Books for Every Christian Gentleman: Developing your Marriage, Ministry and Money

Welcome to our first publication of 2024. Like the closing article for last year, this article will focus on the subject of books. As a growing Christian man, I have been influenced by books I have no doubt shaped the skills and personality I have developed over time. Out of these books, I have selected nine (9) whose lessons stuck with me the most and I would like to share them with you. My hope is that you will experience the same or more impact than what I enjoyed by reading them. The books I am sharing with you are not all explicitly Christian books, so, they would require that you read them with a Christian perspective and with discernment as I believe that the best Human works may still have human flaws.
In today’s article, present the first four (4) books related to the three fields of a man’s life, Marriage, Ministry, and Money, with short comments about each book. In the next article, I plan to focus on five books that I believe are relevant to the holistic development of a man’s Body, Soul, and Spirit.

Marriage
Model Marriage by Dag Heward-Mills
This book’s discussion of personality types and marriage has stuck with me through my young marriage. I was amazed by its accuracy in linking personality types to individuals’ to their approaches to the marriage relationship. I believe that this book would be particularly helpful for a man who wants to have an initial understanding of his wife’s predispositions and how he may respond to those in marriage. Of course, people change as the marriage progresses but understanding their initial predispositions may be helpful in reducing misunderstandings and increasing empathy especially early on in marriage.

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Ministry
God’s Generals by Roberts Liardon
Roberts Liardon’s God’s General’s collection of books is very helpful to read very early in life, or at least very early in the Christian life. The one in the series that might be of the most relevance is God’s Generals: Why They Succeeded and Why Some Fail. While it is focused on people who were influential in ministry, it is quite helpful in understanding that influential men and women in the service of God are not without flaws but most importantly what are some of the mistakes that Christians, even influential ones can make in ministry.

Money
The Richest Man In Babylon by George Clason
This book, argued to be based on translations of ancient texts from Babylon, explains the first principles of making, managing and multiplying money. It provides insights on how to build financial security or even wealth from various circumstances using anecdotes and stories. The book is based in ancient Babylon, hence, it is one of those books you would need to read with a Christian perspective and discernment. For example, replacing references to gods with God Almighty. Some versions of this book are written in ancient English, I enjoyed those versions but if you are less comfortable with ancient English, you may want to grab modern translations.

The Cashflow Quadrant by Robert Kiyosaki
The cashflow quadrant was influential in my choice of career, even though that may not have been the directly intended purpose of the Book. In my opinion, it discussed the four ways of making, managing, and multiplying money, and by reading it I found it helpful in choosing the kind of career I found relevant to the kind of life that I wanted to live and the way I wanted to handle the Money aspect of my life. It may be helpful to read the first book in the series Rich Dad Poor Dad before reading the Cashflow Quadrant, however, I found Robert Kiyosaki’s books (the two that I read) to have high words-to-lesson ratio, so please feel free to skip to portions you believe may be most relevant for the lessons you want to read.