It’s Sunday morning and the faithful have gathered. The printed schedule for the service here at Hometown Friends Church tells me the message/teaching time will feature the interaction between Jesus and the woman at Jacob’s well. Immediately my mind goes to John Perkins and “Going through Samaria.” John 4 is the classic John Perkins text and the source of his 3Rs of Christian community development.

The first is relocation. Jesus deliberately went through Samaria and thus was able to touch the lives of people who were outside the Jewish religious establishment.

The second is reconciliation. Jesus crossed a racial barrier to chip away at a cultural divide and deliver the living water that provides spiritual reconciliation.

The third is redistribution. Jesus addresses the woman’s need by affirming her dignity and opening a path for her to rise above her past. Often the most effective redistribution does not require things but involves equipping and empowering people to break out of a cycle that holds them in captivity.

It has been 35 years since I moved from Jackson, Mississippi, back to Oregon after working at Voice of Calvary Ministries with John Perkins for two and a half years. But this morning as I listen to the pastor, I’m also going through Samaria with Jesus and John Perkins.