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As the CBF Florida staff begins a new year, we want
to remind you of the various Jesus said, "You shall
be my witnesses…to the ends of the earth."
If Miami isn’t the end of the earth, it’s
at least on the edge. A modern day Ephesus Alejandro
Portes in his definitive work calls Miami "City
on the Edge."
Doing demographics on Miami is like trying to get a
grip on wet sand…we are dynamic not static, constantly
in flux…
Who are we? (at a recent glance)
- Only 1 of 10 residents are Miami born and raised.
- 54% are foreign born.
- We welcome 60,000 immigrants every year.
- Over 31,000 births occur annually.
- Our official population is 2.3 million (but outside
researchers estimate 3.5 million)
- We are the largest population of all the 67 counties
in Florida (larger than 16 states in the union)
- 58% are Hispanic (with over 2/3rds of those from
Cuba)
- 22% are Black (including Carribean blacks from Haiti,
Bahamas, Jamaica, as well as a population of African
American blacks)
- 7% are Anglo (including more Jews than live in Tel
Aviv, 2nd largest in America)
- The remaining 3% are “other” including
Asian and Arab populations
- Residents come from over 160 nations, 2/3rds of
the world’s countries
- We are a gateway city to and from the USA to the
world
- We are the financial capital of Latin America and
the Carribean
- We host more than 500 multi-national businesses
- We speak over 130 languages and represent 153 ethnic
groups.
About our churches:
- 44% of our residents do not attend church at all
or only a few times a year
- 78% have not been contacted by any church in six
months
- Over 90% may not have a personal relationship with
Jesus Christ
- There are around 1500 evangelical congregations
who share Christ "by grace through faith"
250 of them are Southern Baptist
- The majority of churches are pastured by bivocational
pastors with limited ministry Training
- The seating capacity of all the evangelical church
buildings is around 150,000 total
- If all churches were filled to capacity in 3 worship
services each weekend we would still only be seating
450,000. That leaves only 2 or 3 million without spiritual
care.
- UBC has members who speak 19 different languages
from over 50 different nations of origin and over
40 different spiritual backgrounds including every
major world religion, every denomination and several
cult groups including Santeria.
- Our church has people involved in mission projects
right now in 15 countries.
See Ephesians 2:19-22
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