When it comes to churches and their evangelistic efforts, the numbers in many Southern Baptist Churches are alarming. In 2016, Baptist Press released the findings from the Annual Church Profile (ACP): “Reported membership declined more than 200,000, down 1.32% to 15.3 million members. Average weekly worship attendance declined by 1.72% [roughly ninety-six thousand nationwide] to 5.6 million worshipers.”
55One might ask how these numbers are effected by evangelism or a lack of evangelism in SBC churches. To quantify that relationship, many look to baptism numbers, assuming that often times baptism would rightly be a reflection of a new conversion to Christ. Again, the ACP numbers are not encouraging: “Reported baptisms have fallen eight of the last 10 years . . . down 3.3% in 2015.”
56Joel Southerland, executive director of evangelism with the North American Mission Board (NAMB) reports similar findings: “The median baptisms for a SBC church is three.”
57In his research, NAMB identified the top evangelistic churches in every state and surveyed them in an attempt to find best practices among various-sized churches with evangelistic fervor.
58After synthesizing the responses of roughly 500 churches who responded to the survey, Southerland makes the following observations concerning evangelism:
Evangelistic members share their faith. They don’t necessarily use a canned presentation but they talk to those around them about their faith. They have gospel conversations. Evangelistic churches train their members with gospel sharing tools and encourage them to incorporate their own story into the narrative.
5955 Baptist Press, “ACP: More Churches Reported; Baptisms Decline,” June 7, 2016, accessed May 13, 2017, http://www.bpnews.net/46989/acp-more-churches-reported-baptisms-decline.
56 Ibid.
57 Joel Southerland, “What Are the Top Evangelistic Churches Doing That Mine Is Not?,”
NAMB, December 10, 2015, accessed May 13, 2017, https://www.namb.net/your-church-on-mission- blog/what-are-the-top-evangelistic-churches-doing-that-mine-is-not.
58 Ibid. After 1,100 churches, they found the baptisms far exceeded the national average in the following four regions: Southwest (114), Northeast (31), Midwest (37), West (52).
59 Ibid.
While these results are helpful, I would have benefitted more if raw numbers of his study had been posted.
Baptist Press recently published one specific study that gives more detailed numbers on SBC churches. In conjunction with the Billy Graham Center of Wheaton College, LifeWay Research, and the Caskey Center for Church Excellence of New Orleans Baptist Theological Center, this study randomly sampled 1,500 pastors of small churches (250 or less). It states, “Researchers then compared the 20% of churches with the most retained converts (11.7 or more per 100 attendees) to the 50% with the fewest retained converts (5.56 or fewer per 100 attendees).”
60Among churches that best retained converts, their findings suggest that 92 percent of pastors consistently hear reports of church members engaging in gospel conversations, and 51 percent of those pastors attend personal evangelism training every six months. In a 2012 study, LifeWay Research surveyed nearly 3,000 protestant churchgoers asking questions regarding personal evangelism.
61John Wilke states, “Despite a vast majority believing it is their duty to share their faith (80%) . . . 61% have not shared how to become a Christian with anyone in the past 6 months.”
62Indeed these numbers must change if churches are to experience revitalization.
Another research team from Australia does well to provide usable numbers for their country and ministry context.
63In Churches Who Share their Faith: A Case Study Survey of the Baptist Union of Victoria, they compare national averages of evangelism
60 Bob Smietana, “Study: With Evangelism, Small Things Matter,” Baptist Press, August 28, 2017, accessed February 7, 2018, http://www.bpnews.net/49436/study--with-evangelism-small-things-matter.
61 John Wilke, “Churchgoers Believe in Sharing Faith, Most Never Do,” LifeWay Research, 2012, accessed May 13, 2017, https://www.lifeway.com/en/articles/research-survey-sharing-christ-2012.
62 Ibid.
63 To my surprise, very little academic work has been done in the area of empirical research and evangelism in America. Though ample searches were made through dissertation archives, little to no research was reflected in this area, thus the information coming from Australia reported above.
numbers to the Baptist Union of Victoria.
64While not case-for-case reflective of the SBC in America, their findings are enlightening. For example, they cite that only 9 percent of the Baptist churches in Victoria over a recent two-year span of time offered evangelistic training for their members.
65Another finding that gives quantifiable numbers to a
desperate situation of churches not fulfilling their call in the Great Commission is the low number of people who feel comfortable looking for opportunities to share their faith in Christ. Their research revealed a mere 17 percent of churchgoers in Australia felt at ease sharing their faith and often look for opportunities. One wonders if these numbers would be similar among SBC churches in America. While this group is encouraged that this number grew from 14 percent in a ten-year span of time,
66I would argue that the numbers are not growing quickly enough.
To remedy the problem of evangelism in churches dying on the vine, one writer argues that church budgets should reflect an emphasis on evangelism training.
While he does not cite his research, John Throop, president of The Summit Group, argues, “How much money do churches have invested in mission and evangelism?
Coming into most churches in 2006, even more conservative Protestant congregations, the typical budget figure for his work is simple: $0.”
67His number can be debated,
68but
64 Darren Cronshaw et al., “Churches Who Share Their Faith: A Case Study Survey of the Baptist Union of Victoria,” Australian E-Journal of Theology 22, no. 2 (August 2015): 95-119. Using the National Church Life Survey (NCLS), which covers over 20 Australian denominations and 300,000 church attenders, this research team was able to compare data from 216,063 Australian nationals who were surveyed in the NCLS to the 8,830 adult attenders among churches in the Baptist Union of Victoria.
65 Ibid., 111.
66 Ibid., 97.
67 John Throop, “Investing in Mission and Evangelism,” The Clergy Journal 82, no. 8 (July 2006): 23.
68 Smietana, “Study: With Evangelism.” This study reports that 42 percent of the 1,500 pastors surveyed had missions and evangelism budgets were greater than or equal to 30 percent of their annual budget.