Submitted by philip on Mon, 02/23/2015 - 14:20 According to a survey, younger Southern Baptists appear to not be abandoning the American church. By Tom Strode, Baptist Press NASHVILLE (BP) – Southern Baptists appear to be defying the prevalent notion that young adults are abandoning the American church – at least by one measurement. Attendance by younger generations reached a 10-year high at the Southern Baptist Convention’s 2014 meeting in Baltimore, according to an annual survey of attendees. The survey, conducted by the SBC Executive Committee, showed nearly one-fourth (24.68 percent) of attendees were younger than age 40. That surpassed by more than 4 percentage points the previous best for the age group, recorded in 2013. The 2014 survey also showed 10-year highs for SBC attendees who are under 45 (33.44 percent, a gain of more than 3 percent over the previous high in 2013) and under 35 (15.93 percent, again an increase of more than 3 percent over the earlier high, which came in 2012). Though not a scientific sampling, the dramatic upswing in younger-generation participation at the SBC annual meeting since 2005 – especially during the last three years – reinforces what he has “noticed anecdotally,” said … [Read more...]