February 24, 1999
Texas baptisms highest in 43 years
___By Dan Martin
___Texas Baptist Communications
___DALLAS--Texas Baptist churches baptized 69,266 converts in 1998, the highest total in 43 years and the second- highest total in the history of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
___The 1998 figure is surpassed only by 1955, when 69,944 people were baptized. "That was the year following the 'Million More in '54' campaign, and was a year where there was a statewide revival emphasis," explained Clay Price, researcher/statistician for the BGCT.
___"One ofthe amazing things is that 1998 and 1997 are both among the top years for baptisms in our history, and there was no large effort during those years other than the ongoing Texas 2000 emphasis which aims to share Jesus with every person in the state by the year 2000," he added.
___Price said the third-highest year for baptisms was 1986, which featured the "Good News America" revivals. That year, 68,046 people were baptized. The fourth highest year was 1997, when 67,574 baptisms were recorded.
___The baptism figures are part of the statistical report Price compiled from the 1998 Annual Church Profiles submitted last fall by churches affiliated with the BGCT.
___In 1998, the BGCT grew to 5,939 congregations--4,817 churches and 1,122 missions.
___"That was a gain of 72 congregations," Price reported. "We actually added 265 churches and missions but lost 193. Most of those disbanded, but some merged with other congregations, and there were 15 or 20 which disaffiliated for one reason or another."
___The BGCT abides by whatever the associations report regarding gains and losses in the number of churches, he said.
___Efforts to increase the total number of churches by starting new congregations must aim high to have an impact, he said. "The general rule is that we have to start 300 churches to show a net gain of 125."
___Sunday school average attendance in 1998 also hit a record high across the state, with 628,467 people attending Bible study in Texas Baptist churches. That is about a 1 percent gain (4,291) from last year's total of 624,176, the previous record high.
___Resident membership also showed an increase, climbing to 1,753,339 in 1998. That is up 0.7 percent from the 1,740,944 resident members reported last year.
___Total membership in Texas Baptist churches climbed to 2,691,554 in 1998, up 9,247 (0.3 percent) from the 2,682,307 last year.
___The BGCT also recorded gains in discipleship training participation, music ministry enrollment, Woman's Missionary Union enrollment, Texas Baptist Men enrollment and total giving. See the chart on this page for details.
___Reports on giving submitted through the Annual Church Profile differ from figures previously reported by the BGCT treasurer's office due to different accounting periods. ACP figures reflect giving from October 1997 through September 1998, while the BGCT's annual financial report reflects giving from January through December 1998.
___A new category on the ACPs the past two years calculates the number of people engaged in missions projects. The 1998 report found 133,329 people engaged in missions projects: 81,583 local, 19,720 in Texas, 16,482 in the United States and 14,076 outside the United States. That compares with 117,726 last year: 79,079 local, 26,519 in the United States and 11,294 outside the United States.
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