Baptists Baptizing (churches, baptism)

[angellous_evangellous]

Interesting to note how this was reported:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13287467/
"To counter that trend, outgoing SBC president Bobby Welch set a goal of baptizing 1 million people in the year beginning last Oct. 1. As of June 5, 258 of the SBC’s 43,465 churches had reported 3,494 baptisms — a rate per church that would leave the SBC short of its goal without an uptick in baptisms between now and the end of September."

I wonder what they mean: 3494 times 258 is 901,452. That's a lot of baptisms.

Does anyone detect a rate? They only report a very small number of churches - 258 of 43,465.

Damn it Jim, I'm a doctor and not a math major!

[angellous_evangellous]

[SoyLeche]

Originally Posted by angellous_evangellous

Interesting to note how this was reported:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13287467/
"To counter that trend, outgoing SBC president Bobby Welch set a goal of baptizing 1 million people in the year beginning last Oct. 1. As of June 5, 258 of the SBC’s 43,465 churches had reported 3,494 baptisms — a rate per church that would leave the SBC short of its goal without an uptick in baptisms between now and the end of September."

I wonder what they mean: 3494 times 258 is 901,452. That's a lot of baptisms.

Does anyone detect a rate? They only report a very small number of churches - 258 of 43,465.

Damn it Jim, I'm a doctor and not a math major!

It looks to me like it's saying that the 258 churches have baptized a total of 3494 people. That means 3,494 / 258 = 13.54 baptisms per church. This leads to 13.54 * 43,465 = 588,630.66 as an estimate for total baptisms in the SBC. The numbers are reported very sloppily though.

[angellous_evangellous]

Yep. I wonder what sinister plot is behind the faulty reporting.

[SoyLeche]

Originally Posted by angellous_evangellous

Yep. I wonder what sinister plot is behind the faulty reporting.

Statistics are more effective for your agenda if you can hide what they actually say.

[SoyLeche]

It's probably a safe bet that none of those 258 reported having 0 baptisms, but a good number of those not reporting have had none. You don't report bad news early. The actual rate is probably well below the 13.54 per church.

[angellous_evangellous]

Originally Posted by SoyLeche

Statistics are more effective for your agenda if you can hide what they actually say.

No kidding.