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As many of you probably already know, the Pew Forum’s survey of the religious landscape in America was very telling.  Some statistics that caught my attention as I looked closer at the other chapters of the Forum’s report were those of the Changes in America’s Religious Affiliation. This can be found in chapter two of the report.

The report shows that of all Protestant denominations, the Baptists have had the greatest net loss from changes in affiliation. The greatest benefactor of changes in affiliation have been nondenominational Protestants. Of all religious groups, Catholics have suffered the greatest net loss due to changes in affiliation. The most telling stat is that the fastest growing group in America are those who do not identify with any religion or tradition.

To download the report, go here. The full PDF download is in the top corner to your right.

Please comment on some or all of these questions….

What is your read on these changes in affiliation?

Why do you think Baptists are leading the way among Protestants in losing adherents?

What comes to mind when you read that the fastest growing group in America are the unaffiliated, i.e. the unchurched? Fearful resentment? Hopeful optimism? Devious satisfaction? Subversive relief?

I had a Presbyterian friend ask me if, “emergent baptist,” is an oxymoron like, “upbeat presbyterian.” I told him that I like to call it a paradox since that sort of thing is all the rage these days.

I have had several conversations with folks in other traditions who carry a healthy skepticism about Baptists being able to emerge from much of anything. They have good reasons for thinking so, and we know those reasons and many more as insiders.

I am glad their skepticism is largely unfounded. There are many of us “Baptimergents” out there, and we are gradually finding one another via blog, Facebook, and Emergent gatherings.

Here’s something I’d like to know. How did your emergence begin? Was it a book your read? Was it a nagging feeling inside? Was it a relationship? Was it a theological breakthrough? Was it all of the above? Click the “comment” button and let us know.

We’ve had a group on Facebook now for over a month. Before that, many of us were finding one another by accident at Emergent gatherings, cohort groups, or official Baptist gatherings.

The goal with this blog is to expand our network of friends to those who have not yet forayed into the social network called Facebook. Plus this gives us another creative outlet for conversation.

I’ll being playing around with set-up for the next week. After that, we’ll start working on site content. We’ll be contacting folks to write posts, record podcasts, and the like soon enough. Until then, let us know what you think of the look here. What widgets are useful or are not here that we should have? What themes or categories should we explore? What are some good blogs that we should list in our blogroll?

Feel free to leave a comment here about your suggestions for the site.