Thoughts on SBC Church Membership Decline

I came across an article on USA Today about the declining numbers across the Southern Baptist Convention (the denomination of which I am part). You can see the article for yourself by clicking here.  It was a pretty good article other than the part where the writer calls Ed Stetzer and Thom Rainer both the President of Lifeway Christian Resources.

I agree with a point made by Ed Stetzer that many Southern Baptists have lost a passion for evangelism.  One reason that church membership has dropped is that those who are members do not share their faith with friends, family, co-workers, or neighbors like they once did.  If there is no sharing of the Gospel, there sure won't be any receiving of the Gospel and people joining churches to work together for God's Kingdom.

I think that there might be another reason for the decline in church membership within the Southern Baptist Convention.  The need to reevaluate church membership in the local church (or the refusal to reevaluate church membership) could be a huge deterrent for having people join a SBC church.  If church membership doesn't mean much (a topic I look to blog about this week), then today's generation of young adults aren't going to sign up.

There's no doubt that something has to turn around.  If we are going to see people come to faith in Christ and obey Him in working together with other believers in the context of a local church, then we got some work to do.

What are your thoughts about the current trends of church membership, baptisms, etc within the Southern Baptist Convention?