almost absurdly paradoxical to think that such philosphy and behavior could even survive in today's cut-throat leadership environment. Yet, there is also a side of the Christian mind (or maybe ANY spiritually-minded person)that not only grasps the possibility of its truth; the book touches our souls and our faith confirms it! And, there is the beauty of this book. It challenges us with the question, "Are you ready and willing to step up to the plate and truly live by faith, fully realizing that 'success' may occur in ways normally not understood nor accepted by today's materialistic leaders?" If we Christians truly want an authentic and transparent means of being God's presence in the workplace while also doing good, responsible management, this book is a must read.Ordinary People, Extraordinary Leaders
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