Alabama Baptists are noted for their careful record keeping that documents life in the churches and in the denomination. Occasionally the gathered information causes some to boast about the important role Alabama Baptists play in the kingdom of God in this area and in the life of the state. However, the numbers taken from the 2011 Annual Church Profile (ACP) paint a picture that is causing some observers to question the direction Baptist churches appear headed.
Total membership of cooperating churches is still large — 1,135,606, according to statistics provided by the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions. That means almost one out of every four (23.6 percent) of Alabama’s 4,802,740 citizens in 2011 were members of an Alabama Baptist church.
However, when one delves below the total number, the picture is not as encouraging.
Resident membership — members who live in the community of the church of which they are a member — stood at 792,630 at the end of 2011 or about one in six of every state resident (16.5 percent). That means slightly more than 30 percent of Alabama Baptist church members live in communities away from the church of which they are a member. Most of these may be called inactive members and churches may have lost contact with many of them. Still, one in six is a sizable portion of the state’s population.
Worship attendance also reflects dwindling participation. On any given Sunday in 2011, the average worship attendance reported was 380,528 people. That is slightly less than half the resident members (48 percent) and one-third (33.5 percent) of the total membership.
From one out of four state residents who are members of Alabama Baptist churches, one now has eight out of 100 who worship in an Alabama Baptist church on any given Sunday. That is quite a difference.
Bible study participants continue the downward trend. Average Sunday School attendance was reported at 281,613. That is 35.5 percent of resident members and six out of every 100 state citizens.
Unfortunately, resident membership, worship attendance and Bible study averages are all lower than 2010 numbers.
Alabama is noted for the number of Baptist churches in the state. That is only part of the picture. In 2011, Alabama Baptists reported 3,238 cooperating churches. That was down from the previous year, in part, because 15 churches disbanded. Of the more than 3,000 only 108 reported average worship attendance of more than 500 people. Only 34 of those reported worship attendance of more than 1,000.
On the other end of the spectrum, 2,113 churches reported average worship attendance of 100 or fewer. Thirty-nine percent of cooperating Alabama Baptist churches (1,262) reported worship attendance of 50 or fewer. The median attendance for all Alabama Baptist churches was 59.
Bible study participation through Sunday School shows a similar picture. The number of churches with 100 or fewer in average attendance was 2,341 or 72.3 percent of all cooperating churches. Only 69 churches average more than 500 in Sunday School participation. Last year the number was 71. Only 19 churches averaged more than 1,000 in Sunday School in 2011.
A generation ago Sunday School was the door to the church and attendance always topped worship participation. No longer. Now people come to worship first and every size church has trouble getting people to participate in Bible study through the Sunday School.
Among smaller membership churches, 39 percent (1,262) average 50 or fewer in worship attendance. For Sunday School attendance, that number was 1,725 or 53.3 percent of all Alabama Baptist churches. Among the largest churches, 34 average more than 1,000 in worship attendance but only 19 of those report Sunday School participation of more than 1,000.
Churches averaging between 501 and 1,000 in worship attendance numbered 74 in 2011 but only 50 could report an average Sunday School attendance between 501 and 1,000.
The number of baptisms reported by churches also dropped. In 2010, churches reported 20,948 baptisms. Last year the reported number was 20,077 for a drop of 4.16 percent. Also the number of churches reporting no baptisms increased from 719 to 727. The ratio of baptisms to resident members increased from 1 to 38 in 2010 up to 1 to 39 for 2011.
In 2010, 50.3 percent of all baptisms were of people age 18 and above; 36.2 percent of those were age 30 and above. In 2011, those more than 18 years of age made up 42.2 percent of baptisms. Those age 30 and above composed 28.2 percent.
The plurality of baptisms continued to come from middle-school and high-school age categories. This group composed 41.4 percent of all baptisms in 2011. Those ages 9–11 accounted for 3,867 baptisms while the 12–17 age category accounted for 4,434 baptisms. Alabama Baptists also reported baptizing 268 children under age 5.
The median number of baptisms by church was three.
When baptisms are examined by the age of the church, an interesting picture emerges. Churches less than 10 years of age accounted for 4.9 percent of reported baptisms. Churches older than 50 years accounted for 76.7 percent of baptisms. In terms of numbers, churches 10 years old or younger reported 983 baptisms. Churches more than 50 years of age reported 15,390 baptisms.
Financially, the ACPs confirmed what was already known from experience. 2011 was a difficult year. Total receipts for Alabama Baptist churches were down about $11.5 million. Undesignated receipts were down about $4 million.
Churches gave less money to missions causes through the Cooperative Program (CP) — $40,613,997.30 for the 2011 church year compared to $41,286,543.15 for 2010. The percentage of undesignated receipts contributed by cooperating Baptist churches through the CP fell from 7.3 percent to 7.2 percent.
In terms of size, worship participation, Sunday School attendance, the number of people reached or missions support through the CP, 2011 was not a good year for Alabama Baptists. The April 27 tornadoes may have had something to do with that. Certainly that natural disaster — the greatest in Alabama Baptist history — impacted the life and work of churches and families alike. And these numbers are not set in stone because not every church completed the ACP.
Still the numbers are reliable and provide a picture reflecting the directions of Baptist life. They tell us clearly that this is not time for boasting. Rather it is a time for pondering the future of Alabama Baptists — both in our churches and our corporate life — to determine how God wants to use this body of believers to reach others, to grow people in Christian discipleship and to reflect the kingdom of God in this area.
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