SBC lost members, gained congregations in 2015

The Southern Baptist Convention lost members as baptisms declined last year, but it experienced an uptick in affiliated churches, according to statistics compiled by LifeWay Christian Resources in cooperation with affiliated state conventions.

The number of SBC-affiliated congregations increased by 294, to 46,793, reported LifeWay, the convention’s publisher. That represents a 0.63 percent increase and marks the 17th consecutive year of growth.

But overall membership in those churches dropped by more than 200,000. The convention counts 15,294,764 members, a decline of 1.32 percent.

Meanwhile, average weekly worship attendance fell almost 100,000, or 1.72 percent, to 5.6 million participants.

Baptisms reported by the churches also declined by almost 10,000, or 3.3 percent, to 295,212.

The ratio of baptisms to Southern Baptists decreased to one baptism per 52 members, LifeWay calculated.

Financial giving to the churches increased, while missions expenditures declined.

Church receipts totaled $11.5 billion—a 3.51 percent gain. Total missions giving dropped by 2.03 percent, to about $1.2 billion. However, four state conventions—Alabama, California, Georgia and Oklahoma—did not ask churches for total missions contributions.

Total contributions to convention causes, what the SBC labels “Great Commission Giving” and includes the Cooperative Program unified budget and mission offerings, declined 3.81 percent, to $613 million. But five state conventions—Alabama, Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention—did not report that information.

Here is a LifeWay chart of 2015 SBC statistics, listed by state convention: