Southern Baptists Report Increase in Church Plants
The nation’s largest Protestant denomination reported an increase in the number of new church plants last year compared to 2007, its mission board announced this past week.
In 2008, there were a total of 1,538 Southern Baptist church plants – six percent more than the 1,445 figure for 2007, the North American Mission Board (NAMB) informed its trustees on Wednesday at a meeting held in its offices in Alpharetta, Ga.
In addition, there was a net gain of 212 long-term missionaries in 2008, bringing its total to more than 5,600, according to the report by the mission agency of the 16-million member Southern Baptist Convention....