Even through the double-pane window of a 10th floor hotel room the sounds of the city have a way of infiltrating and waking you up. Now that I reflect on it I don’t think the city-sounds ever went away because it was the same noise as when I went to sleep. Walking over to the window I peered through the haze onto the city below. I could see that Shanghai was already awake and alive and it was only 6:15 AM. The streets were packed with people and vehicles with the sounds of honking mopeds and cars rising above the commotion. Jackhammers pounded bricks and concrete as old buildings were torn down to make way for ultra-modern skyscrapers. The city was not only alive but exploding with growth.
After a shower I grabbed my laptop and headed out of the hotel to travel on foot. I wove in and out of pedestrian traffic dodging the swarm of bicyclists and mopeds that would sneak up on you if you weren’t watching. Many of the shops were already open with the smells of cooking food wafting through the air. The first leg of the journey was definitely raw, nothing glamorous, and felt like old Shanghai. Most of the buildings were old, somewhat dilapidated or being torn down. However, in the span of a city block everything abruptly changed. Little family-run food stands and dark narrow alleys gave way to sophisticated and chic shopping malls, skyscrapers, trendy restaurants, and of course … Starbucks. My goal was to grab a latte, break out the laptop, and do some blogging and reading.
I have to admit that Starbucks is a great place to people-watch. The big windows afforded me the opportunity to not only watch in-coming customers but to follow the flow of foot traffic on the side walk in front of me. The crowd both inside and out tended to be seemingly young adults in their 20’s and dressed to the hilt. Clean cut, well-dressed, modern, urban, sophisticated. As I sat there sipping on my latte watching the great mass of humanity in front of me I tried to imagine what life was like for these young urbanites. In the background and all around were high-rise residential buildings so I was led to believe that most lived there or took the bus or subway to this area to work. I also began asking questions like: who are these people? Where did they come from? Are they native to this city? Did they come from other provinces? Did they grow up rural and come to the city to get a good education? Were they part of the mass migration in China from rural to urban? Lastly, what do they even know of God? If they were to access the Gospel then how would they do it and where? Are there any churches meeting in this area? If one were to start a church in this area how would they do it? Where would they start? What would the process be? How would you begin to contextual the message of Jesus and the formation of the church that would make sense to these people?
When it comes to church planting these are some of the beginning questions we need to wrestle with and sort through if we want to ultimately influence cities. Context is everything! The way we go about church planting will be different whether you’re in Shanghai, Tokyo, London, San Francisco, Tucson, Omaha, or wherever you’re planting. To blindly import non-contextualized models and procedures is a sure-fire recipe for disaster.
