New statistics show young leaders have sharply declined in Southern Baptist churches while those over 60 years of age have increased dramatically.
Baptists ages 18-39 only comprised 13.1 per cent of the some 8,000 messengers - or delegates in the Southern Baptist Convention - who attended the latest annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas, in June 2007. In 1980, the young cohort represented 33.6 per cent.
Meanwhile, messengers aged 60 and above accounted for 35.4 percent - a jump from 12.9 percent in 1980 - of the total crowd at the 2007 meeting.
The 40-59 age group has stayed fairly constant, accounting for around half the attendance at annual meetings.
"This sample represents all messengers, and historically 40 percent of the messengers have been senior pastors," said Ed Stetzer, director of LifeWay Research, in the latest report.
"The percentage of senior pastors attending the annual meeting has remained relatively constant, but the age of attendees has risen dramatically.
"Simply put, the proportion of those under 40 attending the SBC is declining precipitously - down by more than 50 percent since the beginning of the conservative resurgence," Stetzer highlighted.
Overall, the 18-39 age group represents 17 per cent of Southern Baptist senior pastors and the 60-plus age groups represents 24 per cent.
The aging crowd of Baptist leaders has been apparent for years with the highest young leader attendance recorded in 1985 when 18- to 39-year-old leaders made up 35.9 per cent of those at the annual meeting. A steady decline began thereafter and in 2005, the statistic plummeted to 16.1 percent.
