Theology Blog

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a verbal processor. Every once and a while, in response to a question or situation I say something and as I hear it, I think, ‘hey that was pretty good’ or ‘hey, that is a possible God thing.’ It is summer which means I have an intern that I work with. Interns are great and have a lot of energy, and while it is a lot of work for me, I do enjoy the process very much. In talking with my intern Tuesday, I made a comment about context. You see, in life and certainly in ministry, context is everything. Context really matters, although it should not dictate life or ministry. My comment was that you “need to master your context before it masters you.” I did not mean that in a manipulative kind of way (although I recognize it could sound manipulative & could be used in a manipulative way) instead, I was referring to the importance in ministry of knowing your context: to work within it, to honor it, to redeem it. In many cases, it is tempting in ministry to ignore all of or parts of your context and when that happens, you do not get to lead, instead the context eventually runs you over or you run away from it. In many ways this all seems very worldly and far too political and practical in nature, yet it also seems like this is something Jesus was aware of as well as He minister in context. The question I am now pondering is, ‘what is a healthy theology of context?’

If you read this and have any thoughts, I would love to have them!