By Brandon Elrod
ALPHARETTA, Ga. — As Southern Baptists look toward Baptism Sunday on April 12, the last few years have been a cause for celebration. Baptisms increased four straight years from 2021 through 2024.
“While a couple of those years were obviously rebound from the historic, pandemic-era low, the 2024 baptism total was the highest since 2017,” said North American Mission Board (NAMB) vice president of evangelism, Tim Dowdy. “This has become about more than just a rebound. The pastors in our convention have been elevating evangelism, and I believe the Lord of the harvest has been working in North America.”
Baptism Sunday offers churches the opportunity to host a service that celebrates baptism and calls on people to commit their lives to Christ.
“We’ve seen encouraging signs over the last few years, but there is still a long way to go to reach the expansive lostness in North America with the Gospel,” Dowdy said. “Spiritual lostness has been the prevailing story for the last few decades in North America. We all know that salvation is the work of God, but we also know our evangelistic mission is to proclaim the Gospel everywhere to everyone until the whole world hears.
“Our evangelism team at the North American Mission Board aims to equip and encourage pastors and churches for that great work.”
Resources and other helpful tools for Baptism Sunday and other evangelism needs can be found at nambevangelism.com or by emailing our team at evangelism@namb.net.
Churches who post photos of their Baptism Sunday baptisms are encouraged to use the hashtag #FillTheTank.
Elrod writes for the North American Mission Board.
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