June 25, 2001
Changes in Texas households
___
People in married- Householders People in unmarried
___
couple families living alone partner households
___2000 3,989,741 1,752,141 327,246
___1990 3,435,540 1,452,936 174,393
___% change + 16% + 21% +88%
___Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Profile of General Demographic Characteristics for Texas
___
Portrait of Texas households slowly changing
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___Texas is growing, and so is the number of non-traditional households across the state.
___Texas still lags slightly behind the national trend on non-traditional households, according to data from the 2000 United States Census. However, two non-traditional categories of household configuration grew more rapidly in Texas in the 1990s than did the so-called "married couple family."
___The number of couples living together as unmarried partners (both heterosexual andhomosexual) grew at more than five times the rate of increase among married couples.
___The state's total population grew 23 percent in the 1990s. But the number of adults living as married couples in the same household grew only 16 percent.
___During the same period, however, the number of unmarried partners living together in Texas grew 88 percent.
___While the percentage gain for live-ins was great, the total numbers remained small. Only 1.6 percent of the Texas population reported living with an unmarried partner. That's a total of 327,246 people, compared to nearly 4 million Texans who live in married-couple families.
___Another factor in the slower growth rate for married couples in Texas was growth in the number of people living alone. The 2000 census found 1.75 million Texans living by themselves, a 21 percent increase from 1990. Individuals living alone now account for 24 percent of the Texas population.
___A recent Gallup Poll shed additional light on this subject by asking Americans whether they consider sex before marriage to be "morally OK."
___The May poll found 60 percent of Americans now believe it is morally OK. Further, 52 percent said it is "morally acceptable" for an unmarried couple to cohabitate.
___"The morals portrayed in the poll characterize short-term lack of consistency, inability to keep promises," said Bill Tillman, ethics professor at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene. "The tragedy is that over a long period of time the lack of accountability and commitment can be the marks of a less-than-strong society."
___Nevertheless, the data also illustrate the changing culture in which churches operate today, added E.B. Brooks, coordinator of church missions and evangelism for the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
___If Texas Baptists want to reach their neighborhoods and communities with the gospel, they're going to have to find ways to reach into these non-traditional households, Brooks said.
___While not discounting the good things Texas Baptist churches already do, he warned churches must do more.
___"Our society is no longer a society of families," he said. "When we program in our churches for families, we are programming for the minority. When we plan activities for outreach into the unsaved population, we must plan specifically and effectively to make contact with people who do not live in family households.
___"Our singles ministries are having some success. However, many if not most of the people who are living in non-family households are not unmarried youth"--the group of singles most easily reached by Baptist churches.
___Churches must "make contact, get involved with, become acquainted with, live among, touch, show respect for and share Christ with these neighbors of all of us," Brooks urged.
___"The people referred to in this Census data report are part of our culture. Some of us would prefer not to admit this. However, refusal to acknowledge their presence is not only putting our head in the sand, it is disobeying the word of our Savior, who said, 'Lift your eyes ... look on the fields ... pray that the Father will send laborers.'
___"They are not going away just because we want to think that everyone is just like us--or that because they are not just like us they are not reachable."
___With additional reporting by Jodi Matthews of Baptist Center for Ethics
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