INDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) - Baptisms in the Southern Baptist Convention have fallen to a 20-year low, a trend that is setting off alarm bells in America's largest evangelical denomination.
The number of people baptized in Southern Baptist churches and ceremonies, an important indicator of conversions and denominational growth, fell in 2007 for the third year in a row by 5 percent to 345,941.
That was the lowest number since 1987, a trend on the minds of many of the 7,000 delegates known as "messengers" attending the SBC's annual meeting in Indianapolis....
