[Gamecock]

agreed.

I am surprised to see the Southern Baptists and LCMS down. The more recent trend has shown conservative (read Gospel preaching) do much better than liberal churches (read social justice types)

[hinckley buzzard]

I am surprised to see the Southern Baptists and LCMS down

Percentage wise their losses are modest compared to say the Prebys, Elcans, UCCers, and Piskies.

[dangus]

My guess — based partly on what I see around where I live, anectodally, is that Southern Baptist youth are going nondenominational.... A lot of the nondenom movement that I see — and again, I’m going only anecdotally, so I could totally be wrong — is rebranded Baptist.

[wmfights]

I am surprised to see the Southern Baptists and LCMS down.

They have several different Baptist groups in the list and they are not accounting for the Non-denominational churches.

[Lee N. Field]

I am surprised to see the Southern Baptists and LCMS down. The more recent trend has shown conservative (read Gospel preaching) do much better than liberal churches (read social justice types)

SBC internal critics such as Tom Ascol say the published numbers are grossly over what they should be. There's a lot more on the roles than show up on a Sunday. Still, even if they were a quarter their advertised size, they're pretty big.

[RnMomof7]

I am surprised to see the Southern Baptists and LCMS down. The more recent trend has shown conservative (read Gospel preaching) do much better than liberal churches (read social justice types)

We have to remember that membership is different than attendance in protestant churches..

I would guess that there may be a decline in people seeking membership but that actually attending services and bible studies etc..

Unlike Catholics that count every baptized baby as a "member" most protestant churches have membership classes and requirements for membership .