Southern Baptist Congregations and Worshippers

 

How to identify a Worshiper:

  • Predominantly female (60%)
  • The average age of a worshiper in a Southern Baptist congregation is 49 years old.
  • Fifty-four percent of worshipers in Southern Baptist churches are employed full-time or part-time.
  • Twenty-three percent are retired, 10 percent are full-time homemakers, and 3 percent are students.
  • Worshipers in Southern Baptist congregations are less educated than worshipers in general.
  • Southern Baptists are fairly representative of the population as a whole regarding income.
  • $100K +    11%
  • 75K - 99K  11%
  • 50K - 74K  23%
  • 25K - 49K  29%
  • 10K - 24K  17%
  • < 10K         8%
  •  

Seven of 10 Southern Baptist worshipers are married—75 percent of those that are married are in their first marriage.

  • Fourteen percent of worshipers have never married.
  • One of 5 worshipers (21.3%) has experienced divorce or is currently separated—the large majority (70%) have remarried.
  • Eight percent of Southern Baptist worshipers report they are currently widowed—an additional 2 percent report they remarried
    after being widowed.
  • Two percent of worshipers are not married but indicate they live with someone in a committed relationship.

 

Forty-two percent of worshipers in Southern Baptist congregations indicated they were attending worship with their spouse at the time of the survey.     

Forty-four percent of Southern Baptist worshipers have children who live with them.

  • Thirty-one percent live in a marital relationship where children are not currently present.
  • Five percent of worshipers live in a household where there is one adult with children present.
  • Twelve percent of worshipers live alone. 

Southern Baptists are less diverse than worshipers as a whole and less diverse than the U.S. population.

  • Asian or Pacific Islander - 1%
  • Black or African American - 4%
  • Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish Origin - 3%
  • Indian (American) or Alaska Native - 2%
  • White or Caucasian - 91%
  • Some other race - 1%

 

(Note that respondents were allow to choose more than one category, thus the sum of percentages does not equal to 100.)
                        
Download full Research Report, Southern Baptist Congregations and Worshipers: Supplement to A Field Guide to U.S. Congregations, by Phillip B. Jones
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