c. 2006 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) A Southern Baptist Convention campaign to baptize 1 million believers in a single year has barely gotten off the ground as it approaches the six-month mark.

The program’s Web site lists 1,555 baptisms from 141 churches as of Thursday (March 16), meaning only a fraction of a percent _ just 0.16 _ of the 1 million goal has been reached. April 1 marks the campaign’s midway point.

Officials from the country’s largest Protestant denomination say they are not worried because many Southern Baptist churches report baptisms at the end of the year. But at least one academic authority says the slow start may reveal a more substantive problem.

“In today’s society people are asking the basic question of `Why do I need church?”’ said David Key, director of Baptist studies at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology in Atlanta. “Southern Baptists are dealing with the same issues, but they’re not looking at the question of how do we do church differently. They’re looking at programs that say `What can we do to get back to our old numbers?’ It worked in the ’50s, but it’s not going to work now.”

The program, called the “`Everyone Can’ Kingdom Challenge,” started with much fanfare on Oct. 1, 2005, the beginning of the denomination’s administrative year. Churches have been encouraged to report baptisms throughout the year so the denomination can keep a running total.

The baptism campaign has been a focal point for years, with Southern Baptist Convention President Bobby Welch promoting it on a cross-country bus tour in 2004, when he visited 50 states and Canada in 25 days.

Numbers don’t tell the whole story, according to Jay Johnston, the director of faith, evangelism and discipleship for LifeWay Christian Resources, the publishing arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, in Nashville, Tenn. Lifeway is coordinating the baptism campaign.

“We’re continuing to encourage churches, to make them aware that we’d really like to hear from them but … it’s a whole change in behavior in what we’re asking them to do because for years they’ve only reported (baptisms) at the end of the year,” said Johnston.

Welch is urging individual churches and regional associations of churches to conduct baptism rallies. These rallies are intended to “rev up a rundown romance with reaching people” evangelistically, he told Baptist Press, the news service of the Southern Baptist Convention.

The comment about a “rundown romance” and the campaign itself reflect a growing concern among Southern Baptists regarding baptism numbers.

Ken Hemphill, a Southern Baptist strategist for evangelism, gave a critical analysis Feb. 28 while speaking at Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary in Memphis, Tenn.

According to Baptist Press, Hemphill said 7,500 Southern Baptist churches are unable to claim a single baptism in a year and more than half of all Southern Baptist churches are baptizing five or fewer people in a year.

“We huddle up incredibly well,” said Hemphill, making a football metaphor. “But then we fail to run the play.”

But some church leaders say the goal of 1 million baptisms in a year has prompted them to try new approaches to reaching people.

Milton Hollifield, executive leader for mission growth and evangelism for the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, said his convention has staged events revolving around sports, motorcycles and rodeo to attract new members.

These events are meant to determine “what are the needs of families, what are the needs of people outside the church,” said Hollifield. He said his church is “trying to develop ministries that will touch the hearts of these people.”

Johnston said he is optimistic that churches will report a large number of baptisms in their annual profiles, which will be submitted in October. In the past, “we’ve not baptized more than 500,000 people” in a single year, he said.

“If we don’t get a million people, we don’t lose. Nobody loses because of the opportunity of getting people out and sharing their faith in Jesus Christ.”

MO/PH END RNS

Editors: To obtain file photos of Southern Baptist Convention President Bobby Welch and his bus tour promoting the baptism campaign, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject (Bobby Welch). Check “exact phrase” for best results. For generic shots of Southern Baptist baptisms, search by subject (baptism).