SBC Loses 457,371 Members in 2022: Its Biggest Drop in 100 Years

The Southern Baptist Convention has seen a drop of over 450,000 members, according to a new report by Lifeway, which they record as “the largest single-year numerical drop in more than 100 years.”

While baptisms are up 16%, in-person worship attendance is up by 5%, and giving by 2%, membership dropped to 13,223,122 compared to 13,680,493 in 2021.

The SBC membership levels have been trending downward since the mid-2000s and are now back to where they were over 40 years ago.

According to Lifeway Research Executive Director Scott McConnell: “Much of the downward movement we are seeing in membership reflects people who stopped participating in an individual congregation years ago and the record keeping is finally catching up.”

It’s not just churches that are seeing significant losses, but SBC seminaries have followed suit, with some like SEBTS seeing full-time enrollment dropping 40% in the last two years and SWBTS down 30%.

With the SBC roiling from a fresh crop of scandals and seemingly unable to learn their lessons, we only expect this trend to continue.