The North American Mission Board convened a pastors' task force "to assess and respond to stark patterns of decline in Southern Baptist evangelism and baptisms."
One of their findings was that SBC baptisms are GROWING, not declining. There is certainly more to this factoid. The only consistent growth is in baptisms of preschoolers age five and under. Got that? We are dipping more five year olds, four year olds, three year olds and I'd bet a few two year old toddlers still in diapers. I had thought that we stopped collecting data for this age category, preferring to lump them in with older children.
I make no flat conclusion about whether or not a five year old had the mental capacity and the spiritual awareness to comprehend what it means to be a sinner, to understand the vicarious atonement, and to be saved. Don't throw that hymnal that you never use anymore at me but I'd be extremely wary of presuming that children that young are capable of abstract thinking which is required for salvation, unless you believe that parroting certain words does the job.
Other than this age group, baptisms are declining at a greater rate than previously. You can read the report and Baptist Press' story on it in these links:
Pastors' Task Force on Declining Baptisms
Pastors' Task Force on SBC Evangelistic Impact & Declining Baptisms
One of the problems identifiied by the task force, more likely conveyed to the pastors by denominational representatives, is that more and more churches are not reporting baptisms at all. No, not a report of zero baptisms but no Annual Church Profile report at all.
When I wrote on this practice of not filing the ACP two years ago, I used the Florida Baptist Convention as the example and over 15% of FBC churches were not filing. I think I recall a figure of 20% being tossed about as the percentage of non-filers.
I think it fairly settled that SBC churches are less inclined to file the ACP that previously. I suspect the causes are (a) less denominational identification, (b) less associational involvement (yeah, you've been at your associations annual meeting where the year's stats are passed out and no one pays attention to anything until they check and see who did what and who didn't do what), (c) we've had a tendency to beat up churches with no baptisms in a given year and candidates for SBC or state convention offices who baptize few and more churches are choosing to not disclose their baptism figures, (d) filling out the form is a bore and a chore.
Calling attention to the declining baptism statistics is a good thing. It cannot hurt. I just don't see anything on the horizon that will change it. If we really wanted to look closely at baptisms and get to the problem, we might scrutinize RE-baptisms...but that embarrasses everyone, so lets just whistle by that graveyard.
One of their findings was that SBC baptisms are GROWING, not declining. There is certainly more to this factoid. The only consistent growth is in baptisms of preschoolers age five and under. Got that? We are dipping more five year olds, four year olds, three year olds and I'd bet a few two year old toddlers still in diapers. I had thought that we stopped collecting data for this age category, preferring to lump them in with older children.
I make no flat conclusion about whether or not a five year old had the mental capacity and the spiritual awareness to comprehend what it means to be a sinner, to understand the vicarious atonement, and to be saved. Don't throw that hymnal that you never use anymore at me but I'd be extremely wary of presuming that children that young are capable of abstract thinking which is required for salvation, unless you believe that parroting certain words does the job.
Other than this age group, baptisms are declining at a greater rate than previously. You can read the report and Baptist Press' story on it in these links:
Pastors' Task Force on Declining Baptisms
Pastors' Task Force on SBC Evangelistic Impact & Declining Baptisms
One of the problems identifiied by the task force, more likely conveyed to the pastors by denominational representatives, is that more and more churches are not reporting baptisms at all. No, not a report of zero baptisms but no Annual Church Profile report at all.
When I wrote on this practice of not filing the ACP two years ago, I used the Florida Baptist Convention as the example and over 15% of FBC churches were not filing. I think I recall a figure of 20% being tossed about as the percentage of non-filers.
I think it fairly settled that SBC churches are less inclined to file the ACP that previously. I suspect the causes are (a) less denominational identification, (b) less associational involvement (yeah, you've been at your associations annual meeting where the year's stats are passed out and no one pays attention to anything until they check and see who did what and who didn't do what), (c) we've had a tendency to beat up churches with no baptisms in a given year and candidates for SBC or state convention offices who baptize few and more churches are choosing to not disclose their baptism figures, (d) filling out the form is a bore and a chore.
Calling attention to the declining baptism statistics is a good thing. It cannot hurt. I just don't see anything on the horizon that will change it. If we really wanted to look closely at baptisms and get to the problem, we might scrutinize RE-baptisms...but that embarrasses everyone, so lets just whistle by that graveyard.
3 comments:
One of our grandchildren did indeed come to saving faith at 5, but waited until 7 to choose to be baptized.
I know you may have doubts--but we saw true regeneration, with such a change in personality. Truly astounding, and now 5 years later it still holds.
It wasn't one of those high pressure VBS moments--just a quiet discussion geared to age level.
"We are dipping more five year olds, four year olds, three year olds and I'd bet a few two year old toddlers still in diapers. I had thought that we stopped collecting data for this age category, preferring to lump them in with older children."
How much farther can the SBC fall?
Baptizing these young folks is a very risky endeavor.
What is the answer to lower Baptism's? I am still waiting for this great revival we were told that would happen in the SBC.
I was a guest in a Houston megachhurch one Sunday evening when they lined up about 50 young families for a baby dedication, and then had a baptism service with an additional 50 or so involved. Some of the kids in the baptistery were so short, they had to stand on a box to be seen. Sorry, but I do not believe that a 5 year old has the depth of understanding of the sinful nature, and the concept of "believing in Jesus" in order to be redeemed. I was one of those 6 year olds who walked the aisle, shook the preacher's hand and agreed to be baptized. I believe doing that at that age hindered my spiritual development and faith, and delayed my salvation experience by years.
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