(RNS) — The bad news for Southern Baptists is that the denomination, the nation’s largest Protestant group, shrunk in 2023, with a drop of about a quarter-million people.The good news, according to the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual statistical report, is that the decline slowed from 2022. In addition, of those who remained, more went to church and more newcomers took the plunge to get baptized.
The SBC’s 2024 Annual Church Profile, released Tuesday (May 7), showed that membership dropped to 12.9 million members, the lowest since the late 1970s. Having peaked at 16.3 million in 2006, membership has been in decline ever since, with nearly 3.5 million members in total lost. About half of that total loss has come since 2018.
Weekly attendance at churches rebounded from the COVID-19 pandemic, topping 4 million per week, while small-group attendance was about 2.5 million. Donations at the denomination’s 46,000 churches also remained robust, topping $10 billion, feeding nearly $800 million into SBC national and international ministries.
The SBC’s churches also reported 226,000 baptisms, a key evangelism statistic held dear by Southern Baptists. About 175,000 new people joined SBC congregations in 2023.
SBC baptisms have returned to near pre-pandemic levels, totaling just under 227,000 in 2023. Graphic courtesy of Lifeway Research
Churches in Florida, Georgia, California, North Carolina and Tennessee reported the largest increase in baptisms from 2022 to 2023.
Todd Unzicker, executive director-treasurer of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, said that churches in his state have focused on incr …
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The SBC’s 2024 Annual Church Profile, released Tuesday (May 7), showed that membership dropped to 12.9 million members, the lowest since the late 1970s. Having peaked at 16.3 million in 2006, membership has been in decline ever since, with nearly 3.5 million members in total lost. About half of that total loss has come since 2018.
Weekly attendance at churches rebounded from the COVID-19 pandemic, topping 4 million per week, while small-group attendance was about 2.5 million. Donations at the denomination’s 46,000 churches also remained robust, topping $10 billion, feeding nearly $800 million into SBC national and international ministries.
The SBC’s churches also reported 226,000 baptisms, a key evangelism statistic held dear by Southern Baptists. About 175,000 new people joined SBC congregations in 2023.
SBC baptisms have returned to near pre-pandemic levels, totaling just under 227,000 in 2023. Graphic courtesy of Lifeway Research
Churches in Florida, Georgia, California, North Carolina and Tennessee reported the largest increase in baptisms from 2022 to 2023.
Todd Unzicker, executive director-treasurer of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, said that churches in his state have focused on incr …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]