Posted on 06/07/2020 8:46:03 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
While the number of churches in the Southern Baptist Convention has increased slightly, total membership in those churches suffered the largest single-year decline in more than 100 years, according to recent measures from LifeWay Christian Resources.
In the Annual Church Profile prepared by the publishing and distribution division of the SBC based in Nashville, Tennessee, data show that the denomination lost some 287,655 members, nearly 2% of its adherents from 2018 to 2019. Current membership stands at 14,525,579.
While the number of churches in the denomination increased by 74 for a total of 47,530 churches over 2018, it did not reflect an increase in the number of congregations. Overall, the number of SBC congregations fell to 51,138 over 2018. Multisite congregations, however, grew by 505 campuses.
Southern Baptist baptisms also fell by more than 4%, dropping from 246,442 in 2018 to 235,748 in 2019. In 2019, there was one baptism for every 62 Southern Baptists. And Scott McConnell, executive director of LifeWay Research, said the decline in baptisms is a reflection of the increasing secularization of America.
“These numbers are not able to tell the story of all the evangelistic efforts that many individuals and churches have put in this past year. They do indicate, however, that the efforts of the same number of people in a congregation on average are seeing fewer people come to Christ and being baptized,” McConnell said in a statement.
“The Southern Baptist Convention is not immune to the increasing secularization among Americans that is seen in more of our children and our neighbors not having interest in coming to Jesus,” he said.
A study from the Pew Research Center last October noted that only 65% of Americans now identify as Christian, while those who identify as religiously unaffiliated — a group which includes atheists, agnostics and people who don’t identify with any religion — swelled to 26% of the population. The drop in the number of Americans identifying as Christian reflected a 12% decline when compared to the general population 10 years ago. The decline was visible across multiple demographics but particularly among young adults.
Research by the Public Religion Research Institute in 2016 on why Americans are leaving religion also pointed to the increasing share of American adults who have been joining the ranks of the religiously unaffiliated, and said it is being “fed by an exodus of those who grew up with a religious identity.” Younger Americans today are also more likely than seniors to be raised without a religious identity.
In addition to the decline in membership, giving in the SBC was also down. Total church receipts and undesignated receipts were both down in 2019 after two years of growth. Total church receipts fell 1.44% to $11.6 billion while undesignated church receipts decreased 0.01% to $9.6 billion.
Congregations reported total mission expenditures of $1.1 billion and Great Commission Giving of $541 million.
Some 75% of Southern Baptist congregations participated in the reporting for the profile with at least one item which is similar to previous years, McConnell said, noting that data from the report has been beneficial during the coronavirus pandemic.
“In this season of social distancing, we realize how important our cooperative connections are within the SBC,” he said. “The Annual Church Profile is an important annual check-in to make sure other congregations, associations, state conventions, and national entities have the contact information, leadership names, and a few statistics to stay connected with a congregation. Many contacts have been made during this difficult time that were only possible because information was updated and stored in a national database.”
There are Soros funded, radicals in high positions within the SBC. Think Russell Moore and his ilk. My SNL is a friend to him who blindly supports the social justice, black liberation theology Moore has introduced into the convention. She’s unreachable, despite all the evidence of his deviousness. He is an abortion supporting democrat who will deny that support while working to elect more democrats.
Yes, the Southern Baptists membership has dropped from its peak of about 16 million.
When the Southern Baptists membership is measured against the membership in the United Church of Christ, the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church America, the Presbyterian Church USA, and the United Methodist Church, we find the Southern Baptists have been very successful in retaining membership in an increasingly secular USA.
SBC has split off from the baptists and is now an unrecognizable secularist leaning branch that mixes God’s word with secularism and man’s word- They are becoming wolves in sheep’
s clothing
Just like many denominations that split off- they decided God’s word isn’t adequate, and that man must supplement because ‘times have changed’- ie, they are giving ground to the enemy-
Nope- no thanks-
Russell Moore and his ilk.
I share your concerns about Moore. He needs to be removed.
Seems like most of the traditional demoninations are going that route: Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Methodists, Lutherans, now Baptists.
Does anyone still follow those churches?
I think most people here are non-denominational Christians.
“Yes, the Southern Baptists membership has dropped from its peak of about 16 million.”
