EthicsDaily.com reports on statistics released by LifeWay Christian Resources that show a drop in SBC membership of 40,000 over the last year. Baptisms are at their lowest level since 1970.
Ed Stetzer, director of LifeWay Research, writes on the LifeWay blog:
“For now, Southern Baptists are a denomination in decline.”
“Some might want to point to the good news (attendance up slightly, more churches, etc.),” Stetzer said. “However, you cannot miss the fact that a dubious historical milestone has been reached–and it needs to be noted in denominational and church offices across the country.”
“Some might say it’s ‘only one year,’ and they would be technically right,” Stetzer continued. But based on long-term membership trends, Stetzer said, “Reality is we have peaked.”
Rob Phillip’s article on the LifeWay website quotes Thom S. Rainer, president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources:
“This report is truly disheartening,” said Rainer. “Total membership showed a slight decline. Baptisms have now declined for three consecutive years and for seven of the last eight years, and are at their lowest level since 1987. Indeed, the total baptisms are among the lowest reported since 1970. We are a denomination that, for the most part, has lost its evangelistic passion.”
In the EthicsDaily.com article, Bruce Prescott blames the decline on Calvinism:
Bruce Prescott, a moderate Baptist leader, attributed the decline to the rise of Calvinism.
“Mainstream Baptists have been predicting for decades that the Calvinism being taught in the SBC’s fundamentalist-dominated seminaries would have an adverse impact on evangelism,” Prescott said in his blog. “Now those concerns have been confirmed.”
“This decline comes entirely on the watch of the fundamentalists who seized control of the SBC in the 1980s,” Prescott said. “Moderate Baptists never experienced a single decline in membership during their tenure of leadership over the Convention.”
