Membership in the Southern Baptist Convention falls to 50-year low; attendance up, giving down
The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) experienced a significant decline in 2024, with 259,824 fewer members and 30 fewer churches, according to the denomination’s Annual Church Profile (ACP) released recently. It marks the latest in a year-over-year trend, with 18 consecutive years of declining membership.
The denomination’s doctrinal fight about women pastors appears to be pushing out megachurches and causing tensions. The ACP found total membership in 2024 at 12.7 million and total churches at 46,876, a 50-year low.
The SBC is expected to convene in Dallas for the 2025 SBC Annual Meeting, where it will deliberate on finances and ongoing debates about Southern Baptist doctrinal belief and governance.
However, there were some positive developments reported for Southern Baptists in ACP statistics. About 4.3 million people attended SBC churches weekly nationwide in 2024, up over a quarter-million from the previous year.
Additionally, more than 2.5 million attended weekly for Sunday school and small-group Bible studies, up 5.7% from the previous year. Total baptisms were up 10%, reaching 250,000 for the first time since 2017. About 7 in 10 Southern Baptist churches reported at least one item in the current report covering 2024.
However, total reported giving to SBC churches was down about $500 million, and giving to missions dropped from $798 million in 2023 to $791 million in 2024.
Read: Southern Baptists’ Membership Decline Continues Amid Other Areas of Growth (Lifeway Research)S
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