What the Latest SBC Numbers Mean for Your Church

The Southern Baptist Convention released their Annual Church Profile and it is cause for alarm, not just among Baptist churches in America, but other evangelicals as well.

Too much emphasis should not be placed on the numbers of one specific year, but it can give a glimpse at the overall trends happening within the SBC. And the trends are not positive.

For the second year in a row, Southern Baptists experienced a decline in baptisms, down 1.46 percent to 310,368. Reported baptisms have declined seven of the last nine years.

While the number of SBC churches grew in 2013, the reported membership of those churches declined by 136,764, down 0.9 percent to 15.7 million members. Primary worship attendance declined 2.21 percent to an average of 5.8 million Sunday worshippers.

This is troubling for the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S., but it could also spell trouble for other conservative evangelical churches. The challenges affecting the SBC are not limited to only Southern Baptist congregations.

But the good news is that these challenges have been identified and solutions are available. Keep reading

See also
Southern Baptist Report Shows Decline in Membership, Attendance for 7th Year in a Row

Photo: ForestWander, Creative Commons