One of the questions I am asked most often is: “How is the transition into the city going?” When asked this, I usually respond by saying, “So far so good.” I get the feeling that there is an expectation that transitioning from the suburbs to the city is a difficult one.  And while we have only been here for five months, so far I would say that we love living in Chicago and the transition has not been particularly difficult.

My wife, Lisa, and I hope that through our experience in moving to the city, other families will consider making a missional move to the city as well. Here are just a few reasons why we love living here:

1. People Are Everywhere.  As you may know, we just had one of the biggest snowstorms ever. I am a life-long native of the Chicago area.  I remember the big storms of  ’79 and ’99, but this is the first one I have experienced in the city. And one of the things that I’ve enjoyed is being outside shoveling snow and digging my vehicle out because there are people everywhere – helping each other and comparing experiences. It is interesting how something like a blizzard can become one big community-building experience.
   
2. The City Is Walk-able.  We live on the north side of Chicago, between Clark and Lincoln Avenue, just south of Fullerton. Both Lincoln and Clark have numerous restaurants, cafés, pubs, stores, and more. Yesterday, in anticipation of the storm, Lisa and I decided to go out for lunch knowing that we might be stuck inside for the next few days. We only had to walk a couple of blocks to enjoy a quick lunch. And even today, with cars snowed-in on every street, my daughter and I managed to walk down the street for a quick hot chocolate at a local café that was surprisingly busy.  
3. The Need Is Huge.   Living here has heightened my awareness of the need for life-changing faith communities in the city. On any given Sunday, just 10% of the population of Chicago is in church and the need to rally Christ-followers to work towards restoring neighborhoods is great.  While there is tremendous need for new churches in rural and suburban areas, the population of our urban centers continues to rapidly outpace the development of new churches. If there was ever a time for families to consider moving to our cities to start new churches, the time is now.
   
4. The Many Cultural and Educational Opportunities.  While many public school systems are in desperate need of reform, Chicago has many outstanding public schools as well as private and charter
   schools. We are also finding a wide variety of cultural and educational opportunities in the city. The many museums, libraries, ethnic restaurants, and diversity of people provide opportunities to learn something new every day.

If you or someone you know would like to talk about the possibility of moving to the greatest city on the planet (Chicago) or any other city to be part of a new church plant, please drop me a note at jonferguson@communitychristian.org.  Or better yet, come in for a visit!