The stories from two Illinois Baptist churches that have witnessed surges in baptisms say much about our recovery from the lows of the pandemic period measured most notably in 2020 and 2021.
One church says they have added teaching opportunities that have resulted in salvations. Another church says they’re not doing much different than before, except to make baptism more prominent. And, of course, pastors of both churches credit a move of God’s spirit for a multi-year recovery that has produced notable renewal four years after forced closures.
The same may be said of all our churches, based on the totals from 2023 Annual Church Profiles, just tabulated and released: God is at work. With reports from 97% of IBSA churches, the highest percentage of reporting churches among all Baptist state conventions, the numbers show in many key categories churches are “this close” to full recovery.
“Compared to 2022, baptisms are up significantly,” said IBSA Executive Director Nate Adams. “The recovery coming out of covid continues. If you think about the upticks, especially in baptisms, the green (on the summary chart) is even more important than it looks.”
The bounce back in baptisms is a remarkable and encouraging statistic, with an increase of almost 30% in 2023 from the previous year. Dipping below 2,000 baptisms in 2021, churches reported their total numbers are now within 200 of pre-pandemic levels. Likewise, professions of faith have risen by just over 25% in the past year, and bettered the 2019 level by 57.
Morning worship attendance improved year-over-year with a nearly 12% increase. But the trek to 2019 peaks is slower and more decidedly uphill. The anecdotal observations that the people came back to church, just not as regularly, seems true across the board. Actual congregation size hasn’t shrunk that much, but the number of every-other-week and monthly attenders has impacted overall tallies.
Even with the sizable bump in 2023, AM worship attendance remains 8,956 below 2019 levels on any given Sunday.
“We don’t have any silver bullets or a magic wand, but we want to help churches,” Adams said of the state association’s ministry that focuses on local churches’ health, growth, and mission.
For some churches, this challenging season prompted a renewed focus on the basics: We are Baptists. We share the gospel. We baptize. For one church, that has proven advantageous.
Robbey Smith planted Redemption Church in 2005. Over the last couple of years, by doing what he calls a few “pretty simple” things, the Johnston City church has seen more than 100 baptisms each year.
“We started focusing and celebrating salvations and baptisms,” said the pastor. “There is joy in the presence of God when one sinner repents.”
The church, which averages over 500 on Sunday mornings, leaves the baptistry filled all the time. “Just preach like somebody is going to get saved and be ready to baptize them,” he said. This also includes having towels, T-shirts, and shorts at the ready. Smith suggests shopping at secondhand stores to keep a ready supply on-hand on the cheap.
An invitation is offered at the end of every service, and they have three on Sunday mornings. “Why would I preach the gospel and not give an invitation?” asked Smith.
The church also hosts a Bring-A-Friend Day on Palm Sunday, providing a free lunch with food trucks in the church parking lot. They use the Who’s Your One evangelism tool to help members prepare for the day. Leaders do a six-week follow-up with attendees. The day “will generate one-third of baptisms for the year,” Smith said.
Smith also believes it’s important for kids to be part of the service when the baptisms take place. He schedules the baptisms at the end of the service so they can come back in and sit with their parents to watch. “When they see baptisms, it creates questions and gospel opportunities for parents.”
There’s work to be done
As baptisms and worship attendance grows, total numbers in membership reveal areas for improvement. Total membership in IBSA churches was down 2.2% year-over-year, and resident membership dropped 3.4%.
But reporting the yellow highlighted numbers on the chart, it is important to point out that the total number of IBSA churches declined by 16, to 876. That’s a drop of 1.8% from 2022 to 2023. It’s also a decline from 2019’s total of 941. Fully half the decline occurred during the pandemic, as some of IBSA’s smallest churches did not survive Covid. And as we all did in one way or another, some churches reassessed their place in the network, and decided to opt out.
The improving numbers in professions of faith, baptisms, and Sunday School attendance reveal a corps of churches committed to the core of Southern Baptist life—876 strong in Illinois.
Most notable in the ACP section of growing ministries is the impact on Bible studies. “Other” forms of Bible study, beyond Sunday school, grew 40% in one year, surpassing 2019 levels. The season of experimenting, pilot projects, zoom meetings, and alternative gatherings has produced an openness to new Bible studies, both for leaders and participants.
And that has positive impact across the board.
“It’s all the Lord and his goodness.” That’s what Pastor Trad York said when asked what he thought was key to Waldo Missionary Baptist Church’s baptizing 25 new believers in 2023.
“I don’t think we’re doing anything different than what we’ve been doing,” said York. “We’ve been preaching the word of God, preaching salvation through God alone. Our members are doing one-on-one evangelism at work and school leading people through the gospel.” But new group studies are also proving effective.
The Metropolis church, located in the southern tip of the state, saw 24 baptisms in 2022 and 8 in 2021. It averages 300 people in worship on Sunday mornings.
York said the church still meets on Sunday nights, but “has been changing things up a little bit.” Instead of an evening worship service, they’ve been doing small group Bible studies. “We find that people are interested in studies that pertain to their lives,” he noted. “Marriage was one popular topic.”
York believes the studies are good at building discipleship and growing faith among new and old believers. In the last month, they’ve started a new study that he thinks might be most popular yet. York said, “It’s one on how to study the Bible.”
Committed givers, CP challenged
Giving to Illinois Baptist churches overall has surpassed 2019 levels, with $100,077,172 in 2023 compared to $92,863,510 in 2019. And comparing year-to-year, undesignated giving increased 12.3%. That’s amazing, even figuring in inflation.
But year-to-year giving to Cooperative Program through local IBSA churches did not increase. CP giving declined 3.2% from 2022 to 2023. And the 2023 total of $5,338,046 remains far below the 2019 recent high water mark of $6,205,953. The average CP giving by churches was 5.33% last year, compared to 6.19% the previous year.
Out of 41 Baptist state conventions IBSA is number 13 in percentage giving.
Likewise, Mission Illinois Offering giving was up 6.8% from 2022, but down 14.5% from 2019.
“We should be encouraged that giving to churches has rebounded, even over 2019,” Adams said of the overall financial picture. As most local churches would attest, “every year the Lord has provided for us in ways we didn’t expect.”