Sometimes I feel that I live in two worlds.

First, there is the SBC world. It is big, powerful, and tribal. SBC world is so big that you can live your life in that world and never know there is a broader Christian community. In that world, almost every pastor would know who Junior Hill is, but I am guessing many of my non-SBC readers do not.

Second, there is the broader Christian world. And, there are some movements in that world that impact the SBC world. More on that in a moment.

This week is a mix for me and it prompted this blog post.

Now that we are back from the holidays, we start the new blog year with research. In this case, it is denominational research.

LifeWay Research released an analysis in Facts and Trends tracking certain age groups and their attendance at Southern Baptist Convention meetings.

The report is an analysis of age / attendance numbers and a graph of two demographic groups. These numbers are collected each year and we graphed them. (We will post some other graphs of the data later.)

Thom Rainer (and Danny Akin) have weighed in here. Later today, we will share some new graphs that give additional information. Tomorrow, I will share some feedback from Jimmy Draper on the subject. If you would like to enter into the dialogue, feel free to do so in the comments. Perhaps Thom Rainer's quotation referring to Morris Chapman would be a good place to start:

Morris Chapman stood before an audience of state convention executives and state Baptist paper editors in February 2002 and said that the SBC stands at a crossroads. It is facing the choice of becoming a group of committed churches that impact the world with the gospel or relegating itself to becoming an ineffective regional denomination.

We're six years down the road. Which road are we choosing?

What do you think? Which road are we choosing?

Update 1:

Here are two more charts.

The first looks at the age groups from 1990-2007.

The second looks at the groups since 2000.

I believe that this provides two things that we can infer from these numbers:

1. The trend is accelerating.
2. The "Younger Leader" emphasis did not lead to a change in the trend.

Later, I will post some thoughts from Jimmy Draper.

Feel free to continue the dialogue below-- some very interesting comments.

Update 2:

We have posted a PowerPoint with more details and graphs here.

In these graphs, you will see that the middle category has remained relatively constant. We cannot know for sure, but perhaps the former young leaders were moving up in age, but were not being replaced as they did.

Of course, it is important to keep in mind that we are looking at percentages, not numbers-- the numbers are down much more than the percentages. In other words, if you looked at the actual numbers of younger leaders attending each year, the trend line would be much "steeper."

We have also included the male / female percent. It has remained relatively stable.

Update 3:

You can find many interesting and challenging comments in the comment stream.

Here is one from Jimmy Draper, who started the "Younger Leader Initiative," seeking to involve more young pastors:

The graph above shows what we all know to be true. Our convention is being more and more represented with older people and less and less with younger people participating. I have a deep conviction that my real task in life is to pass on to my children and grandchildren values, convictions, loyalty to the Gospel, and support for what God is doing through Southern Baptists. That is difficult at best... and impossible if we make no effort at all. I recognized about 5 years or so ago that if we did not invite and urge the participation of our younger ministers and laymen we were going to lose that battle and the SBC would soon be something far different and far less effective than it has been.

That is why I began the emphasis on the younger minister and layman. This coming generation is one of the sharpest I have ever seen. They have a heart for the world, for the gospel, for the church and for sacrificial ministry in difficult places. Most of them have not grown up in church the way I did and do not see the value and importance of our cooperative efforts as a convention unless we show them. Rather than condemning them for their disinterest, it is our task to appeal to their tremendous passion and energy and bring them into the ministries and leadership of our convention.

Many of us are afraid to do this. As we get older we can fall into a trap of feeling that we have all the wisdom, creativity and passion necessary. We often feel threatened by younger ministers with their new and/or different ideas. My generation must embrace these younger ministers or we will cease to exist as a SBC. I deeply believe that the SBC is the greatest, God-given strategy for complete ministry in the world today. If that is true, then we have to enlist the younger people to be involved or the convention dies when we do. I received a lot of criticism for beginning this emphasis on the younger generation, but I believe it is imperative to engage them and bring them into the significant workings of our convention .

This coming generation has new, fresh ideas of how to communicate the Gospel, how to do missions in new and expanding ways, how to do church. They use every possible means of modern technology in communicating their messages. They reach into the unreached areas of our society. They are not afraid of living austere lifestyles in order to connect with a lost world and thus have won the right to witness to them. They just do it differently than most of us do it. But, why should that frighten us? We utilized the expanding advances in science and inventions to increase the ability to travel and minister. My grandfather traveled by train to his speaking engagements. He could only go a short distance in a reasonable amount of time. I was recently in 8 states in less than a week, using modern air travel. Am I wrong to use something my grandfather did not use? Is it wrong for me to travel like that to do ministry while serving as pastor of a local church? I now use email, internet and modern technology in my ministry. Is that wrong since my father and grandfather did not do it? Of course not. Neither is our way of "doing church�? the only way. If it were, the New Testament would have given us instructions as to how to do it. It does not tell us that...but it does tell us that we must pass on what God has given us to our children and grandchildren. We are not doing well at that.

I am excited that across the convention now we have younger individuals in their 20s and 30s being used on boards of trustees, elected officers of state conventions, etc. I believe we are beginning to address this issue, but we have a long way to go. We need to be reminded that change is not optional, it is inevitable. We can not stop it, thus our only hope is to manage change and not be victimized by it! Praise God for the younger leaders who are emerging in our convention. Rather than condemning them, let's embrace them, thank God for them and work with them as partners in ministry.

Are their dangers in this? Absolutely. With youth comes immaturity. Remember when we were younger and did some of the unusual things we did. Immaturity has its own sets of problems. We are seeing some of the younger individuals exercise their liberty and their new found channels of communication in an inappropriate way. We have always had youth who used their youthfulness to further their own agendas and who attacked the status quo. I suppose we all did that to one degree or another. We must not spend an inordinate amount of time worrying about those who are not making a positive and constructive contribution to the ministry of the SBC. There are others out there that represent the very best in character, passion, convictions and energies. Let's help them grow and become involved. That is our assignment.

Read again Paul's admonishment in 2 Tim. 2:1-2.

We must do it!

One more post before we turn to tomorrow's research.

Last week in class at Indiana Wesleyan University, Rick Champ, one of my students, presented a good summary of The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church by Alan Hirsch. You can find the PowerPoint here.

I believe Alan is a good thinker and has been challenging us all about the purpose and structure of the church, God's mission, and the gospel. We've developed a friendship-- and have even argued about a few things. But, we share similar passions-- and I know few Christian leaders as gracious and thoughtful as Alan.

I think his analysis of cultural distance and the western church is very helpful: