Southern Baptist Convention Still Dying

In spite of a supreme effort on the part of denominational leaders to pump the machine up by hook or crook and the introduction of marvelous new programs at each annual gathering, the Southern Baptist Convention is still dying. Spiritually, it died sometime in my childhood, if not before, but we are talking here about numbers. Between 2006 and 2018, the Southern Baptist Convention lost 1.5 million members (LifeWay Communications, 2018 Southern Baptist Convention Statistical Summary). The average weekly worship attendance was 5.3 million, but a majority of those are “Sunday morning only” Christians, and a Sunday morning only Christian, when measured biblically, is no Christian at all. (The evidence for this is a simple comparison of Sunday morning Christianity with Acts 2:41-42 Christianity.) Yet, at the very time when the SBC is in terminal decline by any biblical standard, giving is at an all-time high, totaling $11.8 BILLION for 2018! If that is not a modern Laodicea, there is no such thing. “So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods...” (Revelation 3:16-17).

​(Friday Church News Notes, June 21, 2019, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

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