Rediscovering the Urban Church Planter. . .

Imagine you’re a contestant on the game show Jeopardy. Can you give the question to the following answer: During his 51 years of service, he established 20 mission stations, brought 849 missionaries to the field, trained some 700 indigenous workers, raised four million dollars, and developed a witnessing church of 125,000. It has been said at least 35,000 were his own converts and that he baptized some 50,000[1]. Continue reading for the surprising answer.

North America is rapidly growing and changing. The United States[2] and Canada[3] have a combined population of nearly 340,000,000 of which nearly eighty percent live in densely populated urban areas[4] —driven by a desire to live closer to where they work and play. Fifty-eight percent of Americans live in its fifty largest metropolitan areas; thirty-five percent of Canadians live in its four largest cities[5].

Equally rapid is the people group shift in these large urban centers from being predominately Anglo-European to multi-ethnic, multi-national, but detribalized individuals with their complex social structures. The new breed of urban dwellers are shaping a new society and requiring a new North American missiology. Craig Van Gelder has effectively argued that “Today North America needs to be treated as a mission field in the same way that we in the West have approached much of the rest of the world for the past several centuries.”[6] The new missiology is requiring not only a new type of church planting, but a new type of church planter.

So what qualifications must the church planter have for the urban setting? Interestingly, Faith Popcorn, a trend guru who identified the business and personal trends that defined the decade, from “Cocooning” to “S.O.S.” (Save our Society), subtitles the first chapter of her bestseller, The Popcorn Report, “The future bears a great resemblance to the past, only more so.” Perhaps the qualifications of the future urban church planter can be found in our past.

Back to the surprising question for Jeopardy: Who is J. Hudson Taylor? Charles H. Spurgeon in his Sword and Trowel wrote the following about J. Hudson Taylor:

Mr. Taylor is not a man of commanding presence or of striking modes of speech. He is not in outward appearance an individual who would be selected from among others as the leader of a gigantic enterprise; in fact, he is lame in gait, and little in stature: but the Lord seeth not as man seeth, his glance rearbeth to the heart. In his spiritual manhood Mr. Taylor is of noble proportions: his spirit is quiet and meek, yet strong and intense; there is not an atom of self-assertion about him, but a firm confidence in God and in the call which he has himself received to carry the gospel to China. He is hampered by no doubts as to the inspiration of the Scriptures, or the truth of Christianity, or the ultimate conquest of China for the Lord Jesus; his faith is that of a child-man, too conscious of consecration to the living God, and too certain of his presence and help to turn aside to answer the useless quibbles of the hour. Affectionate in manner, and gentile in tone, our brother has nevertheless about him a firmness which achieves its purpose without noise. Simple as a child in his spirit, he pursues his design with prudent perseverance and determination; he provokes no hostility, but he almost unconsciously arouses hearty sympathy, though he is evidently independent of it, and would go on with his great work even if no one countenanced him in it.

Our conversation was confined to China, the work in China, and the workers in China. The word China, China, China is now ringing in our ears in that special, peculiar, musical, forcible, unique way in which Mr. Taylor utters it. He could not very readily be made to speak upon any other theme for long together; he would be sure to fly back to China. We believe that he dreams of chop-sticks, mandarins, and poor Chinese. We expressed our conviction that he was already growing a pigtail, and he did not deny the fact, but added further that he hoped soon to have on the Chinaman’s silk petticoat, and he seemed quite pleased to tell us that he was so like a Chinaman when fully arrayed that he was often taken for a native. Dear, good brother, this is one reason of your success, you become a Chinaman to the Chinese, and you will gain the Chinese.

How greatly has the Lord blest this man in his apostolic labors for China! We admire the great goodness of God therein, for what hope is there for that vast empire, unless it be laid upon the hearts of chosen servants of the Lord. Mr. Taylor has gathered round him men and women of the right order. Some of them would certainly have been refused by the missionary societies, as below their standard of education; but Mr. Taylor has seen in them precious qualifications which abundantly compensate for the absence of classical attainments. These, with holy daring, born of childlike faith in God, have penetrated the interior of China, and are planting churches as the Lord enables them[7].

