Presidential Ponderings

New Zealand’s population is steadily increasing. It should reach 5 million in the mid-2020s and 5.75 million by 2061. For a decade, the Baptist Churches of New Zealand have remained on a numerical plateau which, by comparison with a growing population, is effectively a decline.

Read more: Reverse a church planting winter

Nationally, how can Baptist churches launch off the numerical plateau of the last ten years? About 120 of our churches have less than 100 attending, and about 60 others have between 100 and 200 attending. So 74% of the 243 Baptist Union churches in New Zealand have fewer than 200 in attendance, and most are sole-congregation churches.

Read more: Many parts, one body

The back of a bus advertised: “There are 2000 ways your car could break down. Avoid them all. Take a bus!” 

We could just as easily say, “There are 2000 ways your church could break down …” Unlike that solution, however, God has no Plan B. We’re stuck with the Church: at its best a joy and wonder, at its worst a heartbreak and despair.

Read more: Dig up roots of bitterness

Here are some sobering facts from our Baptist researcher, Lynne Taylor.

In 1988 there were 199 New Zealand Baptist churches (and about 30 embryonic churches, whose statistics are not included in the figures that follow). In 2011 there were 218 constituted churches and a total of 243 churches and fellowships.

Read more: People count