Southern Baptists see historic drop in membership

[Eugene]

Source: Washington Post

Southern Baptists see historic drop in membership

By Sarah Pulliam Bailey
6/4/2020, 12:12:34 p.m.

Total membership in the nation’s largest Protestant denomination fell at a historic rate between 2018 and 2019, according to an annual report released Thursday.

The Southern Baptist Convention said it had 14.5 million members in 2019, down about 287,655 from the previous year. Membership dropped 2 percent, the largest single-year drop in more than 100 years, according to a survey from LifeWay Christian Resources, the denomination’s publishing and research arm.

The decline reflects a larger trend of Americans leaving Christianity at a rapid pace. According to the Pew Research Center, 65 percent of Americans describe themselves as Christians, down 12 percentage points during the past decade.

Southern Baptist baptisms fell by more than 4 percent, a key metric in measuring new members of the faith. Average weekly worship service and Sunday school or small-group attendance each dropped by less than 1 percent. Giving was down, and total church receipts fell 1.44 percent to $11.6 billion.

-snip-

The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) has been in a steady decline for nearly 15 years, hitting its peak in 2003 at 16,315,050. The convention has been in turmoil in recent years, spending the bulk of its annual meeting in 2019 on the issue of sex abuse after the Houston Chronicle published reports on the issue in Southern Baptist churches. The convention has also hosted controversies over an invitation for Vice President Pence to speak at its meeting, faced difficulty in passing a resolution to decry the alt-right and held theological debates over the role of God’s sovereignty.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2020/06/04/southern-baptists-see-historic-drop-membership/

[edhopper]

1. It needs to shrin to the size

we can flush it down the drain.

[UncleTomsEvilBrother]

2. I'm wondering...

...if the article is a bit off when it says "the decline reflects a larger trend of Americans leaving Christianity..." I'm wondering if Americans are leaving Christianity or if it's just the case of Americans leaving Evangelicism.

[progree]

10. Nope, Christianity

https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/

[rurallib]

3. well that is sure worth a kick and rec

[eShirl]

4. Good.

[The Magistrate]

5. Play Stupid Games, Win Stupid Prizes, Sir

Or perhaps more precisely in this case, talk like a stupid shit, and win the stupid prize of people seeing what a stupid shit you are...

[SamKnause]

6. Excellent news.

[Girard442]

7. I was raised Southern Baptist, but it seems I don't have a religion gene, so it didn't stick.

I never had any particular antipathy toward Evangelicals, although I thought they were misguided about many things and often badly served by their leadership. That all changed in 2016 when Evangelicals abandoned en masse their stated core beliefs and became Trumpists. As far as I'm concerned, if all those Evangelical church buildings end up as nothing but food for termites -- good riddance.

[Major Nikon]

8. Thanks Jesus

[BComplex]

15. LOL! Here in the south, every baptist yard has a sign that says "thank you Jesus".

I laughed when I saw your post.

[Under The Radar]

9. It was the Southern Baptist that endorsed GW Bush

...in the name of “Family Values” and fell for his stupid bullshit line that “God told me to end the tyranny in Iraq”. And no one had the balls to question why God would want him to kill nearly a million Iraqis and give their oil to Exxon.
The Church also started to endorse gun rights around the same time, which with each Church shooting it haunts me.
In my opinion 2% decline in a single year is a disgrace, especially with their support of Trump, where it is obvious that their gig is all about the money, and they care less about the wellbeing of the “children of God”

[Chainfire]

11. The church is losing ground

as us older folks are dying off, the young ones aren't replacing us in sufficient numbers.

[sinkingfeeling]

12. That makes me happy.

[3Hotdogs]

13. God does indeed, have a sense of humor.

I was listening to a financial radio program today. Woman calls up to say she is kinda broke and in debt.

"God told me not to get a second job."

[BComplex]

14. Maybe people are getting tired of the right wing propaganda being preached from the pulpit?

Duh?

[Iggo]

16. Good.