Every year Baptists Together asks churches to let them know some numbers so they can get a picture of how we are doing as a movement. The numbers are collated and published here: Baptists Together Statistics web page
For quite a few years it’s been a rather gloomy picture of decline – fewer baptisms, smaller congregations, older congregations, fewer people becoming members. So how did we do in 2024?
This time there is cause for some optimism!
In 2024 2,854 baptisms were reported to Baptists Together. That’s 853 more people than the previous year who have responded to the call of Jesus on their lives!- 80,170 young people had some kind of contact with Baptist Churches compared with 72,482 in 2023
- Baptist churches reported that 27,512 people under 30 were reguarly coming to church on Sunday - approximately 7,000 more than the year before. Total worship attendance has gone from 77,991 in 2023 to 101,093 in 2024.
These numbers are not so surprising if you’ve read The Bible Society’s report “The Quiet Revival”
They report a 50% increase in church attendance from 2018 to 2025, with the biggest increase amongst the under 35s, noting that young men are more likely to attend than young women.
The report also notes the impact church attendance is having on giving people meaning in their lives, giving them hope, a community to belong to, better mental health and an opportunity to engage in acts of kindness.
Here in the EMBA we are doing our bit. Our churches reported 187 Baptisms in 2024, and a small increase in membership numbers.
The Bible Society report suggests that younger generations are more interested in exploring faith, they want to read the bible and talk about how it connects with their lives. So how can we reach out to these Generation Z* people?
- What sort of church would be attractive to them?
- How can we help them to encounter the God who loves them?
- What kind of church family do we need to be to disciple them well?
*Gen Z means people born roughly 1997-2012