The 2020 census confirmed what many students of the urban growth may have already realized; that is, the fastest growing demographic in the U.S. is the broadly diverse Asian community. And if you’re driving through Dallas-Ft. Worth and want to take a break from Walmart or Kroger, you might stop into Asia Times Square, a large mall area in Grand Prairie, TX positioned near Arlington right between Dallas & Ft. Worth, that serves the Asian community in North Texas.
Following behind just San Jose, Los Angeles, and Houston, the DFW Metroplex is the 4th largest Vietnamese city in the U.S. In the Garland school district, for example, Vietnamese is the 3rd most spoken language after English & Spanish. In the first decade of the 21st Century (2000-2010) the Vietnamese population in the U.S. grew by more than 37%, and there are more than an estimated 110,000 Vietnamese in the DFW area.
Globally, there are Vietnamese communities in places like Paris, Berlin, Australia, and various spots around the world, and the Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex is a significant Vietnamese hub by any global measure. While there are certainly a minority of both Catholic & Evangelical churches among the Vietnamese, most share a Buddhist background, and the majority of Vietnamese globally remain unreached by the gospel of Christ. From a missionary viewpoint, contextualized approaches among Buddhist & Southeast Asian background peoples are needed, even in the heart of North Texas. If you have a burden for the Vietnamese people or a desire to make disciples among Southeast Asians, the Metroplex might be an unexpected mission field.
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