A new Lifeway report highlights that the Southern Baptist Convention lost 457,371 members in 2022, putting the Christian denomination several million below its highest membership numbers in 2006.
According to Lifeway, total SBC membership went from approximately 13.68 million members in 2021 to 13.22 million members in 2022, noting that the "457,371 members lost is the largest single year numerical drop in more than 100 years."
"In total, Southern Baptist churches have suffered membership declines of about 3% annually the past three years," stated Lifeway, adding that the 2022 membership was the lowest SBC membership number since the late 1970s.
The report also notes that 416 congregations left the denomination (47,614 in 2021 to 47,198 in 2022), either because they had to close their doors or because they left the SBC.
The denomination, which has traditionally been conservative, has been embroiled with scandal as woke elements in leadership try to steer the SBC into the same theological heresy that has made much of the mainline Protestant church completely irrelevant to the work of the Gospel or the Great Commission.
Some SBC-affiliated churches have flaunted their acceptance of abortion and transgenderism:
Former presidents like JD Greear and leaders like Beth Moore have also flirted with the Cult of Woke in recent years, diving headfirst into syncretistic evil in the name of "Thou shalt be nice":
Many within the denomination have pushed the SBC to adopt measures to greater reflect cultural trends, polluting their churches by becoming more like the world:
Then there's the trend of increasing theological illiteracy, where the top leadership of the denomination deep-dives into hard, capital-H Heresy:
The SBC says it baptized 180,177 people in 2022, which was a 60,000-person increase from 2021, but well below the the peak of 445,725 in 1972.
These kind of metrics are a bit silly, since the kingdom of God cares not for membership tallies or baptism trends, but it is indicative of the spiritual rot and stagnation occurring even within the "conservative" elements of the American church.
Lifeway Research Executive Director Scott McConnell believes much of this decline was due to congregations finally updating their records. Many churches had extra difficulty in tracking active members throughout the pandemic, especially those who capitulated to government orders and shamefully shut their doors.
"Much of the downward movement we are seeing in membership reflects people who stopped participating in an individual congregation years ago and the record keeping is finally catching up," said McConnell.
"Membership totals for a congregation immediately reflect additions as well as subtractions due to death or someone removing themselves from membership. But many congregations are slow to remove others who no longer are participating."
Becoming more like the world will not earn you more members. Why do people need a Christ who looks like what the world offers? And in the meantime, the faithful will better associate themselves to keep from being polluted by the world:
I care not what denominations rise and fall, though I lament Satan's small victories. But no matter. God is not running a popularity contest, and more butts in the pews doesn't equal more hearts in His service. Those of us who believe in the supremacy of Christ, who has put all things under His feet, will continue to follow our Savior despite cultural trends, building families and nations that obey Him and share His love.
And the Holy Spirit, Who isn't confined by conventions or reports, will continue to grow the Church worldwide, because the good news of Jesus will be preached to every tribe and tongue even if 21st-century American shepherds in skinny jeans have neglected their flocks.
