#FAITHWORKNETWORK

An interactive journal-outline for Christian readers.

Wallace offers a “succinct tool for thought, reflection, and action” from a Christian perspective, and the key word is succinct: It’s fewer than 50 pages in length, and there’s very little actual text. It provides 21 daily reflections, most consisting of simple questions preceding blank, ruled spaces for readers to add their thoughts and answers. Day 12, for instance, straightforwardly asks “What are three ways your work can transform the way you see your business, career, or life?” Day 15 is even simpler, asking “When you think about networking, what are the first three words that pop into your mind?” As these and other questions (and the book’s title) indicate, the general context of the reflection points is the business world, and particularly the process of professional networking (Day 18: “What are three ways networking can glorify God through your business, career, or life?”). As Wallace points out in one of the book’s rare patches of prose, “work” in modern times has a bad reputation; we should reimagine it, she writes, “as a wonderful, inspiring adventure that produces joy, income, and blesses many through our businesses, careers, and lives.” The questions are also designed to emphasize a connection between business activities, Christian ethics, and the idea of one’s closeness to God. This is a tenuous connection at best, and many readers don’t naturally link self-directed activities such as networking with Christianity—and in such a slight book, the author doesn’t take time to convince skeptical readers. Wallace’s contention that readers must be “bold focused, fearless, and forever bold about activating [their] faith in our businesses, careers, and lives” is only sketchily served by the book’s overly simple prompts. Some of the questions are thought-provoking, but the book would have been better served by longer, more detailed discussion.

A sometimes-intriguing but underdeveloped collection of queries about the work-faith connection.