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Posted: 5/30/03

TOGETHER:
Texas needs more new churches

With 5,716 churches and missions related to the Baptist General Convention of Texas, there is one Texas Baptist congregation for every 3,761 people in our state. In five years, a projected 1.7 million people will be added to our current population of 21.8 million Texans–10.5 million of whom are not a part of any faith community.

If we are to continue serving Texas as we have, we must start at least 1,100 congregations in the next five years. We are off to a good start. The BGCT Church Starting Center's Genesis Project goal is for Texas Baptists to start 777 churches in three years, and we helped to start 264 this past year.

We estimate we will lose about 600 churches and missions over the next five years due to disbandment and mergers. Over the past five years, 718 churches have uniquely aligned with the other state convention, and 254 have entered into a dual alignment with them while remaining connected to the BGCT as well. Last year, our loss of churches to the other convention was less than 17 percent of the previous year, and we added 3.5 churches for every one that joined the other convention.

Every church is precious to me and to the BGCT. Our staff is determined to serve every congregation with our full resources. It grieves me to lose any church in our cooperative efforts to do the work of ministry and mission through our institutions, mission efforts and service ministries to local churches. We are grateful for the thousands of churches and more than 2 million Texas Baptists who are continuing to work together to respond faithfully to the needs of this great state and our world.

A careful look at the population distribution of our state shows that new churches need to be concentrated in areas where our state is growing. By 2008, 86 percent of the population will be living in 58 metropolitan counties. There will be an urban corridor stretching from Denton County down I-35 to Bexar County (San Antonio) and then stretching east to Harris County (Houston). There will no longer be a non-metropolitan county in that L-shaped urban concentration. The Rio Grande Valley and El Paso will be the other large population centers. Seven other cities will be in counties having greater than 100,000 populations–Amarillo, Abilene, Corpus Christi, Laredo, Lubbock, Midland/Odessa and Wichita Falls.

The ethnic distribution of our citizens will continue to change in the next five years. In 2003, our population is 51 percent Anglo, 34 percent Hispanic, 12 percent African-American and 3 percent other. Demographers tell us that in 2008, the distribution will be 49 percent Anglo, 36 percent Hispanic, 11 percent African-American and 4 percent other. In real numbers, there will be an increase of 1.2 million Hispanics, 203,000 Anglos, 154,000 African-Americans and 135,000 made up of all others.

The good news for Texas Baptist efforts in starting churches is that more than half of our church starts have been among Hispanics over the last few years. Our churches and our Church Starting Center have seen the challenge and are responding to it.

Texas is a mission base and a mission field. Your convention and its Executive Board staff are committed to being available to God with all we have in being good stewards of the trust placed in our hands.

We are loved.