ALPHARETTA, Ga. – This year, March 16 falls on a Sunday, and the North American Mission Board’s (NAMB) evangelism team is urging Southern Baptist churches to plan a special outreach on that day with a campaign: “3:16 on 3/16.”
“John 3:16 has been referred to as the gospel in a nutshell. It’s probably the most widely known Bible verse in the world,” said Tim Dowdy, NAMB’s president of evangelism. “So, in cooperation with our state conventions and associations, on March 16, we’re encouraging all SBC pastors to preach on John 3:16.”
NAMB’s evangelism team has created a website, 316on316.com, that includes resources designed to help churches and pastors prepare for the Sunday. Sermon prompts, outreach ideas and a prayer guide can help a church engage their neighbors with the gospel in the lead up to March 16.
“We’re praying that the Lord of the harvest will move in a mighty way to save the lost,” Dowdy said. “We’re committed to making Jesus’s name known on March 16, and we hope you’ll join us in this effort to take the gospel to North America.”
The 3:16 on 3/16 campaign represents an opportunity for pastors to unify around evangelism, but it also affords churches the chance to put evangelism before their people during a time when there seems to be an increasing openness to the gospel.
A 2019 study conducted by Lifeway found that 55 percent of churchgoers had not shared the gospel with anyone in the previous six months. In 2024, though, Lifeway Research noted that the share of those who claim no religious affiliation appears to have dropped after decades of a steady increase, which potentially represents a changing tide that churches need to be ready to address.
Greater interest in spiritual things among Generation Z may be one cause behind the drop in religious nones, though it is too early to tell for certain.
“Today, I wonder if we’re seeing the beginning of a revival among Gen Z, particularly those in college,” Trevin Wax, NAMB’s vice president of resources and marketing, wrote last year. “As I survey the landscape, I see signs of hope and renewal that strike me as unexpected and remarkable.”
Shane Pruitt, NAMB’s national next gen director, has labelled the next generation the “revival generation” because of the responses to the gospel he’s seen in recent years.
“Ever since 2020, I’ve personally been witnessing God move amongst teens and college students in massive ways,” Pruitt recently posted on social media.
The movement has not been limited to youth and college students, though. Spiritual hunger pangs have been grumbling in various ways as some well-known people have come to faith in recent years or at least begun publicly acknowledging the goodness of Christianity.
“If we’re seeing the doors of peoples’ hearts beginning to crack open, ‘3:16 on 3/16’ offers pastors and churches a tool to connect the date on the calendar with the hope of the everlasting life,” Dowdy said. “Let’s come together, unify around the proclamation of the gospel, and ask the Lord of the harvest to work on the hearts of those who need Jesus.”
To learn more about 3:16 on 3/16, visit 316on316.com.