{"id":1383,"date":"2009-04-28T17:25:22","date_gmt":"2009-04-28T17:25:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/news\/2009\/04\/southern-baptists-baptisms-dip.php"},"modified":"2009-04-28T17:25:22","modified_gmt":"2009-04-28T17:25:22","slug":"southern-baptists-baptisms-dip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2009\/04\/southern-baptists-baptisms-dip","title":{"rendered":"Southern Baptists’ Baptisms Dip to Lowest in Two Decades"},"content":{"rendered":"

(RNS) The number of baptisms by Southern Baptists — who consider the rite a gauge of their evangelism success and a key element of their faith — has dropped to the lowest rate in two decades.
\nThe denomination, which also saw a slight decrease in membership numbers, recorded 342,198 baptisms in 2008, a decrease of 1.1 percent from the previous year, according to LifeWay Christian Resources, a division of the Southern Baptist Convention that compiles annual statistics.
\nThe baptism rate is the lowest for Southern Baptists since 1987 and represents the fourth consecutive annual decline, demonstrating a continuing challenge for the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.
\n“The numbers simply tell us that Southern Baptists are not reaching as many people for Christ as they once did,” said Thom S. Rainer, president and CEO of LifeWay, in an April 23 announcement of the new statistics.
\n“I pray that all of our churches and our entities will become totally focused on obeying Christ’s commission so that our convention will truly experience a Great Commission resurgence.”
\nTotal membership in the denomination fell to 16,228,438, a drop of
\n38,482 members, or 0.2 percent.
\nDespite the economic downturn, Southern Baptists increased their support of missions by 2.3 percent last year.
\nLifeWay produces the Annual Church Profile by compiling information from state conventions affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.
\nBy Adelle M. Banks
\nCopyright 2009 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of this transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written permission.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(RNS) The number of baptisms by Southern Baptists — who consider the rite a gauge of their evangelism success and a key element of their faith — has dropped to the lowest rate in two decades. The denomination, which also saw a slight decrease in membership numbers, recorded 342,198 baptisms in 2008, a decrease of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nSouthern Baptists' Baptisms Dip to Lowest in Two Decades<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2009\/04\/southern-baptists-baptisms-dip\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Southern Baptists' Baptisms Dip to Lowest in Two Decades\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"(RNS) The number of baptisms by Southern Baptists — who consider the rite a gauge of their evangelism success and a key element of their faith — has dropped to the lowest rate in two decades. The denomination, which also saw a slight decrease in membership numbers, recorded 342,198 baptisms in 2008, a decrease of…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2009\/04\/southern-baptists-baptisms-dip\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beliefnet News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-04-28T17:25:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"nsymmonds\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Southern Baptists' Baptisms Dip to Lowest in Two Decades","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2009\/04\/southern-baptists-baptisms-dip","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Southern Baptists' Baptisms Dip to Lowest in Two Decades","og_description":"(RNS) The number of baptisms by Southern Baptists — who consider the rite a gauge of their evangelism success and a key element of their faith — has dropped to the lowest rate in two decades. 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