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Ethnic congregations up 66% for Southern Baptists since '98
ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP) -- The number of non-Anglo congregations in the Southern Baptist Convention has jumped by more than 66 percent since 1998, according to the North American Mission Board's Center for Missional Research.
Just over 10,000 congregations (10,049) of 50,768 congregations in the convention identified themselves by an ethnicity other than Anglo in 2011, the most recent year for which detailed data on ethnicity is available from LifeWay Christian Resources' Annual Church Profile database.
In 1998, non-Anglo congregations totaled 6,044.
"It's clear that Southern Baptists have been multi-ethnic and are becoming an even more multi-ethnic convention of churches," said Joseph Lee, senior pastor of Connexion Church in Lawrenceville, Ga., a mostly Korean Southern Baptist congregation. "The trend is gaining speed week by week. For example, the ethnic churches grew from zero to more than half of the total number of churches in our county in the past 10 years."
The diversification of the convention comes at a time when the United States as a whole is growing more diverse. USA Today, for example, has reported that the number of all-white communities in the country has plummeted since 1980, according to an analysis of census data by Penn State University's Population Research Institute. Less than a third of U.S. counties are 90 percent Caucasian.
The largest jump in non-Anglo congregations within the SBC from 1998 to 2011 has predominantly come from an 82.7 percent increase in the number of African American congregations.
For Fred Luter, pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans and the first-ever African American president of the SBC, the diversification of Southern Baptists has become very personal.
"I remember at one time I was the only [African American pastor] in my city who was Southern Baptist," Luter said. "I caught a lot of flack as a result of that. Thank God I'm able to see some of the fruit of my labor -- not only at my particular church but in the associations and conventions across the country."
Hispanic congregations also have seen a significant increase over the same span -- nearly 63 percent. The number of Asian congregations affiliated with the SBC has grown by 55 percent.
Because of the nature of Annual Church Profile (ACP) statistics, it's impossible to know the diversity of individuals within the SBC -- only the diversity of congregations.
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Black church leaders explore missions
RIDGECREST, N.C. (BP) -- Standing before a room of African American church leaders in Ridgecrest, N.C., Jonathan Marshall* cleared his throat and began his pitch: "My topic is 'Young Black Men in Missions,'" the 26-year-old IMB missionary said with a grin, "but I'm the only one, so I'm going to talk about myself."
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Luter exhorts leaders to commitment & renewal
RIDGECREST, N.C. (BP) -- Southern Baptist Convention President Fred Luter exhorted African American believers to heighten their denominational involvement while also seeking spiritual renewal as he addressed the Black Church Leadership and Family Conference at the LifeWay Ridgecrest Conference Center.
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Luter: Graham excited about future of SBC
MONTREAT, N.C. (BP) -- Billy Graham established a precedent early in his ministry during America's days of racial segregation by only proceeding with a crusade if blacks and whites could sit together in the audience.
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FIRST-PERSON: Fred Luter & the SBC's moral arc
The election of New Orleans pastor Fred Luter Jr., reflects how the Southern Baptist Convention, as Richard Land describes it, "has now gone from being virtually an all-white domination as late as 1970 to being one of the most ethnically diverse denominations."
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SBC entities issue 1st report on ethnic diversity
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) -- Southern Baptist Convention entities have issued their first reports in response to historic measures adopted a year ago to improve accountability in the inclusion of ethnic minorities in SBC life.
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Filipinos look toward cross-cultural missions
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Chinese discuss outreach beyond their churches
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Korean Council draws 800 to annual meeting
LINTHICUM, Md. (BP) -- About 800 people from 600 Korean Baptist churches in 40 states including Alaska and Hawaii gathered for the Council of Korean Baptist Churches' annual meeting.
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Messianic speaker underscores discipleship
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Black network elects officers, gives awards
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FIRST-PERSON: Turning a page in SBC history (& shedding tears of joy)
Columnist and Alabama Baptist leader Rick Lance says he cried tears of joy when Fred Luter was elected -- an election that could "begin a whole new chapter" in the Southern Baptist Convention.
