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Here are a few interesting stats (thanks, Ed Stetzer) from a recent article in the Tennessian newspaper in Nashville about the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC):

In 1978, just before the start of the resurgence, there was one baptism for every 36 members of the convention. By 2007, that ratio was one baptism to every 47 members.

“We are baptizing fewer of our own children, and fewer unchurched people,” LifeWay’s Rainer said.

More than 9,000 congregations, or almost a quarter of all Southern Baptist churches, reported no baptisms in 2007. And, in that year, only 8.3 percent of the churches were responsible for 49.8 percent of the convention’s baptisms.

In 1971, there were 1,434,892 children ages 6 to 11 in Southern Baptist Sunday schools. By 2007, the last year for which statistics are available, that number had dropped by about 455,000 to 979,429. At the same time, the U.S. population grew by 46 percent.

My first reaction to this information: we’ve heard it said quite often that 20% of the people do 80% of the work in a church. Well, it appears that less than 10% of ALL SBC CHURCHES do almost 50% of the evangelizing. Think about it: the other 90% probably talk approvingly about evangelism and even dabble in it a little bit, but only 1 of 10 churches have a PASSION for evangelism to the point where they actually DO IT consistently. Hmmmm…

My second reaction is that the SBC is heading for a serious decline, if these stats hold true. My math says that the 455,000 decline in children ages 6 to 11 equals a 31% drop for that age group in 36 years. This is at a time when the US population has increased by 46%! We frequently say “children/youth are our future” when it relates to the future of the church, both in terms of numbers and spiritual health/vitality. Ok church, time to put your money where your mouth is, so to speak! I’m not talking just about monetary resources, but I’m talking also about increasing our time and talent investment and efforts in these age groups. I’m not sure where the SBC will stand in another 36 years if we do not begin to reverse this trend–right now!

Here’s a way to connect these two thoughts. My guess is — and this is purely a guess on my part based only on my own experience and observations — that the 25% of SBC churches who reported no baptisms is 2007 are also the churches who are reporting the largest decline in children ages 6 to 11. I would be interested in whether my hypothesis is true (Lifeway Research, come to my rescue!). If it were true, that means the 10% of churches who are baptizing the lion’s share of new believers are showing no decline — maybe even an increase — in children ages 6 to 11. So the question is: which kind of a church are you helping to shape through your time, treasure, and talents?