China is under construction. I don’t mean that in some abstract sense. What I mean is that when I look out from our main apartment window, I can count at least ten tall buildings with construction cranes on top. I can look immediately to my right and see an unfinished neighborhood with five or so 30+ story apartment buildings. I can get on the bus and within a few minutes be stuck in the bottleneck created by the subway line that will be completed in a few years. Most cities in China are pushing forward at this incredible pace.
This forward progress is also apparent in the area of technology. In one sense, our city is still far behind technology in the United States, at least from my experience. In the U.S., I always paid with a card. It was a rare occasion to take out physical cash to purchase something. Here in our city, we have to have cash to buy food at the fresh market, to pay at most restaurants, to buy a bike, and so on. However, I can go to KFC here and pay with my phone. I can send cash to a friend using my phone as well. Let’s not even get started on Taobao, a massive online shopping experience comparable to Ebay and Amazon – but even bigger. And how do we communicate with friends here? Well, if we don’t use Wechat, then we really don’t belong. Even our minority friends who can’t read Chinese characters use Wechat to send audio messages to their friends.
China seems to have completely jumped over outdated technologies and immediately adopted modern ones. Nearly everyone has a smartphone in hand, and they probably didn’t pass through a landline, bag phone, or even an older cell phone to get there. Why worry about card readers for payment when you can move straight to charging someone’s bank account through scanning their cellphone? It’s quite an interesting mix of the old and the new.
So how does this relate to work with the Muslims in our city? The people we’re trying to reach are some of the poorest in China. The following truths ring as true in China as they do around the world: Poor people live in low income areas of town, the low income areas of cities are densely populated, and these areas are typically old, dilapidated, and in some sense holding back the “forward progress” of the city. So this affects our work in multiple ways.
First, if we want to live near our people and have frequent interactions with them, we have to make sacrifices in terms of conveniences that other parts of the city may offer. Housing is either a short, old building with stairs and no elevator, or a newer high-rise with ever rising rent because of the population density. Apartment sizes may be smaller than other areas of town as families here are more willing to cram into small spaces to save every penny.
Second, we always have to be studying our surroundings. What we knew a few years ago about our people’s locations in the city may not be true today. These are the questions we have to constantly be asking. Our people are constantly being displaced, moving to find cheaper rent, or just trying to follow the ever-moving crowds so that they can have enough business to make ends meet.
Lastly, we are always asking ourselves how new technologies can be used to spread the news of Christ. How can we use Wechat effectively but wisely? How can our smartphones be used as Gospel tools instead of sources of entertainment?
We ask that you would pray for these three areas. Pray that workers will find strategic housing that’s comfortable, affordable, and a great place to share Christ through hospitality. Pray that workers will be able to keep track of the shifting patterns of their people, and also that in the midst of instability their people will find stability on Christ’s foundation. Pray that workers will use technology wisely for the Kingdom, and that the Father will put our smartphones to use in His service.