Southern Baptist Convention Released Worship Study
The study identified significant leadership training gaps across thousands of churches.
Updated on Sept. 22, 2026 in Religious
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The Southern Baptist Convention conducted an extensive worship ministry study involving 4,530 participating churches nationwide. The survey findings highlight critical needs in leadership development and training structures.
Why it matters
Understanding these ministry needs helps the convention address resource gaps and leadership shortages within smaller, under-resourced congregations. The findings provide a baseline diagnostic for improving worship ministry health across the denomination.
The survey analyzed 4,530 churches, with 22% reporting attendance under 50 and 11% reporting attendance over 500. Additionally, 51% of all responding churches reported they do not have a plan for recognizing and training leaders.
The players
Southern Baptist Convention
The Southern Baptist Convention is a large Christian denomination that coordinates missionary and educational efforts across thousands of local churches.
SBC Worship
SBC Worship is the specific ministry entity responsible for conducting this study and providing resources to local church worship leaders.
The details
Researchers gathered data on worship practices to create a diagnostic report on the current state of ministry health. The data reveals that a majority of the surveyed churches currently lack formal infrastructure for identifying or training new worship leaders.
Timeline
September 2026: Results of the survey study were released.
Spring 2027: A follow-up survey is planned to gather additional data.
2027: Final results will be presented at the SBC annual meeting.
Industry Dynamics
This study follows a pattern set by the SBC Worship Congregations and Leadership Study in creating a data-driven diagnostic for local ministry health. It reflects a shift toward using large-scale surveys to identify capacity gaps in religious leadership development.
Local congregations can use these findings to evaluate their own ministry health against broader denominational trends. Leaders and members may utilize the provided resources to address training deficits in their specific communities.
The takeaway
Churches can benefit from assessing their internal leadership development pipelines to ensure long-term ministry sustainability. Establishing a formal training plan is a practical step for organizations looking to bridge the identified leadership gap.
What happens next
SBC Worship intends to conduct a follow-up survey in the spring of 2027 and present its complete findings during the 2027 SBC annual meeting.
Further reading
For more on the latest research and initiatives, visit the United States Religious section.
More information
Access the complete survey results access page to review the study findings.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Biblical Recorder.
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