I was in New York City on the day the Southern Baptist Convention convened in Orlando, so I wasn't able to watch the live feed like so many others. My husband and I took our daughter to the Big Apple so she could participate in the New York Tribeca summer project sponsored by Campus Crusade for Christ. She is spending five weeks on college campuses sharing her faith with those who do not know Jesus Christ and encouraging those who do. We are overjoyed that our rising college senior is so passionate about her faith when so many in her age group are closing the door to Christianity. To God be the glory!
For those of you who missed the opportunity to watch the live feed of the 2010 SBC Annual Meeting, here's the link to all of the sessions. Isn't technology wonderful?
http://mediasuite.316networks.com/player.php?p=fga5sa1z
Prior to the establishment of the GCR Task Force at last year's convention, Trevin Wax interviewed Dr. Danny Akin about the need for a Great Commission Resurgence. In Part Two of a three part interview, Dr. Akin expressed the following concern: http://trevinwax.com/2009/06/09/turning-around-the-sbc-decline-an-interview-with-dr-danny-akin-2/
"On any given Sunday, we do not have 16 million Southern Baptists in worship. More likely, we have around 8 million present. And if you use as a criteria for “faithful church attender” someone who comes just once a month, we might have 10.5 to 11 million true Southern Baptists, not 16 million. You put all that in a pot and you can see that we have some serious issues."
On May 17, 2010, The Christian Post published an article entitled Southern Baptists Mark 3rd Year of Membership Decline http://www.christianpost.com/article/20100517/southern-baptists-still-marking-decline/index.html
Here's an excerpt:
"According to a newly released annual report, membership in the Southern Baptist Convention fell in 2009 by 0.42 percent to 16.16 million. That marks the third consecutive year of decline for a body that had previously bucked the shrinking trend of other denominations.
On a positive note, baptisms rose by 2.2 percent to 349,737, stemming a four-year decline."
The distress signal came two years earlier with this headline: So. Baptists Now a 'Declining Denomination' http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080424/so-baptists-now-a-declining-denomination/index.html
The article begins as follows:
"For the first time, Southern Baptists can say membership has reached a tipping point and the nation's largest Protestant denomination is now declining, says one long-time Southern Baptist."
This is the reason the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force was overwhelmingly approved and has acted swiftly to assess the situation. Check out their web site for more information.
Tomorrow we will take a closer look at the Great Commission Resurgence.
“if you use as a criteria for “faithful church attender” someone who comes just once a month, we might have 10.5 to 11 million true Southern Baptists, not 16 million. ”
WOW, some definition of faithful church member! I wonder what the count would be if it were “attending at least three times a month” which to me is a lot closer to the meaning of “faithful church member”. So every piee of writing about the SBC membership numbers contains a lie????
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I think this definition is the same as what is used by Pew. This allows them to compare numbers gathered using the same methods. Apples to apples and such. Now as to whether or not you or I would consider them a faithful member is another story. 🙂