Thousands of new Hispanic churches needed
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___Texas Baptists would need to start 1,500 additional Hispanic congregations today to bring the ratio of churches to Hispanic population to the same level as churches to Anglo population, according to a Texas Baptist researcher.
___The Baptist General Convention of Texas currently has one Anglo church for every
| View a map of the Hispanic population density throughout the United States, according to the 2000 U.S. Census data. (Displayed as an Adobe Acrobat file) |
2,663 Anglo residents of the state, noted Clay Price, research and information services manager for the BGCT. But the ratio of Hispanic Baptist churches to Hispanic population in the state is one to 6,501.
___Bringing the ratio of Hispanic churches to population to the same level as that of Anglo churches would require more than doubling the number of Hispanic Baptist churches in the state, Price explained. The BGCT currently counts about 1,025 predominantly Hispanic congregations among its affiliates.
___This is not a static goal, however, because Hispanics are a fast-growing section of the Texas population, increasing by 54 percent in the 1990s. Hispanic Texans now number 6.7 million, 32 percent of the total population.
___Texas counted 2.3 million more Hispanic residents in 2000 than it did just 10 years before. That's the equivalent of adding a new Hispanic population the size of Dallas
Ten U.S. cities of 100,000 or more population with highest percentage Hispanic population
___East Los Angeles, Calif. 96.8%
___Laredo, Texas 94.1%
___Brownsville, Texas 91.3%
___Hialeah, Fla. 90.3%
___McAllen, Texas 80.3%
___El Paso, Texas 76.6%
___Santa Ana, Calif. 76.1%
___El Monte, Calif. 72.4%
___Oxnard, Calif. 66.2%
___Miami, Fla. 65.8%
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County.
___This challenge is one of the most stark illustrations of the changing face of Texas as a mission field, explained E.B. Brooks, coordinator of the church missions and evangelism section of the BGCT.
___"Texas is growing rapidly not only in population, but as a mission field," he said. "Texas Baptists started 181 Hispanic churches last church year and have started 104 Hispanic churches since October 2000. Yet we have much to do to stay even with the Hispanic growth.
___"This may be our greatest challenge as Texas Baptists," Brooks explained. "We are currently somewhat effective in beginning first-generation Hispanic churches. We are not effective at all in reaching third- and fourth-generation Hispanics. We have very few Hispanic churches that are penetrating that group.
___"We need our Baptist Hispanic young adults to commit themselves to beginning churches that will reach their peers," he suggested.
___While he agrees with Price that the BGCT needs at
Total Hispanic population of Texas metropolitan areas
Houston 730,865
Dallas 422,587
San Antonio 671,394
El Paso 431,875
Laredo 166,216
Brownsville 127,535
McAllen 85,427
El Paso 431,875
___Source: U.S. Census Bureau |
least 1,500 new churches to provide a comparable church-to-population ratio, the situation actually is more demanding than that, he asserted. "Since most Hispanic churches, particularly first-generation Spanish-speaking churches, remain small, it will take many more of these churches to effect a significant penetration of the population with Baptist Hispanic persons.
___"If we were to begin 5,000 Hispanic congregations, we would be able to feel that we had really accomplished something as Texas Baptists."
___Recently released data from the 2000 census shows that half of all Hispanics living in the United States reside in just two states--California and Texas. In Texas alone, the Hispanic population increased 54 percent from 1990 to 20000. Hispanics now account for 32 percent of the state's residents, up from 25.5 percent.
___California still leads Texas in total Hispanic population, with 11 million Hispanic residents. Texas is home to 6.7 million Hispanics.
___Seven Texas counties account for two-thirds of the state's net gain in Hispanic population, Price noted. Those counties are Harris, Dallas, Hidalgo, Bexar, Tarrant, El Paso and Travis.
___Of the state's 254 counties, 58 doubled their Hispanic population between 1990 and 2000. Thirty-four Texas counties--including Bexar, El Paso, Webb, Hidalgo and Cameron--now have majority Hispanic populations.
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