The Disciples in Texas

Abstract

Abstract Colonizers from the U.S. began to enter the Texas borderlands in the 1820s when Spain and then the newly formed Mexican republic gave land grants to men like Moses Austin and his son Stephen Austin, who worked as an empresario. The arrival of these U.S. colonizers also meant the arrival of Protestantism since Austin's colony claimed members, lay and clergy, from various denominational groups. Despite efforts by the Mexican government to keep Roman Catholicism as the only legally recognized religion in the Texas borderlands, Protestant missionary work could not be stopped. However, it quickly became clear that the Protestant colonizers had no idea of what the Texas borderlands were about. The borderlands people, culture, language, and faith were seen as “other.” Devalued and ultimately excluded, the Texas borderlands people became foreigners in their own land.