Church Planting in Austin

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Community Profile

Austin, Texas, USA

Texas is unique from the rest of the nation; Austin, its capital, is unique from the rest of the state. A visitor to the Austin, Texas area may expect to see desert-scapes punctuated with cactus, tumbleweed and quaint, dusty ghost-towns. Some may be surprised to also find scenic lakes, rich farmland and rolling hills bordering a thriving city with a stately river flowing through its downtown. While the physical city is unique to Texas, its population is also unique and variegated. Although Austin has its particular characteristics and unique challenges, it demonstrates great potential for a conservative, Bible-believing church plant.

Growth

Nestled in the “hill country” of Texas, Austin has grown tremendously in recent years, making it the 16^th largest city in the nation. More remarkably, Austin MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area) is the fifth fastest growing metro area in the United States. The census bureau reports an explosive population growth of 47% in the decade of the 1990’s and a continued 3% or more growth each year since. As a crossroads between some of the country’s largest cities (Within 200 miles of Austin are three of ten largest cities in the United States—Houston, Dallas, San Antonio.) and the home of a thriving technology sector, no end of growth seems to be in sight. The current population of metro Austin now exceeds 1.5 million people and is expected to continue to multiply.

Austin MSA consists of the five counties surrounding the city of Austin: Hays, Caldwell, Bastrop, Travis and Williamson and encompasses approximately 4200 square miles, making Austin MSA larger than the states of Delaware and Rhode Island combined.

While Austin is growing in all directions, the most profound growth is in the northern metro. A personal conversation with the Austin Chamber of Commerce Vice-president revealed that the growth in recent years has been the most structured and pursued in the northern sector of the metro. This sets the groundwork for continued, sustained and rapid expansion for decades to come.

Economy

The technology sector is a strong element of the Austin area’s economy, led by national corporations such as Dell Computer, Apple Computer, 3M, Cisco Systems, AT&T, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and many others. However, Austin’s economy is balanced with a significant representation from other industry sectors including education, government, manufacturing and retail. The economy of Austin is stable and diverse. Amidst the recent housing “bubble burst,” Austin’s housing market only demonstrated a mild slowing rather than the shocking devaluation that many parts of the country experienced.

Population

Austin’s population is notably cosmopolitan, variegated, young and comparatively affluent. The technology industry, which has driven much of the growth, has attracted a significant population of professionals. Aggressive business development, beautiful scenery and affordable housing have promoted the influx of many migrating from other parts of the country and even around the world. In fact, Austin ranks 7^th in percentage of residents who have migrated to the area (not necessarily international migration) compared to its overall population. This makes for an eclectic and relatively youthful mix within the population of the city.

Since Austin is merely 225 miles from the Mexican/American border, one would expect to find a high rate of Hispanics residing there. Of course, this proves true, particularly in the southern parts of the metro. Along with several other international cultures represented in Austin, Latinos comprise a significant portion of the ethnic make-up.

Religion and Social Views

No single religious group holds a dominant sway amongst those in Austin. As one would expect, Roman Catholicism holds the most adherents, followed in number by the Southern Baptist Convention. The Association of Religious Data Archives reports all religious adherents to be only about 9% below the national average; however, most reports indicate that Austin residents tend to be only nominally religious. It is estimated that only 17% of Austin residents actually attend religious services and only 8% attend an evangelical church.

The general population of Austin tends to be socially and politically liberal. Austin and the counties surrounding it are battleground areas when it comes to elections, for it is there that the “two worlds” of old Texas and the cosmopolitan “new world” meet. Local residents report that the area is fiercely polarized regarding social views. The most surprising illustration of the liberal tendency is the extremely high percentage of homosexuals which live in the area—the highest per capita rate in the nation.

Presence of Evangelical Churches

A few Southern Baptist and Bible churches are making efforts to evangelize the Austin area. As is typical in many areas, these churches are conservative theologically, although methodologically contemporary. One particular Bible Church in Northwest Austin is aggressively planting churches in strategic areas of Austin. These plants are strongly committed to a contemporary model of ministry, although retaining conservative Bible doctrines. On the other end of the spectrum, Independent Baptists who would label themselves “fundamental” sparsely dot the landscape. These churches are relatively few in number, generally small, nominally evangelistic and often fiercely sectarian. There are two, perhaps three, churches in the entire metro area that are similar in both theology and philosophy of ministry to the church plant proposed herein.

The most acute need seems to be on the North end of the metro area. The astounding population growth and the few gospel-preaching churches relative to the population demonstrate a tremendous need. For example, in Round Rock (Williamson County), one church planter has discovered that if every church (whether or not they preach the gospel) in the city were full to capacity on a given Sunday, less than 20% of the population would have a place to sit. Furthermore, churches would need to be established at an astounding rate of several dozen a year to merely keep pace with the population increase.

Conclusion

In short, the need and potential for theologically conservative, gospel-preaching churches in the Austin area is tremendous. This ripe mission field calls for dedicated workers to come and initiate beacons of God’s grace throughout the city. It is our prayer that God uses us to spread the gospel to this area.

Sources:

• Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce: www.austinchamber.com
• Including a personal interview with Beverly Kerr, Vice President of Research and Greg Hammond, Director of Research
• The Association of Religious Data Archives: www.thearda.com
• Austin Visitors Center: www.austintexas.org
• United States Census Bureau: www.census.gov
• Southern Baptist Convention: www.sbc.net
• Hill Country Bible Church: www.hcbc.com
• The Yellow Pages: www.yellowpages.com
• Yellow Page City: www.yellwopagescity.com
• City Data: www.city-data.com
• Epodunk: www.epodunk.com

We are greatly indebted to numerous Austin pastors, residents and professionals for information contributing to our understanding of the area.

View the complete file HERE.