Hi, Dennis : maybe the question here is about the DATA inside a context, not about the context creation per se ? We must think about a CONTEXT much alike a Global Temporary Table, in the sense that, after the Creation, the object per se will remain even after a restart, but the DATA inside it will not... An example :

==> will create a GLOBAL CONTEXT defined with a Trusted source :

SYSTEM:@XE:SQL>create context gctx
2 using set_gctx
3 accessed globally;

Context created.

=> creating the trusted source :

SYSTEM:@XE:SQL>create or replace procedure set_gctx
2 (
3 p_attr1_val varchar2
4 ) as
5 begin
6 dbms_session.set_context ('GCTX','ATTR1', p_attr1_val);
7 end;
8 /

Procedure created.

=> obviously, just after the creation the Context does not contains any data :

SYSTEM:@XE:SQL>select sys_context('GCTX','ATTR1') from dual;

SYS_CONTEXT('GCTX','ATTR1')
------------------------------------------------------------------

=> put data in the Context :

SYSTEM:@XE:SQL>exec set_gctx('Attrib1_Value');

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

=> the result :

SYSTEM:@XE:SQL>select sys_context('GCTX','ATTR1') from dual;

SYS_CONTEXT('GCTX','ATTR1')
--------------------------------------------------------------
Attrib1_Value

=> being a Global Context, the data remains for other sessions/users :

HR:@XE:SQL>select sys_context('GCTX','ATTR1') from dual;

SYS_CONTEXT('GCTX','ATTR1')
---------------------------------------------------------
Attrib1_Value

HR:@XE:SQL>

====> The main point : much alike a GTT, after a database reboot the DATA will not persist, BUT the Object will exist - empty, but Will Exist :

SYS:AS SYSDBA@xe:SQL>shutdown immediate;
Database closed.
Database dismounted.
ORACLE instance shut down.
SYS:AS SYSDBA@xe:SQL>exit
Disconnected from Oracle Database 11g Express Edition Release 11.2.0.2.0 - 64bit Production

C:\>sqlplus / as sysdba

SQL*Plus: Release 11.2.0.2.0 Production on Mon Oct 31 16:18:50 2016

Copyright (c) 1982, 2014, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Connected to an idle instance.

SYS:AS SYSDBA@XE:SQL>startup;
ORACLE instance started.

Total System Global Area 1068937216 bytes
Fixed Size 2260048 bytes
Variable Size 679478192 bytes
Database Buffers 381681664 bytes
Redo Buffers 5517312 bytes
Database mounted.
Database opened.

SYS:AS SYSDBA@XE:SQL>select sys_context('GCTX','ATTR1') from dual;

SYS_CONTEXT('GCTX','ATTR1')
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------


SYS:AS SYSDBA@XE:SQL>


This was your issue, abou DATA PERSISTENCE in the context, or not ? If yes, you will need to persist the data in a real table and later in a startup trigger, put the data from the real table back inside the Context, maybe ...

Regards,

J. Laurindo Chiappa