New congregations demonstrate diversity

ATLANTA — More than half of the new congregations added to the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) in 1999 were predominantly ethnic or African-American.

“For so long Southern Baptists have been viewed by the world as white Anglo Southerners, and that is the case no longer,” said Robert E. Reccord, president of the SBC’s North American Mission Board. The denomination saw a record 1,747 new congregations added to its rolls last year, reported Baptist Press, the SBC’s news service. The previous record was 1,504 in 1996.

A record 675 of the newly added churches were ethnic congregations, including 311 Hispanic, 56 Korean and 32 Haitian. New African-American congregations totaled 225.

The total number of new congregations also included 154 existing churches that affiliated with Southern Baptists during 1999.