Workship 2: How to Flourish at Work by Kara Martin. Graceworks. 237 pages. 2018
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This is the follow-up to the author’s excellent 2017 book Workship: How To Use Your Work To Worship God. Section 1 of the book includes practical wisdom for the workplace. Section 2, which I found most helpful, provides information for churches about responding to the needs of workplace Christians in their congregations.
The book covers a wide variety of subjects regarding work, including hospitality, work-life balance, humility, servanthood, beauty, ethical issues, rest, play, bullying, conflict, toxic workplaces, non-selfish ambition, unemployment, the Proverbs 31 woman, and the future of work. Again, the section that I found most helpful was on helping churches equip workplace Christians. There is much information of value to pastors and church leaders in this section. The author writes that the weekly gathering of the church is the appropriate time of preparation for the scattering of the church Monday to Friday.
Each chapter ends with a prayer and a helpful “Taking it Further” section.
The book includes two appendices:
Appendix 1: Interview Preparation Guide, which is an excellent resource for churches interested in interviewing workplace Christians.
Appendix 2: Mentoring Program, in which the author shares a mentoring program based on the spiritual disciplines she described in her first Workship volume.

Workship 2 is a nice complement to the first volume, and I recommend reading and applying both.

Below are a few helpful quotes from the book:

• Hospitality is the generous welcoming of guests or strangers. It is about creating a safe and friendly place to build relationships and do work.
• In offering hospitality, we are bearing witness to the character of God, and also giving a glimpse of the coming kingdom.
• The first step to achieving work-life balance is to ensure that we have a right attitude toward work, and life, as gifts from God to be used in his service as acts of worship.
• A toxic workplace is not just a place routinely impacted by sin. It is a place that negatively impacts people to such an extent that it hardly seems sustainable. It goes against God’s vision for business, which is the flourishing of the workers and of innovation in products and services that add to creation.
• Sometimes, I think we get sucked into thinking we have one great calling that God is drawing us to, and that our role is to guess what that calling is. In truth, I believe we have a calling to many different roles, in private and in public life, and God calls us to honour him in all those roles.
• Work is that which you do with purposeful intent, paid or unpaid, seen or unseen. God is interested in all work which might not be valued economically, including prayer, character formation, and worship in everyday life.
• This is the challenge for all church leaders — the task of equipping their congregations well for the work they do throughout the week, paid or unpaid.
• Mentoring is significant for helping all age groups to remain connected with faith and church, but it is especially pivotal for millennials.
• There is an opportunity for every Christian worker to see themselves as an informal chaplain, offering hospitality, care, and counsel within the workplace.