Why Houston?
- The population of the city of Houston is over 2.1 million. The population in the Greater Houston metropolitan area is over 5.1 million.1
- Every year, a declining number of Houstonians claim to be followers of Jesus Christ.1 Church planting is lagging horribly.
Houston is not just my home, it is my birthplace—I am a third generation Houstonian, both sides—and I love it with all my heart.
1 Mission Houston (www.missionhouston.org)
Why a Multiethnic Movement?
- Houston is home to more than 300 people groups. The Houston population speaks at least 209 different languages and hails from at least 139 different countries around the world.1
- Of the four fastest growing cities in the US—Phoenix, Dallas/Fort Worth, Atlanta and Houston—Houston is unique in experiencing that growth through global immigration.2 While the other cities are experiencing transfer growth from within the US, Houston is experiencing a net loss in that demographic.
- The Kingdom of God is a multiethnic movement and Heaven is a multiethnic community.3
1 Mission Houston (www.missionhouston.org)
2 Michael Emerson, Professor of Sociology at Rice University, Executive Director of Rice’s Center for Race, Religion and Urban Life (CORRUL), and author of People of the Dream: Multiracial Congregations in the United States (2006). Professor Emerson made this point during a personal conversation.
3 The Bible – cover to cover; e.g. Genesis 12:3; Revelation 5:9-10, 21:24.
Why Young Adults?
Houston’s young adult population is overwhelmingly multiethnic. While 70 percent of the population in Harris County 60 years old and older is Anglo, more than 70 percent of the population in Harris County younger than 30 is non-Anglo.1
Young adults ages 16 to 30 in America are becoming disillusioned by existing churches—seeing them as unloving, judgmental and hypocritical—and are fast becoming an unreached people group.4
- Young adults are often deeply burdened by the need for spiritual and social transformation, especially in our cities.5
· Young adults as a group are more eager and better able than previous generations to transcend ethnic boundaries to embrace a multiethnic spiritual community.6
1 Mission Houston (www.missionhouston.org)
4 David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons, unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity...and Why It Matters (2007).
5 Shane Claiborne, The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical (2006).
6 Gerardo Marti, A Mosaic of Believers: Diversity and Innovation in a Multiethnic Church (2005).
Why Urban Houston?
- That’s where the greatest unmet spiritual and social needs are located.
- That’s where most young adults of all races are living.
- It seems that urban environments are frequently neglected by existing church planting networks and strategies. 7
7 My personal observation at the 2007 National New Church Conference in Orlando