What urban church planting principles can we gain from Hudson Taylor’s missionary service in China for serving in the changing North American urban mission field?

First and foremost, the urban church planter must be a missionary driven by an agony of the soul and an unequivocal call to which they surrender. China was in the heart, mind, dreams, writings, and voice of Hudson Taylor. So compelling was the call that when no support seemed available to continue his work in China, Taylor, rather than resign from the mission field, gave birth to the China Inland Mission (CIM).

Second, the urban church planter must have an absolute abiding trust in God. Hudson Taylor’s life and ministry may be summed up in four simple propositions: “There is a living God. He has spoken in His Word. He means what He says. And He is willing and able to perform what He has promised.”[8] Taylor modeled the practice not to look upon agencies but upon the faithfulness of God alone to meet all of the needs for missionary work. The motto of the China Inland Mission was simply an extension of Hudson’s confidence: “Hitherto hath the Lord helped us. The Lord will provide.”[9]

Third, the urban church planter must be a Great Commission disciple-maker. Howard Taylor, Hudson’s son and biographer said of him, “But all this preoccupation with important matters was not allowed to interfere with daily duties, and he did not attempt to evade or to defer the supreme duty of leading men to Christ. The unsaved at home were just as much a burden on his heart as the unsaved in China. Always and everywhere he was a soul-winner.”[10]

There had been other missionaries before Hudson. They had built hospitals and schools. In fact, Hudson was himself a physician. But these efforts were not making an impact on the nearly 300 million Chinese. Hudson concluded that in order to penetrate the 12 unreached provinces, what China needed was soul winning disciple-makers. Consequently, he modeled personal disciple-making and invited men and women of “little formal education” to serve with him[11]. Howard Taylor observed, “Few though they were in number, Hudson Taylor gave himself to the young converts at this time, as if the evangelization of China depended upon their future efforts. In addition to all his other work he devoted several hours daily to their instruction.”[12] One of these was the “basket-maker, Fan Neng-kuei . . . [who] was to be widely used in winning souls to Christ. Wherever he went in later years, he was enabled to raise up little churches that continued to thrive and grow under the care of others.”[13] Howard Taylor would himself follow his mentor and father as a medical missionary to China.

Fourth, the urban church planter must be contextually relevant and culturally competent. Hudson Taylor adapted the incarnational pattern of Jesus—while being the eternal Son of God He became human so that He might serve. Before his first trip to China, Hudson had begun studying the language. Upon arrival to China, Hudson made a radical decision, derided by some of his own fellow missionaries, to shave his forehead and grow a pigtail—“to become a Chinaman to the Chinese.”

Taylor wrote:
. . . the foreign appearance of the chapels, and indeed, the foreign air given to everything connected with religion, have largely hindered the rapid dissemination of the truth among the Chinese. Why should such a foreign aspect be given to Christianity? The Word of God does not require it nor, I conceive, could sound reason justify it. . . . Let us in everything not sinful, become Chinese, that by all means we may save some. Let us adopt their costume, acquire their language, study to imitate their habits, and approximate to their diet as far as health and constitution will allow. Let us live in their houses, making no unnecessary alterations in external form, and only as far modifying their internal arrangements as attention to health and efficiency for work absolutely require[14].

Fifth, the urban church planter must be strategic in his work. Taylor wanted to reach the unreached provinces. Furthermore, Taylor intentionally sought out to enter the governing cities, or prefectural cities. They were the center of Chinese thought and culture. Taylor wrote: “If I enter the governing cities and am received there, it will be easier for me and my workers to be received in the outlying districts.”[15] Hudson was not content with a single start—he enlisted the new converts and Bible school graduates to go in twos and sow down the gospel throughout the provinces.

Sixth, the urban church planter must share his burden. Hudson was for many years the editor of China’s Millions, a monthly magazine which was launched in 1875 and continues to this day. As the articles grew, they became a book entitled China: Its Spiritual Need and Claims. God used Hudson’s writings to ignite a passion for China and missions.

Hudson died in 1905 and was buried in Changsha, the capital of the last province to open, leaving a legacy for the next North American missionary.

Written by Peter Kendrick. Peter is a member of the Church Planting staff at NAMB.