A Note from Muddy Pearl

What’s in this bundle?

Thank God it’s Monday by Mark Greene:

So much more than a means to a mortgage, our work is a gift from God. And he wants to see us flourish in it all, doing what we were made to do: creating value, building homes or businesses, teaching primary schoolers or training pilots, stitching up minor injuries or serving macchiatos. Being everyday servants and witnesses in the world he entrusted to each of us, giving glory to the One who made us and gave us work to do.

In this innovative, compelling, often funny, story-filled book, ex-adman Mark Greene explores what the Bible has to say about contemporary work. From dealing with the boss, to being the boss; from working with competitive co-workers, to the challenges of working alone, here’s an empowering, tried and tested guide towards a more fulfilling and fruitful working life.

The Accidental Social Entrepreneur by Grant Smith:

Grant Smith is not an enthusiastic missionary. He’s a problem-solver. When confronted with the desperate problems of poverty he witnessed in Africa, he did the only thing he knew how – business. Business that would provide jobs and pay people enough so that they would not have to rely on charity to send their kids to school, so that none would be forced to live in a tin shed without water, electricity, sewerage, or dignity, fighting off the threat of pneumonia every time it rained. His venture led to a great challenge: become the biggest housebuilder in Kenya.

Both humorous and realistic, Smith tells of his successes and failures, wrestling with difficulties that every entrepreneur knows too well. He is not the biggest house builder in Kenya – yet – but Smith has stumbled on a near-miraculous way of unlocking long-term financial provision for local Christian charities. For those who dream of making a difference for communities affected by poverty, The Accidental Social Entrepreneur is a real challenge to consider how we might use the gifts and resources we have been given to change lives.

Digitally Remastered by Guy Brandon 

The communications technologies that now permeate our every waking moment open up endless possibilities: we can do things more quickly, we can do things more efficiently, we can do more things. And yet there is a downside – our time absorbed in social media and sifting through shopping choices; a quarter of working hours spent in unproductive online activity. And more sinister implications: loss of privacy, anonymity, the undisclosed harvesting of personal details by commercial and government organisations. Ultimately, the reality of communications technologies is that either we will master them or they will master us.

In this incredibly helpful book, Guy Brandon unpacks the practical and spiritual significance of our technological choices and encourages us to use communications technologies in a way that aligns with our faith and calling, and makes us more faithful, more human and better at relating to one another.