Southern Baptists report decline in baptisms

  The largest evangelical denomination in the United States recently reported its lowest number of baptisms since 1987.
  According to the Annual Church Profile (ACP) compiled by LifeWay Christian Resources, baptisms in 2007 for the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) dropped nearly 5.5% to 345,941. That number compares to 364,826 the previous year.
  The drop in baptisms comes as the denomination added 473 new churches in 2007. Dr. Thom Rainer, president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources, said the decline represents a 50-year trend. “The reality is this – in 1950, Southern Baptists had six million members and we were baptizing 400,000 [annually]. Today we have 16.2 million and we’re baptizing 345,000. So no matter how you slice and dice the statistics, it is not a good situation – and it is not a promising report,” Rainer pointed out.
  According to Rainer, many factors contribute to the decline. But in response, he said local churches must make the Great Commission a priority.
  “Matthew 28:19 is not a select passage for those who choose to obey, and Acts 1:8 is not a passage for those who conveniently happen to look at it,” the SBC official shared. “It is a mandate for all Christians, and isn’t it kind of ironic we talk about those things that excite us the most, and rightly so that will be family and sometimes sports teams. It just seems like, frankly, we’re not very excited about being saved, redeemed, forgiven, and having the blood of Jesus Christ shed for us. It just seems like that’s a ho-hum thing to us,” Rainer said.
  Rainer noted that evangelism was a key topic at the SBC annual meeting in Indianapolis in June. During the meeting, the SBC unveiled a 10-year evangelism strategy.
  www.onenewsnow.com, 4/29/08