Why is the Southern Baptist membership rapidly shrinking?
Is the membership of the Southern Baptist Convention really shrinking?
The answer is very much a resounding “yes”. Each and every year since 2006 it has been falling.
Don’t take my word on it, but instead lean upon the actual numbers that they themselves produce. Each year an Annual Church Profile (ACP) is compiled by Lifeway Christian Resources and is done in cooperation with Baptist state conventions. Within it we get the precise details of the annual numerical changes for the Southern Baptist Convention.
For the latest details, check out the latest May 7, 2024 article by Lifeway Research.
Since these are their numbers, they quite naturally give it all a positive spin. Their article is titled “Southern Baptist Membership Decline Slows, Baptisms and Attendance Grow“.
Permit me to translate. They are saying: “well yes, we are still shrinking, but the rate at which we are shrinking is not as fast as the last two years, and also more people are attending and getting dunked.“
How can they be shrinking and yet have more people attending?
Let’s take a modest dip into the numbers and see what we actually find.
