Tag: National Baptism Week

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Seeking Invitation  

Seeking Invitation


This 2024 Baptism Report is by Crossover, the national Baptist ministry dedicated to equipping churches with resources, training, and encouragement to help Australian Baptists share Jesus effectively. 

With a 42% increase in baptisms over the last 2 years, are Baptists ready for 2025? Last year, Australian Baptist Ministries and Crossover recorded a total of 3,836 baptisms in Australia. That’s a 6.5% increase over 2023’s remarkable number – essentially a 42% increase in two years. That is truly remarkable! 

Baptisms were reported by State: 1 
– 1,134 in Victoria
– 1,073 in NSW/ACT 
– 858 in Queensland 
– 396 in WA 
– 350 in SA/NT 
– 25 in Tasmania. 

Crossover’s prayerful goal is to see twice as many baptisms in 2030 as in 2020. This would require 7.2% cumulative growth each year, represented by the line on this graph. As of now, they are 77 baptisms ahead of schedule! (Perhaps God’s schedule is a steeper line.)

Can We Keep It Up?

Perhaps we should ask whether we can stop it? There are significant signs of a new season in the wider culture, signalled by an increased openness to Christianity, particularly among Gen Z.  

Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptised? Acts 8:36 

Arguably, a few key factors will determine the extent to which our movement will reap this harvest.
These include: 
– Can we identify and remove stumbling blocks that stand in the way of people moving toward Christianity?  
– Are we too selective in whom we invite and include, or reluctant to extend grace? 
– Is there any ‘elder brother’ in us? 
– Can the Baptist movement pivot quickly enough from a defensive stance, built up over decades, to a mode of opportunity?  
– Can Baptists swing from a pessimistic mindset into making hay while the sun shines?

Attending to the Basics

Baptism numbers are not only correlated to the ebbs and flows of wider culture, but more directly to what our churches prioritise. They are highly correlated to invitations – to read the Bible together, to Alpha, to church, and to entrust and submit oneself to Christ in baptism.

‘Invitation should be our watchword across the rest of the decade.’

Baptism Resources

Crossover is continuing to invest in baptism resources. Such as, a new booklet for kids and youth, and the Count Me In brochure being translated into a whole range of other languages. There’s also National Baptism Week continues to spotlight our privilege and responsibility to invite more and more people into life in God’s kingdom. Finally, stay tuned also for a major new evangelism training course being developed for release later in the year.) 

  1. Each association gathers data as best it can from a dispersed movement, and some conservative estimation forms part of the total figure. ↩︎

February is a great month for churches to decide whether they’ll participate in the Australian Baptist Easter Offering. The Easter Offering is an expression of gratitude for Jesus and a commitment to unity as we work together to share His message with others.

Seeking Invitation

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