Are Altar Calls Biblical?

I’ve personally seen more false lack of assurance—but that’s with altar calls in the church setting. I’ve seen it done reasonably well, but also recall more than church where a subculture of “going forward is the surest sign of a healthy spiritual vitality” developed … and so large numbers went forward at the ends of sermons every time, regardless. In other churches, I’ve seen the same few tormented souls trying to “get right” or “get assurance” week after week after week. Sad.

For growing (i.e. normal) believers, progress in sanctification is slow but steady, not a series of disasters interrupted by weekly efforts to start over at the altar.

The most important question regarding altar calls must be, are they Biblical? Did Jesus give an altar call? Peter? Paul? Anyone in Scripture? If not, there must be a reason. Do we really think we can improve on the methods of Christ and the apostles?

In 1982, I completed a series on the sermon on the mount. The next Sunday I said something like this. “We’ve spent many months examining what’s in this sermon. Now we will take one Sunday to consider what is not there, namely an altar call.” We traced where the sermon began, where it ended, and what was next. We continued with a quick examination of all the recorded sermons in the New Testament; where they began, where they ended, and what came next. We discovered that there were no altar calls in the Bible. I concluded with: “If Jesus didn’t give an altar call, and if neither Peter nor Paul nor any other Apostle gave an altar call, I’ve decided that I probably shouldn’t be giving one either. You’ve just had your last altar call in this church.” There was a gasp. You could’ve heard a pin drop. For months, people waited to see if my declaration would hold. It did. Thirty-five years have passed without an altar call. Yes, we’ve had fewer “decisions.” But souls have been saved and baptized and people have joined the church without altar calls. And we have had virtually no professions of faith that dropped out later.

Altar calls are not only unnecessary, they are largely detrimental to healthy, Biblical Christianity.

Two great books on the Altar Call, or the Invitation:

The Effective Invitation by R. Alan Streett

Giving a Good Invitation by Roy Fish

David R. Brumbelow

I didn’t do altar calls when I was a Pastor; I simply asked folks to pray and consider how the Word of God from the message applied to their own lives and had 20-30 seconds of silence with a piano accompaniment. I only did this for the Sunday Morning service.

Chafer made some good comments about how awful the practice was in his book True Evangelism, and his remarks stuck with me. At my church now (where I am not the Pastor), there are no altar calls at all.

Theologically, I guess we could debate whether the matter is adiaphora (left up to interpretation) or settled in the negative by the Scripture’s silence on altar calls, per G.N. Barkman’s comment, but the simple fact that an altar call allows close-up manipulative tactics that result in false decisions ought to temper any enthusiasm we have for them.

I see that hand …

I was discipled in an altar call culture where I never questioned why the word “altar” was used. It was so ingrained in me that when we moved to France I continued to give altar calls for a time even when meeting in our house. I was in churches in the US where the altar calls were interminable and at times the urgency pressed in many ways through seemingly endless verses of “Just As I Am.” I’ve seen the other extreme where people are never urged to do anything, not even to repent and come to Christ, no opportunity to even speak to someone after the service.

Where we serve now we always have an invitation. It’s the Lord’s Supper which is held every Sunday after the message. It’s an invitation to the saved to be nourished and feast on Christ, to the unsaved to see their need of a Savior who gave his life to save ours. The only walking forward is those who are asked to leave their seats to join the line to receive the elements. We urge with caveats those who are not believers to abstain, to remain in their seats, and encourage them to confess Christ as Savior and to speak with an elder after the service. We have a meal after every service where their are opportunities to speak with others. I have little enthusiasm for altar calls. I have a great to urge people to repent and believe the gospel.

If you feel the Spirit working in your heart, I want you to just slip your hand up right now … heads bowed and eyes closed, nobody looking around …

See, I still have the technique down after so long … I could do an invitation right now! :)

I always thought it was interesting that some of my strongly dispensational brethren would name their churches tabernacles and summon people to the altar.

In Bible College, we were trained how to give invitations. The crafting of our message was based around that one decision at the end of the presentation of God’s Word. It was very hard not to feel “disappointed” when no one would “visibly” respond to God’s truths. When I was nearing 40 years of age I began to study the messages in the New Testament and noticed that people responded during the presentation of God’s truth, while the preaching was happening. So that has changed my approach to how I prepared a message. This shows that if we do something long enough, it becomes almost doctrine.

Everybody should find Chafer’s book True Evangelism online (it’s public domain), and read his short discussion about altar calls. He came from the revivalist circuit, and what he wrote against the practice is powerful. He suggestions for doing invitations are excellent, and I used them. It’s good stuff. Here is an excerpt from one section (scroll down to Part V). Consider what Chafer wrote:

Many serious men have concluded that to send out workers to plead with individuals in a miscellaneous congregation is not only embarrassing to the people thus approached, but is, in the majority of cases, a service which hardens and repels. Forced decisions sometimes follow such appeals. These, they observe, are usually premature and unintelligent decisions; for in such methods there can be no certainty concerning the conviction by the Spirit and no very definite dependence upon His leading. On the other hand, the many who have resisted the personal appeal have been hardened or driven away.

Public methods which embarrass any person or class of persons may be not only useless but intrusive. There is little gained by inviting all Christians in a public gathering to stand, thus forcing all others into a conspicuous position, causing them annoyance and creating an occasion for prejudice. It is not strange that intelligent unsaved people sometimes avoid meetings where these methods are employed. By adopting such a program the evangelist or pastor may be hindering the very work of GOD which he is attempting to do.

Agree that altar calls can be and are misused and misunderstood. I’ve seen that misuse many times and also have seen some of the same questionable characteristics that some here have mentioned. I use altar calls sometimes, other times I do not. Depends on the message & circumstances.

But does the misuse of a practice/tactic mean that the practice should be discontinued? Not necessarily.

Does the fact that Christ and the early church did or did not use a specific practice mean that we can or can not use that practice? Not necessarily.

If true, then we must prohibit door-to-door work, Sunday School, tracts, even blogsites like this one.

Just because some, maybe many, misuse altar calls doesn’t mean the practice is wrong.

A new pastor announced that hew would not give altar calls. “How will people get saved?” someone asked. “the same way they always have,” said the pastor. “By repenting from their sin and trusting Jesus Christ as their Savior.” The inquirer then asked, “But how will people make a public profession of their faith?” The pastor pointed to the baptistry..

“With heads bowed and eyes closed, ask yourself - do you want to spend eternity in hell? You can settle that right now. Just slip out of your seat, come down the aisle to this old-fashioned altar, and get things right with the Lord. Nobody’s watching. Nobody’s looking around. Don’t resist the Spirit. Come to Christ.”

Cue “Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling.”

At the appropriate moment, whisper:

Jesus is calling you. Won’t you come? Won’t you come?

At another opportune moment, ask,

Jesus is watching for you and for me. If you feel the Lord spoke to you this morning, raise your hand so I can see it. Yes, I see that hand … Why should you tarry? Won’t you come?

So many memories! :)

It seems to me 90% of the criticism of the public invitation is criticizing the misuse and abuse of the invitation or altar call. From a pro-invitation viewpoint:

Why I Give A Public Invitation by Evangelist Junior Hill

http://sbctoday.com/why-i-give-a-public-invitation/

The Effective Invitation by R. Alan Streett

https://books.google.com/books?id=etq0YXxibYMC&printsec=frontcover#v=on…

David R. Brumbelow