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At Avanze Hispano, Robert Amaya of 'Courageous' urges 'Live the truth'
NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- Robert Amaya, one of the stars of the movie "Courageous," was among the featured speakers at "SBC Avanze Hispano" (SBC Hispanic Advance) June 18, attended by 200 Hispanic pastors and leaders from 20 states and several countries prior to the Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting in New Orleans.
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Hispanics pray for SBC during Pastors' Conf.
NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- Several dozen Hispanic pastors and leaders met in the SBC Prayer Room to pray during the June 18 evening session of the Southern Baptist Pastors' Conference.
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Luter sees 'genuine' open door for ethnic groups
NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- Newly elected Southern Baptist Convention President Fred Luter Jr. engaged a roomful of reporters in his hometown of New Orleans June 19, sharing his surprise at "the confidence Southern Baptists are putting in me and my leadership skills and what God has done in my life."
The unanimous endorsement of the first African American to serve America's largest Protestant denomination is more than symbolic, Luter said, though he understands why fellow blacks might view it as such, waiting to see that "this is not a one and done deal."
"If we stop appointing African Americans or Asians or Hispanics to leadership roles in this convention after my | Luter "loves being part of this convention." | term is over, we failed. We absolutely failed," Luter said. Instead, he said, "This was a genuine, authentic move by this convention that says our doors are open, and the only way they can see that is not just putting up an African American president, but seeing other ethnic groups in other areas of this convention. Time will tell and I'll be a cheerleader promoting that."
Luter's only announced agenda at the news conference is an effort to build bridges to help Southern Baptists acquire a reputation as "the church getting along" instead of folks who often fuss with one another, a concern he addressed the night before when speaking to the SBC Pastors' Conference.
Appealing for prayer, Luter said he hopes to get diverse groups together "to make sure the Gospel of Christ and the Great Commission is not watered down because of the fact that it seems we don't get together." He asked Southern Baptists to pray that he would have wisdom in dealing with the media, so that nothing he says will hurt the convention, his church, his family or the Kingdom of God.
"There will be some pitfalls, but I hope I will learn from them and study more on things I anticipate being asked," he added, hopeful he will be known as a person, pastor, husband, father and man of God who loves the city of New Orleans, the state and the country, "and loves being part of this convention."
Luter hopes his church's reputation for having strong participation by men will serve as an example to other congregations. "When I became pastor of this church, I said, 'Lord, I know the impact a man could have on a child's life,'" he said, having promised God he would be the role model in his own son's life that he never had.
At the outset of his church's development, Luter said he noticed most of the members were women and children. He thanked them for their involvement, but then set about discovering a way to attract their husbands and other men. By inviting men of the neighborhood to his home to watch a pay-per-view broadcast of a fight between Thomas Hearns and Sugar Ray Leonard, he developed relationships that multiplied into a steady increase in the number of men attending Franklin Avenue Baptist Church.
"They came with boom boxes and loud music, with a beer can in one hand and a wine cooler in the other," Luter said. "I appreciated them coming but they were going to have to throw away the beer and the wine cooler," he remembered. "It was not a problem. They wanted to see the fight."
While insistent the message of the Gospel must remain the same, Luter said, however, "We cannot expect to reach this do-rag, tattoo-wearing, ear-pierced, iPod, iPad, iPhone generation with an eight-track ministry. Things are changing and so we've got to some way, somehow change the methods of how we do things."
The historic coincidence of being elected on the day when many African Americans celebrate Juneteenth, commemorating the enforcement of emancipation of slaves, had not occurred to Luter until a reporter asked for his comment on the day's significance. While Southern Baptists cannot avoid the fact that support of slavery factored into the founding of the convention, Luter said, "All of us have done some things in our past we're not happy about. We cannot do anything about that past. It's over with. However, we can do a lot about our future."
Luter recalled the 1995 SBC racial reconciliation resolution that he helped write with Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission President Richard Land, a man he described as his good friend and brother. ...
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