Southern Baptists in decline
The decline in Episcopal Church membership relative to America's population growth is often attributed to our "lack of biblical faith". Interestingly today, the Southern Baptist Convention, which prides itself on a focus on biblical faith above all else has announced that it must recognize that it is a "denomination in decline".
According to an article published on EthicsDaily.com;
"New statistics released by LifeWay Christian Resources listed total SBC membership in 2007 as 16,266,920, a 0.24 percent decrease from the 16,306,246 reported in 2006. Baptisms, long used as a marker of Baptist vitality, dropped more than 5 percent to their lowest level since 1987.LifeWay President Thom Rainer called the report 'truly disheartening.'
Ed Stetzer, director of LifeWay Research, said membership growth has been moving toward a plateau for some time.
'Many have predicted that membership (an inflated statistic anyway) would soon began to decline, but the statement, 'Southern Baptists are a declining denomination' was not 'officially' accurate,' Stetzer wrote in a LifeWay blog. 'Until today.'
'For now, Southern Baptists are a denomination in decline,' Stetzer wrote."
Stetzer goes in the article to say that membership in the SBC has peaked and the long term trends indicate a decrease that should continue for the foreseeable future given that baptisms are at their all time low.
Read the rest here.
