BR002 The Burge Report: A Deep Dive into the Decline of the Southern Baptist Convention

The Southern Baptist Convention is experiencing a decline in the scope and scale that is unprecedented in American church history. As the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S., the declines in the SBC are noteworthy for many reasons. Ryan Burge joins Thom and Sam on this special episode to discuss what's happening and what the future may hold for the SBC.
1. Membership peaked in 2006 at over 16 million, but today membership is around 13 million, where it stood in 1978.
2. The rate of membership decline has increased, especially in the last three years.
3. The decline in attendance is equally astounding at almost 40%, from a peak of 6.2 million in 2009 to around 3.8 million today.
4. The warning shot from 2005: "A Resurgence Not Yet Realized"
5. Baptisms peaked in 1972 (with fewer members) and have declined by 60% (445k in 1972 compared with 180k in 2022).
6. What got us here? Fights, factions, scandals, and an archaic system of funding.
7. Another big factor is demographics. The SBC became dependent upon its constituency increasing its population size. The opposite took place.
8. What does the future hold? Likely more of the same. The SBC is like a slowly deflating balloon. Every controversy acts as another pinhole, releasing more air. Due to its size, the SBC will not disappear overnight, but it's unlikely the denomination will ever return to its former size.
⭐️ Helpful Resources ⭐️
➡️ Tithe.ly - get.tithe.ly/
➡️ 2023 State of Church Giving - get.tithe.ly/resources-books/...
➡️ "The 2022 Data on the Southern Baptist Convention is Out” by Ryan Burge - www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p...
➡️ Ryan Burge - www.graphsaboutreligion.com/
➡️ “A Resurgence Not Yet Realized: Evangelistic Effectiveness in the Southern Baptist Convention Since 1979” by Thom S. Rainer - sbts-wordpress-uploads.s3.ama...
➡️ The Hope Initiative - www.hopeinitiative.com/
➡️ Get your FREE tool! Attendance Growth Projector - churchanswers.com/grow

[@RLBays]

"I can't put the holy spirit as a variable in my regression model" - HAHA! Love it!

[@teddystpatrick]

I graduated from a local SBC seminary and lead a non-denominational church. The SBC has done it to itself.

[@tankersleytyler]

The Conservative Resurgence itself was doomed from the start. The danger in drawing circles is that they grow tighter and tighter.

[@apropos4701]

From watching this video, one would think that the decline of church attendance and rise of disaffiliation could be satisfactorily described, and their future trends projected, without recourse to the supernatural. The more methodological naturalism is successful, the more I wonder if there even is an unstoppable soteriological plan. If we can't see the determinative actions of a Holy Spirit in the growth of churches and the moral conduct of members' lives, then how do we even know there is a Holy Spirit? If we can't rely on the biblical record, how can we know there is a supernatural power behind it? We are not just watching the diminishing of church congregations, we are watching the diminishing of the whole enterprise of Christianity. Churches were places we went to obtain the solution to the problem of sin and alienation from God. This problem was so keenly felt, that we spent the bulk of our week working on it in various church activities. But if we modern people no longer believe in the problem, what good is the solution? Especially when this spiritual solution redirects so much of our earthly lives and opportunities toward its administration and budget (so to speak)?

[@PInk77W1]

Jesus started one church The Roman Catholic Church

[@gregwiest3191]

Liberalism does not grow the denomination. The mainlines all tanked by trying to accommodate the culture

[@RLBays]

That’s because the culture became more accepting.

[@alo6125]

Judging by what's happening to the SBC, conservatism doesn't grow churches either. Everyone's in the same boat now. It's a religious bear market.