The number of people baptized in Southern Baptist churches fell for the third straight year in 2007 to the convention’s lowest level since 1987.
Although the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) added 473 new churches and gave more than $1.3 billion to support missions activities around the world, Thom S. Rainer, president of LifeWay Christian Resources, said there’s no escaping the fact that Southern Baptists are not reaching as many people for Christ as they once did.
LifeWay gathers the year-to-year information on the convention’s behalf.
According to LifeWay’s Annual Church Profile (ACP), baptisms in 2007 dropped nearly 5.5 percent to 345,941, compared to 364,826 in 2006.
Baptism is a public act administered by the local church in which new followers of Christ are immersed in water.
Baptism symbolizes believers’ identification with Jesus in His death, burial and resurrection; signifies their new life in Christ; and anticipates the day on which Christ will raise them from the dead, demonstrating His victory over sin and death. Therefore, the number of baptisms is a key measurement of the SBC’s effectiveness in evangelism.
“This report is truly disheartening,” Rainer said. “Total membership showed a slight decline. Baptisms have now declined for three consecutive years and for seven of the last eight years, and are at their lowest level since 1987. Indeed, the total baptisms are among the lowest reported since 1970.”
Total membership in SBC churches, 16,266,920, fell from 2006’s 16,306,246.
Not all the news coming out of the ACP was negative.
The number of SBC churches grew by 1.1 percent to 44,696; primary worship attendance increased slightly to 6.15 million; and total missions expenditures topped $1.3 billion.
Impacted categories and their 2007 totals include:
– Sunday School enrollment: 7,876,611
– Discipleship training enrollment: 1,664,348
– Total tithes, offerings and special gifts: $10.85 billion
– Music ministry enrollment/participation: 1,444,837
– WMU enrollment: 778,555
– Men/boys missions education enrollment: 381,355. (BP)
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