Here's another quote from Martha Grace Reese in her book Unbinding the Gospel. I'm not going to comment on it or say anything about it. I would like for those of us who are part of a mainline church just to let this sink in. Because what it's telling us is totally and absolutely unacceptable.
Our findings reveal that fewer than one half of 1% (.005) of these 30,000 primarily Caucasion, non-Southern congregations are baptizing a significant number of adults. We call a "significant number of baptisms" an average of five or more adults a year over a three year period. All baptisms in three years had to be at least 1% of the church's worship attendance. Half of one percent is the percentage of congregations doing a good job of reaching unchurched adults. That translates in numerical terms to fewer than 150 congregations out of a possible 30,000 mainline churches (p.30).
Just let that sink in.
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