Friday, April 25, 2008

Southern Baptist Decline?

Is the Southern Baptist Convention a declining denomination? Lot's of people are talking about some new statistics - See here, here, here and here. The source of the discussion seems to be Ed Stetzer at Lifeway, who says:

Baptisms are at their lowest levels since 1970 with seven of the last eight years showing annual declines. Even though some might hope the decline in membership numbers is due to lack of reporting, the inescapable conclusion is that baptisms by individual churches is falling off. (LifeWay Research will provide more analysis in the next month.)

For now, Southern Baptists are a denomination in decline. Some of you were born into an SBC church; others of us chose it of our own accord. Either way, it is dear to us all. Our responsibility before God is, then, to urgently consider how we should respond. Yes, most of our response should be personal and lived out in our local churches—this is a local church issue. But if we are choosing to partner in this network of churches, and the network is faltering, it will also take some joint action.
He also says:
The Conservative Resurgence failed to produce a Great Commission Resurgence. It restored our denomination’s value of Scripture but application is often absent, at least in the area of evangelism.
I grew up in the SBC and attended a Baptist college. Although I haven't been a member of a Baptist church in 30 years (am I still on a role somewhere?), my parents, most of my family and many friend are Southern Baptists. I still care what happens in the denomination where I found Jesus, and where I was taught to follow Jesus by following the Bible and my conscience wherever they led me. I join my Baptist brothers and sisters in prayer for renewal and revival in their churches and convention.

UPDATE: More comments here.

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