Houston: Gateway City Focus

Houston: Gateway City Focus

Narrator: “Houston, we have an opportunity.” When people think of Houston, they think of oil, space, and all sorts of great food. But did you know that Houston is one of the most diverse cities in all of North America?

Let’s learn more about what God is doing in this gateway city focus on Houston.

Global Gates Worker: My family had the American Dream – a good paying job, a beautiful house, nice cars, and, of course, a white picket fence. But God had something greater for us when he invited us into his story. He opened our eyes to see his heart for the nations. We sold our house, moved into an apartment in a low income immigrant community in southwest Houston, and joined Global Gates for its Pathways Texas Internship.

Over the next nine months we were trained by experienced missionaries on how to engage, build relationships, and share the gospel with our neighbors from all over the world. Now, we serve as Global Gates missionaries, working to reach Muslims from Bangladesh and Pakistan. God is doing amazing things here.

I began meeting with a local imam from a nearby mosque to study the Bible. As we sat together to study the Gospel of John, this imam told me, “In the Qu’ran, Jesus’ followers are supposed to follow him and spread his message, but our book does not say what this message is!” What a joy to point right to John 3:16 in our open Bibles and say, “This is it! This is Jesus’ message of Good News!”

We need more people to join us in what God is doing in Houston and its greater metro area, especially local believers and churches. This global gateway city is home to some of the world’s most significantly unreached people groups. 

We have 41,000 Pakistani Muslims and 15,000 Bangladeshi Muslims living around us. Houston also has one of the largest Hindu populations in North America, including 49,000 Hindi speakers and 27,000 Gujarati speakers. It also has a considerable contingency of Arab Muslims from Iraq, Lebanon, Morocco, and Palestine. Persian Muslims and Thai Buddhists call Houston home, too.

We’re not the only ones who recognize that God is up to something in Houston. One day a Pakistani Muslim teenager told us that the community is glad to have our family as neighbors. He said, “No Americans have treated us with the kindness you have shown us.”

We, however, truly believe that it’s not just us, that God has intentionally placed these people groups in Houston, right next door to his people– believers and churches who can show them his kindness and love. 

Narrator: You can play a role in reaching the global gateway city of Houston through prayer, partnership, and joining us in person either short-term or long-term. Visit us at globalgates.info to learn more.