I present here one third of my heart, one third of my intellect, and one third of the pragmatic bent in my being after working for thirty-five years as a pastor, a teacher, a minister to internationals in an urban church, a mission strategist-executive in the largest city of the United States, and as a pilgrim among refugees, migrant workers, urban sophisticated professionals, eager students, and the people of our churches faithfully trying to serve the Lord of the Church.

What do I mean by a "pilgrim missiology?" I wish to affirm the reality that we live by faith and not by sight. I wish for us to model the incarnational spirit of Christ "who pitched his tent among us," and the attitude of St. Paul who was flexible in his evangelistic task to observe the realities of his context and adapted the methods and structures as he declared: "I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some." 1 Corinthians 9: 22 NIV. I wish to recapture the spirit of our Baptist forbears who in the United States moved from the eastern seaboard going south with pilgrim churches and later moved west to plant churches evangelizing and congregationalizing the continent.

What do I mean by "the stranger in your midst?" The phrase comes from Deuteronomy 24: 14, 17, 19. Moses reminds Israel of their duties and responsibilities toward aliens. In our setting I mean the 85 million foreign born persons living in the United States, and especially the thousands of ethnic, non-English speaking evangelical churches ministering in our country.

I will attempt to sketch few contours of a pilgrim missiology and hope that dialogue, discussion, research, and further study can refine it for effective theory and practice of cross cultural evangelization.

FACING THE REALITIES OF A CHANGING WORLD

1. Population Trends

The following statistics attempt to provide a panoramic view of the composition of the United States population and presents selected data of cross cultural evangelization among Southern Baptists. [See statistics.]

SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN THE POPULATION DURING THE 1980s

The white population fell from 83 percent in 1980 to about 80 percent in 1990. The black population increased 13 percent during the 1980s to a total of 29.9 million. There are estimates that six million legal and two million undocumented immigrants came to the U.S. during the 1980's.

ASIAN AMERICANS

The Asian-American population in the United States has increased nearly 108 percent during the decade of the 1980's. The five largest Asian groups living in the U.S. are: Chinese, 1.6 million or 23%; Filipino, 1.4 million or 19%; Japanese, 847,000 or 11%; Korean, 798,000 or 11%; and Indian, 815,000 or 11%. [2] Many choose to reside in urban centers of the U.S. An analysis of the 1990 census shows that 46 percent of Asian-Americans live in central cities, 47.8 percent in suburbs, and 6.2 percent in rural areas. During the decade of the 1980s the traditional bastions of Asian-American population--Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York--experienced increases of 138%, 104%, and 136% respectively, while Washington, D.C. and Houston experienced 144% and 149% increases respectively. The largest Asian-American population in the U.S. is found in Los Angeles with 2.5 million. [3]

HISPANICS

According to the U.S. Census Bureau the Hispanic population in the United States is divided as follows: 52 percent or approximately 13.5 million are of Mexican descent; 24 percent or approximately 6.2 million are of Puerto Rican descent (both in the island and in the mainland); 20 percent or approximately five million are "other Hispanics"; and 4 percent or approximately one million are of Cuban descent. During the decade of the 1980s the Hispanic population grew 53 percent to a total of 22.3 million. The Hispanic population has spread to all fifty states. Only seven states experienced decrease in Hispanic population, while forty-three states experienced considerable growth, including the states where Hispanic population is greater (California, 69 percent; Texas, 45 percent; Florida, 83 percent; and New York, 33 percent). Two-thirds of the Hispanic population in the United States live in three states: California (7.6 million), Texas (4.3 million), and New York (2.2 million). A sampling of some major cities revealed the following increases in "traditionally" Hispanic centers, all of them with growth above 70: Dallas-Fort Worth: 109 percent; San Diego: 86 percent; Los Angeles: 73 percent; Houston: 72 percent; and Miami: 71 percent. [4]

The Hispanic population has surpassed the black population in 26 cities of the United States including four large cities in the Southwest--Los Angeles, Houston, Phoenix, and San Antonio. The Hispanic population was already a majority in Miami, El Paso, and Santa Ana, California. The political implications are significant. Projections suggest that the Hispanic population will surpass the Black population in New York in the future. [5]

SELECTED DATA OF CROSS CULTURAL EVANGELIZATION AMONG SOUTHERN BAPTISTS

A conservative estimate based on current data shows that there are at least 4,000 units or congregations between 101 ethnic groups and 97 American Indian tribes using 98 different languages. The ethnic groups and the number of congregations are: Hispanic (1578), American Indian (478), Deaf (477), Korean (400), Chinese (159), French (150), Vietnamese (89) Filipino (58), and Haitian (48). [6] During 1991, 466 new units were established and during the decade from 1980 to 1990 all the ethnic congregations in cooperation with the SBC experienced a growth rate of 147 percent.

Data gathered from selected Southern Baptist state conventions where ethnic enclaves predominate provide the following statistics related to ethnic congregations in the respective locations.

CALIFORNIA SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION [7]

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