Decline of Southern Baptist Baptisms and Rural Life

There was interesting article up at the Associated Baptist Press by George Bullard All denominations should care baptisms are down among Southern Baptists . Let me add that Catholics might want to take a look at this also.

As Bullard points out one reason for concern is that Southern Baptist are not exactly sitting on their duffs in getting converts. Yet we still see this decline. There are many reasons for this but let me hit on an aspect of this that is a issue for all. That is the decline of rural American .

The backbone of the Southern Baptist Church has often been it's presence in rural communities. The problem partly is rural America is in a bunch of trouble. The once proud football team is struggling. There is not enough  kids to get a band together. The Walmart has left and people are forced to travel 30 miles to the the Super Walmart . It has been replaced by a rather sub par Freds or Dollar General that now are doing a booming business . Community festivals and events that once were packed are on their last legs.

The issue is that many people have abandoned their rural communities for the city. A huge part of this exodus were the areas best and brightest and best wage earners. They were the folks that often made things happen in business, civic , church , and cultural life.

In the Deep South the Southern Baptist Church was  often at the center of spiritual and social life in the community. It had competitors in its doctrinal orbit but the Southern Baptist Church was supreme. Part of this was funding . It could often fund  very competent minister , a competent director of music ,  and most importantly it had a Youth Group that did things.

The problem is for Southern Baptist once the kids move to the city their competition becomes more intense even within their doctrinal orbit. The issue of why perhaps Southern Baptist seem to be having a brand loyalty problem when this happens is something I am not competent to address.

Returning to the rural areas despite the exodus we have seen it is not quite a barren wasteland. There are still a great number of " unchurched " . In fact that number has increased in my opinion  .

The problems  see happening to the Baptist Church is happening the to UMC , the Presbyterian Church , and even my Catholic parish in my hometown.

The problems are complex. With various secular and civic outlets in rural life breaking down spreading the Word takes a hit . It is hard to spread the Gospel if opportunities to know your neighbor break down.

However I see the biggest problem as a general malaise that sinks into Church life . The town is not doing well which means business is not doing well . This leads to problems with funding schools which leads to further problems in attracting industry. It seems a vicious cycle.  The Church is very infected by this on a local level sadly . There are again many un churched  in the area but the critical lay leadership that gives the energy to reach them seem to be lacking. It seems we are just paddling in midstream not going anywhere hoping for some miracle to happen.

There are many reason for denominational decline that we see in the United States. I just hope that any plan to reverse this does not rely totally on an urban blueprint  and thus forget the rural Churches a. There are still some significant numbers out here that really add up. How to meet the challenges of rural life needs to be part of any endeavor to stop the decline .

I am not saying this dynamic is the only reason for the decline in Southern Baptist Baptisms but I think it plays a part and plays a part in other Faith communities problems

George Bullard

George Bullard

George Bullard