See also,
World Religions
Article:
More Than 43,000
Southern Baptist Churches: Do We Really Need Another One?
SBC
Life June/July 2005. Among statistics mentioned:
-
Population of
U.S. - 293 million
-
Southern
Baptists 16.2 million
-
43,000
Southern Baptist churches
-
386,000
churches of all types in U.S.
-
Approx. 72
churches cease to exist at the end of every week
-
Over 70% of
Southern Baptist churches are plateued or declining.
-
The article
goes on to tell how "new" churches reach more people and churches "reach their
peak in attendance, outreach, and giving by their twelfth birthday". "Churches
Die With Dignity", Christianity Today, (Jan. 14, 1991), p. 69
-
Christianity
grew by 5% from 1990-2000. See this Website for an interesting comparison to
the growth of other religious groups (Largest Religious Groups in the
United States of America)
http://www.adherents.com/rel_USA.html)
