Be informed. Be challenged. Be inspired.

Southern Baptists, losing members, find solace in baptisms and better attendance

United States RNS The bad news for Southern Baptists is that the denomination, the largest Protestant group in the US, 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 […]

Southern Baptists lost nearly half a million members in 2022

"SBC membership falls to lowest number since late 1970s"

United States RNS The long, slow decline of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination continues. Membership in the Southern Baptist Convention was down by nearly half a million in 2022, according to a recently released denomination report. Nashville-based Lifeway Research reported on Tuesday that the SBC had 13.2 million members in 2022, down from 13.68 million […]

Measuring COVID-19’s effect: Southern Baptists report 19 per cent attendance drop

United States RNS Anecdotally, clergy have talked about the disruption in worship attendance in this pandemic age. Now, Southern Baptists have statistics to prove it. The average in-person weekly attendance at Southern Baptist Convention churches declined 18.75 per cent, from 4,439,797 in 2020 to 3,607,530 in 2021. Christian education saw an even larger decrease of […]