Review of 'The Everyday Gospel' by Tim Chester

I've read quite a few of Tim Chester's books and he consistently gives good biblical teaching with a particular emphasis on how Christians should live in missional community with one another, sharing life on an everyday basis, and reaching the lost collaboratively through ordinary day by day activities. I think this book has been written to rectify the idea that 'spiritual' activity like preaching, singing hymns or praying is separate or somehow divorced from 'normal' life where we do chores.

The cynic in me sees a male writer choosing as his example chore the task of washing up - which I've heard a few male preachers refer to as well- and part of me wonders if this is the only chore that some of these men actually do! Hence why it crops up so much in illustrations. But that, as I say, is the cynic in me and probably has no real foundation! But I do think that women, who are perhaps exposed to doing more of the mundane household chores (especially if they are full time mums), see them differently to men. I'm making huge generalisations here, I know, but hear me out: don't we, as women, just tend to get on with it anyway and manage (with varying levels of success) to balance housework with our parenting, job, time with the Lord and in fellowship with other believers?

I think the need for this book lies in the sad fact that we often value our day by productivity, and often housework doesn't 'count', because our efforts are so quickly undone or replaced by a fresh load of dirty dishes. We live in a culture that seeks to define success by attainment, and if you've done the washing up it's a pretty small victory. We definitely need to re-think the way we assess our lives: are we judging ourselves and others by the values of the gospel or just the (pretty shallow) values of the world around us? If full time mums are feeling judged by people around them as 'wasting' their time and talents in the home and feeling depressed as a result then there certainly is the need for this book to reaffirm the value of doing the small things well and being diligent in your circle of influence.

I guess what I want to say to sum up is that this book is true and valid, but perhaps it needs more specific application to different people (or genders, dare I say it?) at different stages in life. Whilst it's true that all of us will have to do mundane tasks each day, for some of us this is more relevant than others! And I think this book could have had a real opportunity to speak into the situations of the full time mum, or the recently retired, as well as to the 'busy' professional.

That said, I am probably just being way too critical and I don't want to come across as negative towards a great writer who has produced some fantastic resources, many of which my own church has been really influenced by and I've seen really positive effects from. Perhaps you should buy it yourself and see what you think?