"For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." 2 Corinthians 5:1
OUR
MISSION FIELD
SO WHERE IS IT, AGAIN?
In this next season of our ministry, we will do our best to fulfill the Great Commission where God has placed us in Northern California, sharing the good news and investing ourselves fully in replanting an existing church called GraceWay, located in the San Francisco East Bay Area in the city of Pleasanton, CA.
The "East Bay,” as locals call it, is the second most densely populated subregion of the Bay Area after San Francisco, and is home to about 2.8 million people living in a variety of cities and towns across Alameda and Contra Costa counties, centered around Oakland and the surrounding urban communities running along the coast.
The city of Pleasanton, is located just inland and over “the hill” from the highly urban coast in a suburban enclave that encompasses 3 cities called the “Tri-Valley," which includes the cities of Pleasanton, Dublin, and Livermore.
THE BAY AREA AND TRI-VALLEY BY THE NUMBERS
Religion
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1 in the country as America’s most “unchurched” and “dechurched” cities (San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose metro area), with 60% unchurched and 47% dechurched, or no longer affiliated. Barna Group
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8 in the top 10 most post-Christian cities in America (San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose metro area) 50% of residents meet the criteria of post-Christian, lacking Christian identity, belief and practice Barna Group
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42% of adults say they believe in God with absolute certainty Pew Research Center
Income/housing
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$114,000 median household income in the Tri-Valley Bay Area Council Economic Institute
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$998,000 Median Tri-Valley home price in 2018 Bay Area Market Reports
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$89,600 the low-income threshold for Alameda and Contra Costa counties as of 2018, according to HUD. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s report County of Alameda, CA
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40% of households are considered cost burdened, which means that they spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing (San Francisco-Oakland metropolitan area) Bay Area Council
Education
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60% of Tri-Valley residents have a bachelor’s degree or higher, making the region significantly more highly educated than California or the Bay Area as a whole. Bay Area Council Economic Institute
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26% of adults in the Tri-Valley have a graduate or professional degree. In California, this number was only 12%, and in the Bay Area it was 19%. Bay Area Council Economic Institute
Population
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7.2 million people living in the Bay Area
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2.8 million people living in the East Bay
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361,000 people living in the Tri-Valley
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27% percent of the Tri-Valley population was born in a foreign country, up from 19% just 10 years ago. This is much higher than the U.S. overall, where 13% of the population is foreign-born. Bay Area Council Economic Institute
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29% population growth in the Tri-Valley since 2005. Bay Area Council Economic Institute
Future Projections
Between 2010 and 2040, the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area is projected to add 1.1 million jobs, 2.1 million people and 660,000 homes, for a total of 4.5 million jobs, 9.3 million people and 3.4 million homes. Metropolitan Transportation Commission
This growth means the Bay Area will continue to be California’s second-largest population and economic center.
By 2040, there will be no clear majority or plurality in terms of race/ethnicity in the Bay Area. As population groups, Whites, Hispanics and Asians/Other will each account for approximately one-third of the region’s population. Plan Bay Area 2040
The Tri-Valley’s population has become increasingly diverse over the past 10 years and will only become more diverse in the future.
Changing demographics due to the skyrocketing cost of housing, gentrification and significant foreign immigration have caused major shifts in the ethnic and cultural identities of the Bay Area’s cities that make this a very exciting time to build community and share the gospel as the surrounding area is quickly changing and the church community we are a part of is adapting as well.
