Got an interesting question that has me working the calculator this morning. How much money does it take to reach a person for Christ in the average SBC Church? So many factors could be thrown in to the equation here, but just some quick figuring in a few major population areas in Louisiana.

• A sample of 66 churches in one city spent $40,845,337 in 2013.
• The same 66 churches reported 503 baptisms in 2013.
• So it took this group of 66 churches $81,203 to baptize one person.
• Looking at the new churches in this group of 66, the total spent per baptism went down to $21,276.
• I’m guessing, it will go up for the age of the church, but more study will be needed.

How much does it cost your church to baptize one new convert? is this a good question to gauge our effectiveness? What do these figures tell us about our churches?