Burnet County urban

Mission-field Study · ministry priority: Hispanic/Latino + Black · Download filing PDF ↓

1 · Demographic Profile of the Mission Field

Population

51,064

15 census tracts

5-yr growth

12%

+5,292 people · proj. 7%

Hispanic

23%

6,974 Spanish-speakers (5+)

Black

non-Anglo total 24%

Under 18

20%

Median income

$78,201

population-weighted

Fastest-growing neighborhoods

Tracts with fewer than 1,000 residents five years ago are excluded here so a handful of new residents can't read as a four-figure growth rate.

Place	5-yr growth	People added	Hispanic
Burnet County (rural)	94%	1,569	12%
Granite Shoals	23%	771	53%
Burnet County (rural)	17%	659	20%
Burnet	16%	681	16%
Burnet County (rural)	9%	284	7%

2 · Feasibility — mission, plants & ministries

1 Rio Texas North District UMC serve this county — 0 of them reach non-Anglo communities (0 Hispanic-led, 0 Anglo+Hispanic ministry, 0 Black-led).

That is roughly 1 church per 51,064 residents against a mission field that is 24% non-Anglo.

14 tracts (48,306 people) have no UMC within a 15-minute drive; the average tract is 10.1 mi from the nearest UMC.

Representation gap. The mission field is 24% non-Anglo, yet none of the 1 North District UMC here is positioned to reach Hispanic or Black communities. The Plan is explicit that this gap does not lessen the larger Church's responsibility to bring the gospel to the people who live here — it sharpens it.

Highest-opportunity neighborhoods

Composite of growth (35%), church-saturation gap (30%), demographic fit (20%), and density (15%), 0–100, scored across every tract in the county. ◆ marks tracts that also clear Lens A's 6-mile-from-any-UMC plant filter.

Place	Opportunity	5-yr growth	Pop	mi to UMC
Granite Shoals ◆	60	23%	4,102	10.8
Burnet County (rural) ◆	58	-15%	5,244	7.1
Burnet County (rural) ◆	56	475%	2,854	14.6
Burnet County (rural)	55	265%	2,758	1.6
Burnet ◆	53	16%	4,970	10.2
Marble Falls ◆	53	3%	4,509	14.0

Existing North District UMCs in Burnet

Church	City	Serves
Bertram UMC	Bertram	Anglo

3 · Proposed Restrictions & Priority for Proceeds

At 23% Hispanic and growing, the field warrants a strong Hispanic/Latino ministry priority alongside cross-cultural work in existing congregations. The Black population (1% of the field, +416% over five years) supports a Black-ministry priority — note the Plan's caution that the legacy footprint of historic Black UMCs does not track where the Black population is growing today.

20% of net → Conference Trustees' Property Administration Fund (capped at $400k).

75% of the remainder → North District Strategy Team (≈ 60% of net), restricted to: Hispanic/Latino + Black ministry in the Burnet County urban mission field.

25% of the remainder → Conference Office of Congregational Vitality & Development (≈ 20% of net), restricted to urban ministry conference-wide.

Proposed restriction language for the District Strategy Team to adopt or amend: "These funds derive from the sale of urban church property in Burnet County and are restricted to vital urban ministry that reaches the diverse people of that mission field, with highest priority to hispanic/latino + black ministry, new church starts, and missions — per the Rio Texas Urban Ministry Strategic Plan." If the property was a former Rio Grande Annual Conference congregation, add the Latino/Hispanic highest-priority restriction the Plan requires.