Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Southern Baptists Losing Members

Membership for the Southern Baptist Convention is the lowest in more than 20 years. Here’s how the numbers shape up for the largest Protestant denomination:

Membership
▪ 2007 - 16,266,920
▪ That’s down some 40,000 from the year before
▪ It’s the third year in a row that the number of members has fallen

Baptisms
▪ 2007 – down 5.5% to 345,941

On the up side:
▪ The SBC added 473 new churches, growing by 1.1% to 44,696
▪ Worship attendance is up slightly to 6.15 million
▪ Support for mission activities – more than $1.3 billion

Source: LifeWay Christian Resources

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

No surprise. People want more from a church than typical Southern Baptist congregations offer. They're known for what they're against and focus on congratulating themselves on why they are more spiritual than others.