- Abbigail Deloach, 8, is baptized by Associate Pastor Terry Doss at Abilene Baptist Church in Martinez.
Baptists’ plan tries to address dwindling numbers
By Kelly Jasper, staff writer
Monday, July 9, 2010
AUGUSTA, GA. – Southern Baptists have adopted changes they hope will lead to a denominational growth unlike anything in their history.
Southern states, where the denomination is concentrated, might feel the pinch when money traditionally spent on established church programs is diverted outside the South.
“It will fundamentally change the way the Southern Baptist Convention is put together,” said the Rev. Bill Harrell, the pastor of Abilene Baptist Church in Martinez and a longtime member of the convention’s executive committee.
The denomination, founded in Augusta in 1845, is struggling to address declines in membership. When delegates gathered for an annual meeting in Orlando, Fla., in June, their focus was a document calling for a Great Commission Resurgence.
“I see our convention at this point going through some transitions I am troubled about,” Harrell said. “The GCR is a rallying cry.”
The report urges a response to a number of statistics, namely that 6 billion of the world’s people, including an estimated 258 million in North America, are “without Christ.”
In 1950, Southern Baptists had about 27,800 churches. In 2008, the number had grown to about 44,800. Yet Southern Baptists baptized about 33,800 fewer people in 2008 than they did in 2005.
Ed Stetzer, the president of LifeWay Research, the denomination’s research arm, has declared Southern Baptists “a denomination in decline.”
Read more at augustachronicle.com