Southern Baptists assess themselves. Leader: ‘God forgive us and God help us.’
America’s largest Protestant denomination released its annual self-assessment today, and most of its metrics went in one direction: down.
In short, the nearly 16-million-member Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) gained 270 churches over the past year, but lost more than 105,000 members and 188,000 Sunday worshipers, according to its Annual Church Profile. This marks its sixth straight year of membership decline.
However, the SBC’s 42 state conventions still claim almost 6 million Sunday worshipers at more than 46,000 churches.
