The number of baptisms reported by North Carolina Baptist churches fell more than 10 percent from 2013 to 2014, according to the information provided by churches through the Annual Church Profile (ACP). The total number of believers baptized in 2014 is 18,111. That number is down from the 20,324 reported the previous year.
The top 105 churches in reported baptisms are listed on this page. The top 10 churches account for 19.8 percent of all N.C. baptisms with a total of 3,585. The 105 churches reported 7,761 baptisms or 42.9 percent of the state’s total.
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One or more baptisms was reported by 1,849 churches. A total of 789 reporting churches, or 18 percent, reported no baptisms.
Do these statistics tell the whole story? In reality, the grand totals may not be complete.
The only information available comes from churches who willingly provide data through the ACP. There are no other sources for this data. All of the information is self-reported by the churches.
According to the report 1,712 or 39.2 percent of the state’s 4,370 churches did not submit the ACP. In 2013 there were 441 churches that reported one or more baptisms, but did not provide any data in 2014. The fact is that reporting is incomplete – either by typographical error, omission, neglect or intentional rejection of the process. In Baptist life, each autonomous church determines what they will do with the ACP.
We would like to provide a list of baptisms by church size, but that information is incomplete as well. Many churches who provided baptism information did not report the number of members or worship attendance. Therefore, the Biblical Recorder cannot report information on baptisms by church size.