The Southern Baptist Convention has lost nearly one-fourth of its members in the past two decades.
The latest report from the SBC’s Lifeway Christian Resources shows total membership in SBC churches nationwide fell to 12,722,266 in 2024 — a loss of 3.6 million members since the peak of 16.3 million in 2006. That’s a 22% decrease.
Last year, 2024, was the 18th consecutive year of membership losses for the SBC, which remains by far the largest non-Catholic denomination in the United States.
As bad as the SBC’s losses are, they’re a less-steep curve than the Mainline denominations, which have been hemorrhaging members at twice that rate — Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (41%), Presbyterian Church USA (58%), Episcopal Church in America (36%).
But for a denomination that went through a raucous “conservative resurgence” with its leaders pledging the theological purge would protect the SBC from membership losses, the annual reports continue to disappoint.
There are some brighter spots in the latest SBC data, however. In 2024, SBC churches baptized more new members than in any of the previous seven years, but baptisms still fell way short of the glory days of 1972 and 1999. Four years later, SBC baptisms have finally bounced back to a pre-COVID level.
Baptism numbers are critical data points in the SBC because baptism is the primary entry point into church membership. Baptist churches grow two ways: Through baptized members of other churches moving their membership and through baptisms of new converts to the faith.
Worship attendance and small-group attendance also bounced back some in 2024, according to the Lifeway data, but also remain below 2019 levels.
In 2024, an average of more than 4.3 million people worshiped in-person weekly in a Southern Baptist congregation, and more than 2.5 million participated in a small group Bible study each week. Both those stats were up more than 5% compared to 2023 — still rebounding post-COVID.
One notable oddity in each year’s statistical report is that despite membership decreases, the total number of SBC-affiliated churches typically drops only a little each year. For example, in 2024, the total number of congregations was only 30 less than the prior year. This means the average size of SBC congregations is shrinking, which also mirrors national patterns.
