THE NEED
When Jesus went to Samaria, He spent time with a woman who was bouncing from bed to bed and from man to man.
When He went to Jericho, He spent time with a corrupt tax collector.
When He went to Jerusalem, He headed straight for the pool where broken people hung out hoping for a healing.
Jesus always went to the darkest places and to the people who were most broken and enmeshed in sin.
Jesus said, "who of you, having a sheep fall down into a pit would not go down into that pit and save it?"
So, question: If Jesus came today to America, where would He go?We think he would go to the areas with the poorest, the most hopeless, the most homeless and the most broken. One of those areas is Miami, Florida.
Tourism is the number one industry in Miami metro area, which now has a population of 2.2 million people. However, with all the glam and glitz of the tourism biz, Miami has the 5th poorest population of any major US city. In this current economic downturn, foreclosures are up 21% and homelessness has increased 26%. With 1 in 4 people living in poverty and 1 in 2 households living on less than $35,000 a year. The median household income in Miami is $29,151.00 whereas the median household income across the US is $50,740.00. Over 1400 people are living on the streets of Miami every day.
In 1960, out of the 1,358,191 people in Miami surveyed, only 485,798 of them were regular church goers. Miami only had a 35% church affiliation rate. Nearly half the normal rate of other large cities in the US at the time. So in the past 50 years Miami-Dade has nearly doubled in size to 2.2 million and a whopping 14.5% of them are now going to church. Yep, that's right 319,000 people are now church goers, that's a 35% decrease. Even though the population has nearly doubled, church attendance has decreased by over 166,000 people!
Today there are around 1080 churches in Miami. That is 1 church for every 2037 people. In contrast, in a 3 to 4 mile radius of the North Miami and North Miami Beach area, there is a population of 160,000 people and only 42 churches. That is 1 church for every 3809 people. With the average church drawing 295 people, that leaves over 147,600 in a very small area that are unchurched. In other words, more that 92% of the people in the North Miami area do not go to church.
North Miami is the most un-churched area of Miami, why is this? Well, because most of the churches are out in the suburbs, leaving the vast inner-city population unreached. North Miami has the most need and is the area where we want to be located. Please pray that God will provide a perfect location in North Miami and that we will be very successful in reaching the lost masses.
