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When You Work for the Church

The Message Women’s Devotional Bible

Published by

April Yamasaki

June 17, 2025

When the doorbell rang, I wasn’t expecting this delightful package! The Message Women’s Devotional Bible will be available August 5th from NavPress, but in the meantime, I have two copies of The Gospels portion to give away.

To enter the random draw, just leave a comment below letting me know why you’d like a copy.

I’m looking forward to the full Bible scheduled for release August 5th. The biblical text is Eugene Peterson’s The Message, accompanied by character profiles and other devotional pieces written by over eighty women of different ages, vocations, backgrounds, races, and ethnicities. I also understand that the publishing team was almost entirely women, working on editorial, design, and more.

For this project, I was glad to contribute several topical reflections on 1 Kings 5, Proverbs 11, Amos 4, and Hebrews 11. It was a wonderful privilege to pray, research, reflect, and write alongside other women engaged in the same deep work. May the message of Scripture be read by many in The Message Women’s Devotional Bible, and may faith be nurtured and enlivened to the glory of God and the good of all.

The Gospels portion is available now and/or you can preorder the full Bible.

Tags: Bible

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8 responses to “The Message Women’s Devotional Bible”

Grace Kroeker

June 17, 2025

I am trying to down size the books I have. A gospel would be just the amount I would like.

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schroedereh

June 17, 2025

I love Peterson’s translation of The Message, so to have one in which women have participated would be awesome! Especially someone like April!

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Denise Epp

June 17, 2025

Not only would I like to read this, I think my daughter, a pastor, would enjoy this women’s devotional/commentary.

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Susan Allison Jones

June 17, 2025

Looking forward to adding this to my collection of great resources for women’s Bible studies.

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Steph

June 17, 2025

I think this book could be exactly what I need to revive my devotional life! I will definitely look into purchasing the full bible version when it arrives. Thanks for pointing out this great resource, April!

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Glenda McKenzie

June 19, 2025

I’m always looking for a new devotional – for myself and to share with my mom and sisters. Checking out the gospels will give me a good idea of what the rest of the book will look like. Thanks for this opportunity!

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revmay2

June 20, 2025

I’m always looking for resources for myself and others that highlight the dignity of women made in the divine image. I value the contributions of women as they read, interpret, and apply the Scriptures because God includes us in so many familiar and unexpected ways in the Scripture.

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April Yamasaki

July 13, 2025

This draw is now closed. Thank you to all those who entered—if you did not win a copy, I hope you’ll find another way to read The Message Women’s Devotional Bible: The Gospels. The full Bible will be available starting August 5.

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I’m April Yamasaki

Welcome to When You Work for the Church. I’ve been a church volunteer and a full-time pastor. I’ve led small groups and served on denominational committees. When I resigned from pastoral ministry to focus on my writing, I knew that I wanted to be—needed to be—grounded in a local congregation. I love the church!

But I also know that churches and church organizations have not always lived up to their calling, have brought harm instead of healing. So I started this website to share resources for doing ministry better, and pray that together we might serve more faithfully and effectively.