Membership in the Southern Baptist Treaty (SBC) has declined for the 18th consecutive year, now at 12,722,266 (12,722,266 not reported since 1974).
Despite the decline, SBC recorded more baptisms in 2024 than any other year since 2017, showing new momentum in baptism, as well as evangelism and outreach for the fourth consecutive year.
Lifeway Research, which organizes the SBC’s Annual Church Profile (ACP) in collaboration with Baptist Conventions, reported a 2% decline in membership between 2023 and 2024. This amounts to a net loss for 259,824 members. The latest figures fell 1.8% the previous year and 2.9% each for two years.
“The majority of the decline in membership comes from churches that allow certain members to disappear forever and have their names removed. Other drops come from churches that close or leave the convention.”
“Newcomers to the church entrance will definitely help, but as long as the exit is active, membership will continue to decline.”
Still, the SBC congregations reported 250,643 baptisms during the 2024 reporting period. This is the highest record since 2017, up 10% year-on-year.
“Baptism growth continues to surpass trendlines before the pandemic,” McConnell said. “The slow return of pre-Covid worship participants has largely ended. New church attendees are mostly transferred from most followers and other churches.”
The findings show the fourth consecutive year of baptism growth, first since the late 1980s and early 1990s. It also means that the baptism level has moved away from Covid’s pandemic levels, and the 2024 figures also won the previous year in 2019. The SBC Church has added 173,156 “other new members.”
“We celebrate all baptism and all new lives in Christ, and it’s encouraging to see these numbers continue to move upwards,” said Kevin Ezel of the North American Mission Committee.
“I am grateful for all pastors who keep evangelism at the heart of their mission and what they are doing to encourage new believers to create public professions of faith through baptism. The Southern Baptists are faithful to continue their focus on the gospel and share it, and we know we see God’s work.
The survey also showed that SBC congregations were encouraged to attend meeting services and enjoyed small groups and Sunday school participation. The 2024 figures show attendance rates increased by 5% compared to 2023, with 4.3 million people worshiping each week in the SBC congregation and 2.5 million people taking part in weekly small group Bible studies.
“The Southern Baptists love to focus on evangelism, and these ACP numbers will set them back,” said Jeff Ior, president and CEO of the SBC Executive Committee. “We are pleased that God is using Baptist Churches in the South to reach those with the gospel. We celebrate an upward trend in baptism that we have never seen in the last 30 years. These ACP results will help us see God is working among the Baptists in the South.”
The total number of churches belonging to SBC also fell slightly from 46,906 in 2023 to 46,876 in 2024. This is a net loss for the congregation of 30. Lifeway noted that the figures include both closed churches and churches that have been looted from the treaty. The number of church-type missions has also decreased from 2,474 to 2,321.
While long-term membership challenges remain, SBC leaders are drawing hope from new signs of spiritual vitality.
“We celebrate all life that has been transformed by the gospel,” Ezel said. “And I believe that as we continue to remain faithful, the number of them will continue to increase.”
