Largest U.S. Protestant Group Losing Members; Southern Baptists Lost Over 236K People in 2014

The largest U.S. Protestant group -- the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) -- has reported its largest annual decline in more than 130 years (a loss of 236,467 members in 2014), the Ecumenical News website reports today (June 15, 2015).

With just under 15.5 million members, the Southern Baptist Convention has lost about 800,000 members since 2003, when membership peaked at about 16.3 million.

The number of SBC baptisms has declined in eight of the past 10 years, according to the denomination. In 2014, baptisms declined by more than 5,000 to just over 305,000.

Frank Page, president of SBC's Nashville-based executive committee, said that the numbers were disappointing. "The truth is, we have less people in our churches who are giving less money because we  are winning less people to Christ, and we are not training them in the spiritual disciplines of our Lord," he told the Baptist Press.