They need to drop the word Southern from their name.
And the word Baptists.
Later, drop the word Church and all the negative connotations.
Does it have anything to do with people finding out the truth about Russell Moore?
Check out his budget $$$$$$$$$$$$.
Yep, you’re a democrat alright.
“Yep, you’re a democrat alright.”
I’m sorry you misunderstood my post. I may have to reconsider the practice of using indirect criticism.
It’s oh-so-tedious to have to ask someone to clarify their point after they claim to have clarified their point, but here it goes: What’s your point?
No, he may be keeping up with what's going on with the SBC. They are re evaluating their stance on sodomy. What does that say about them? Methodist? Lutheran? Baal worship? Moloch?
It's time for ALL CHRISTIANS to read their Bibles and dump the traditions of men. Denominations are traditions of men. If you love your denomination more than the Word of God, there is a fundamental problem with your salvation. You might be a quart low as a foolish virgin.
The main argument you will hear is "My granddaddy was a Baptist, my daddy was a Baptist, I'm a Baptist and by God, my children will be Baptists". It's traditions that keep people in apostate churches. We have 99 churches in my county and most of them have less than 30 people because cousin Joe is the preacher, or my mamma went here for 47 years, or some other crazy reason. Next thing you know they are marrying gays or taking up "love offerings" for the deacon's daughters abortion.
We just had one in my town (SBC church), whose pastor moved his son and his girlfriend into the parsonage. When it was called to the pastors attention that several didn't think it right to have them sharing the same bed in a house the church was paying for, he told them to do whatever, because he wasn't throwing his son out. Several left the church but some stayed. Same thing happened in a large SBC church in Dallas when the pastor found out his son was gay. He offered to resign because he would refuse to preach negatively on homosexuality. They took a vote and the pastor stayed.
Isn't that "WOKE" of them? Read about the meetings going on and what they are discussing before you insult someone as a Democrat.
Here is my point: if the Southern Baptist Church wants to appease the left they need to drop the words “Southern”, “Baptist”, and “Church”. Nothing less will do.
Said yet another way: abandon everything they once stood for.
What’s everyone’s opinion on Pastor Jeffress? He’s on Dobbs every Friday.
My problem with the SBC the past few years is the way they are changing church services. More and more traditional hyms and music are being thrown out of many SBC churches and replaced with a Sunday morning “Christian” rock concert and coffee service! Most of the new music they do play, most people do NOT know the lyrics to! Don’t get me wrong, new music is okay, but not every song! Also, much of the new music repeats the same hook endlessly! Some of these songs go on forever.
While I know many will disagree with me, I’m not a fan of Worship Leaders. I find them to be very distracting in my Worship of God. I don’t need these leaders to guide me through the service, and tell me how I’m supposed to feel!
Lastly, I think many pastors are forgetting their first mission which is presenting the Gospel, teaching, and Shepparding their flocks. Our our last Church had three pastors, and they were almost demanding that the deacons take on more responsibility within the Church! Let’s remember, deacons are laypersons who most often have jobs during the week! The reason our pastors needed more help was because they were overextended doing church plantings, mission trips and other things. Don’t get me wrong, these things are good, but church planting is not a pastors first responsibility; his first responsibility is to be a pastor/teacher.
Just my thoughts.
“Facing...growing secularization....” Don’t they mean “embracing”?
“””My problem with the SBC the past few years is the way they are changing church services. More and more traditional hyms and music are being thrown out of many SBC churches and replaced with a Sunday morning “Christian” rock concert and coffee service! Most of the new music they do play, most people do NOT know the lyrics to!”””
We are also suffering from the new music issue in our SBC church.
That being said, the most successful non-denominational church in our county started less than 20 years ago and has grown to now have a huge church building with a half dozen offsite locations and a membership approaching 10,000.
And yes, this very successful non-denominational church does all of the music you described.
I guess we old timers are just going to have to live with it.
SBC churches are independent and may support the SBC in big/small ways or not at al. Our church uses their Sunday School materials, which are generally very good. We equally support the CBF (Cooperative Baptist Fellowship) which is the more moderate alternative to the SBC, for instance “allowing” women to serve in pastoral positions and no “worship music wars”.
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