AEC2000

Rocky Kidd and Allan Howe

The Browning Urbanization of the U.S.: A snapshot of a nation amid rapid urbanizing and diversifying

Church planting in North America in the twenty-first century will take place amid two massive demographic trends: first, the numerical and cultural dominance of large urban centers, and second, the diversifying and browning of the population. Both urbanization and the rapid ethnic diversification of city populations are worldwide trends. About 60 percent of the U.S. population now lives in urban centers. The ethnic variety of city dwellers is at least as great as that of the U.S. population as a whole. As Oscar I. Romo, director of the Language Church Extension Division of the Southern Baptist Home Mission Board, told a Mennonite group in the early 1990s, "Ours is a nation where more than 120 million people, excluding American Blacks, have identified themselves as belonging to one of the 500 ethnic groups communicating in one or more of the 636 languages and dialects." The overall trends are apparent in a simple chart:

The U.S. is mestizing! That is to say, we are a "browning" nation which is shifting rapidly toward being polyglot of brown, yellow, black, white, and mestizo (mixed). For example, California’s population is no longer predominantly European white. Hispanics, African-Americans and Asians now comprise more than 50 percent of the state’s population. This will be reality in Arizona by 2005, in Texas by 2010, and for the entire nation by the year 2050.

Those who do not live in urban centers are greatly influenced by an omnipresent urban popular culture, piped into the American consciousness via the entertainment/media world. Teenagers in Goshen, Indiana, are as "hip" and "urban" in their worldview as kids from Chicago or Los Angeles.

The expanding urban mission work of Mennonite denominations

Since 1985 much of the numerical growth in Mennonite denominations has been in minority and multicultural churches. The fastest growing congregations have been Hispanic. Vida Abundante in Cicero, Illinois, may be the fastest growing congregation. One of the largest Mennonite congregations in North America is African-American (Calvary in Hampton Roads, Virginia). In the Pacific Southwest Conference and among Mennonite Brethren in California, by far the greatest number of new congregations are Hispanic or Indonesian. The number of persons in monocultural European-American congregations has been declining. The number of congregations transitioning from monocultural to bicultural or multicultural has been steadily increasing.

Mennonite conferences and "urban ministry directors" are all dealing with multicultural cities and congregational realities. Already in 1995, 25 percent of those listed by ethnicity as members of African-American Mennonite Association churches were white. Hispanic, Ethiopian, and most other non-English-speaking Mennonite congregations are dealing with many young people whose main or only language is English.

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For further information or feedback on this study, contact Rocky Kidd, 4331 Carey, East Chicago, IN 46312, 219-677-4112 (RockyKidd@usa.net) or Allan Howe, 723 Seward St., Evanston, IL 60202, 847-475-5041 (AHHowe@aol.com)

Taken from A New Humanity: Anabaptist Ministry Among Many Peoples (© 2000 New Life Ministries). Permission to reproduce for local church use only is granted. Provided by New Life Ministries, 6404 S Calhoun St, Fort Wayne, IN 46807, through its web site at www.NewLifeMinistries-NLM.org

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