The number of people baptized in Southern Baptist churches fell last year for the third straight year to the lowest level since 1987. Total membership dropped by nearly 40,000. For a denomination that places winning converts at the heart of its mission, the continued slide among Southern Baptists is troubling and disappointing, said the Rev. Frank Page, the convention’s president.
Part of the blame, Mr. Page said, can be placed on a perception that Baptists are “mean-spirited, hurtful, and angry people” and the denomination has been known too much in recent years for “what we’re against” than “what we’re for.”
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