Thom Rainer: Where Have All the Baptisms Gone?

This blog has become a community of very informed persons from a variety of backgrounds. Many of you readers are not from my denominational background; and many of you don’t know a lot of details about the Southern Baptist Convention.

So, in many ways, this post and a couple more next week are written for my immediate denominational family. The rest of you are welcome to “listen” in and even make comments. I have no doubt we can learn from you.

A Time of Sorrow and Concern in the SBC

I recently reported the latest statistics for our denomination. It’s not a pretty picture. Our membership declined again, this time by 105,708. And our baptisms were down to 314,956, the lowest level since 1948. But in 1948, we only had 6 million members. Today we have 16 million members. We are reaching less people for Christ, even though we have 10 million more members than we did in 1948.

Keep in mind that baptisms are our way to best estimate the number of people we reached for Christ with the gospel. When someone declares that he or she is a follower of Christ in our churches, that person is expected to follow through with baptism.

But baptisms are declining precipitously. Why?

Where have all the baptisms gone? Read more

Also read
What People Really Think About Southern Baptists

How reliable are the statistics of your denomination? Your judicatory (e.g. diocese, presbytery)? Your local church? Do they provide an accurate picture of the "health' of your denomination? Judicatory? Local church?

What are the unchurched's perceptions of your denomination? How do their perceptions impact the ministry and witness of your judicatory? Your local church?