Most Baptisms Are Now Adults

Adults 30 and over are now the largest baptism group in Southern Baptist churches, at 33 percent.

The 2025 Annual Church Profile puts children at 22 percent and young adults in their twenties at 20 percent. Total baptisms came to 263,075, the highest count since 2016 and the fifth straight year of growth.

The comparison worth sitting with is the long one. A generation ago, roughly two thirds of everyone we baptized was a minor. Today the majority of people going into the water are 18 or older.

Most of our evangelism assumptions in Iowa were built for a children's ministry pipeline that no longer carries the traffic, so it is time to plan for adult conversion, adult discipleship, and adult baptism as the main event.