Southern Baptists say giving, baptisms up in 2021, however attendance, variety of church buildings down

The nation’s largest Protestant denomination, the Southern Baptist Conference, noticed a rise within the variety of baptisms final 12 months together with an increase in donations.

Congregations affiliated with the Southern Baptists reported 154,701 baptisms final 12 months, up 26% from the 1213,160 reported in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic took maintain globally. The info comes from the “Annual Church Profile,” compiled by Lifeway Christian Sources’ analysis unit in cooperation with state Baptist teams generally known as conventions.

The Southern Baptist Conference reported a complete giving revenue of $11.8 billion in 2021, up 2.6% over the earlier 12 months.

“The elevated generosity amongst church buildings is a excessive level within the Annual Church Profile,” Willie McLaurin, interim president and CEO of the Southern Baptist’s government committee, mentioned in a press release. The rise, he added, has accelerated the “mobilizing extra missionaries and planting extra church buildings.” 

However the information just isn’t all good: The survey sounf Southern Baptists have misplaced members total, falling to 13.7 million from simply over 14 million in 2020, and the overall variety of congregations dropped to 50,423, roughly 1,500 fewer than 5 years in the past.

Together with affecting complete baptisms in 2020, the worldwide pandemic has harm weekly church attendance, the group mentioned. Congregations reported an 18.75% decline in common weekly in-person worship attendance, down from 4,439,797 in 2020 to three,607,530 final 12 months. For in-person Sunday faculty, Bible research and small-group conferences, common attendance fell 22.15%  the denomination mentioned.

“It’s not enjoyable to doc troublesome seasons of ministry, however we all know God is as trustworthy in the present day as He has ever been,” mentioned Scott McConnell, government director of Lifeway’s analysis unit. “And these statistics proceed to point out the faithfulness and sacrifice of congregations throughout attempting instances.”

Not all Southern Baptist church buildings participated within the 2021 survey, Lifeway mentioned. Though 70% of congregations did report no less than one merchandise within the annual survey, that was “properly under” the 75% reporting mark achieved in 2019, officers mentioned.