Southern Baptists Could Lose A Million Members

[DeSwiss]

Southern Baptists urged to drop inactive members
Resolution stirs most discussion at convention

The Tennessean • By BOB SMIETANA • Staff Writer • June 12, 2008

INDIANAPOLIS — The Southern Baptist Convention could lose a million members in the next year if local churches follow through with a convention resolution to purge their rolls of inactive and non-resident members.

While the convention claims some 16 million members, only about 6 million show up on any given Sunday. And, nearly one-third of those on church rolls are non-resident members who don't attend.

Wednesday, messengers to the convention's annual meeting here passed a resolution on regenerate church members — those who have professed faith in Jesus, been baptized, and are active in a local congregation.

Proponents said that only regenerate members should be on church rolls. The rest should be given the chance to mend their ways or be ousted.

The resolution on church membership earned the most discussion of any item on the convention's two-day agenda. The more than 7,200 messengers in attendance at this year's meeting, one of the lowest totals in recent years, approved a $205 million dollar budget, elected a new president, and embraced a new national evangelism strategy called "GPS — God's Plan for Sharing."

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080612/NEWS06/306130001">MORE

- So what?, are they voluntarily giving these people over to Satan? Is that how it works?

Well, I s'pose that their names will stll be on the heavenly roster. But their names will now all have big X cross-marks besides them. Not the good kind of cross....
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DeSwiss


http://atheisttoolbox.com/">The Atheist Toolbox

[Gman]

1. These people have moved away, died and other reasons

why they are no longer there. These are 1 million they don't have anyway

[davidinalameda]

2. regenerate church members?

they grow back?

:shrug:

[DeSwiss]

3. Maybe its like spores....

:shrug:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

4. When my father was a Lutheran pastor, churches were instructed to purge

their rolls of anyone who hadn't taken Communion (Lutherans have you fill out a card before going up to the altar) or made a financial pledge (one or the other--sometimes people maintain their membership while they're on overseas assignment) in the past calendar year.

Makes it hard to pad the membership statistics.

[cosmik debris]

5. You have to "sign up" to be a Lutheran?

That's interesting. Learn something new every day.

Thnx.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

6. Anyone can attend, but there are various ways to become a member:

1. Going through baptism and confirmation. Baptism makes you a Christian, but being confirmed makes you a member of a specific denomination (in the denominations, such as Lutherans and Episcopalians, which practice confirmation.) Confirmation usually takes place once a year. The pastor performs the ceremony in the Lutheran church, but in the Episcopal church, the bishop performs the ceremony.

2. If you're already a member of the denomination, are currently active in one church, and leave to join another for whatever reason (moving out of town, feeling that another church is a better fit for you), you get a letter of transfer from the pastor or priest of your old parish.

3. If you've been inactive and want to join a new parish, local customs vary, but you sometimes go through an orientation session or two.

In the cases of #2 and #3, there's often a social event for new members as well as official recognition during the Sunday service.

As far as I know, Communion cards are unique to the Lutherans. (Episcopalians don't use them.) If you're a member of that particular church, you get a check mark by your name in the parish rolls each time you take Communion. There's also typically a space on the card for visitors to indicate that they want their home church notified.

[cosmik debris]

7. It is a lot easier to be a Presbyterian

But even that was too tough for me.