Look Right

By Daniel Davis
My friend, Earl Creps, offers some provocative insight on contextual ministry while on a trip to Ireland:

On a cold, rainy Monday in Dublin, Janet and I were guided to the local shopping mall by our host, Wilma Davidson...

On the walk to the mall we came to an intersection where Wilma cautioned us to “look right” before crossing. This warning seems counter-intuitive to Americans conditioned for a lifetime to “look left.”

But when people drive on the left, you better look the other way at crosswalks, or the next one may be your last one.

This Irish traffic lesson reminded me of how context changes so much about how we do ministry. In one setting, the appropriate move is to look left, but in another it’s to look the opposite way. So ministry in Berkeley will depend on understanding the setting through relationship with those who live in it.

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Earl is the author of Off-Road Disciplines: The Spiritual Adventures of Missional Leaders and Reverse Mentoring: How Young Leaders Can Transform the Church and Why We Should Let Them.

Earl blogs at www.EarlCreps.com