The origin of the Altar Call...

[briareos]

The popularization of the Atlar Call is generally and commonly attributed to man named Charles Finney.

I have always been fond of the Altar Call and only heard good things of Mr. Finney

but consider this from Finney

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"Preach to him, and at the moment he thinks he is willing to do anything . . . bring him to the test; call on him to do one thing, to make one step that shall identify him with the people of God. . . . If you say to him, "there is the anxious seat, come out and avow your determination to be on the Lord's side," and if he is not willing to do a small thing as that, then he is not willing to do anything for Christ."

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[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]The practice was designed to elicit decisions, to get results. So it did, and with slight variations the new method spread with increasing popularity through Finney and, later, Dwight L. Moody, and finally into virtually all of nineteenth and twentieth century evangelicalism. Peter Cartwright, Sam Jones, R. A. Torrey, Billy Sunday, Bob Jones, Gipsy Smith, Mordacai Ham, John R. Rice, Billy Graham all employed the method with impressive success. The invitation system had come to stay.

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[FONT=Arial, Verdana, Tahoma, Helvetica]I doubt Finney felt like he was crafting Christians through rhetoric and persuasion, that people were being born again "of the flesh" that he was methodically manipulating their hearts and minds... but I do feel like this is too mechanical, too focused on people, ourselves, others, our actions and not the grace of God, not grace at all really. Jesus' didn't demand that people bring proof of their love for him or create a test that must be passed in order to deserve salvation.
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Please comment on what you think

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[parsley]

Thanks for bringing in the history. Some people claim that the altar call is necessary. It was probably started out of convenience, for not being able to immersion-baptise immediately.

 

[briareos]

Well I already believe it isn't necessary but now I am thinking it may not even be good.

We shouldn't twist the opportunity for salvation in God into a requirement to do something outward. Certainly we need to be able to be bold for God, but to say that such an act is required to be saved is error, on a more passive side of it, the training of christian minds to feel like they aren't worthy of God if they struggle with walking to an altar isn't good and it also isn't good if we train ourselves to think that God looks for such outward displays in order to decide what he gives us.

I always like the idea that he is my father, my children do not have to perform for me in order for me to feed them or cloth them or take care of them. God doesn't ask that we perform for him before he takes care of us either.

 

[BFine]

I have never heard of an altar call being used in that manner and I grew up
in the bible-belt in NC. The altar call the churches used that we attended
was a time for prayer, renewing vows/ making a confession of faith, thanksgiving and praising the Lord as we (the congregation) knelt up at the front of the church.

When I say confession of faith-- meaning-- the person who got saved went up
in front of the church to make it public that they sought the Lord for salvation.
No, the person wasn't pressured to do it, many made the profession of faith from the pew.

 

[good brother]

Why don't we lay out some Scripture passages in favor or against public professions? This is the first that came to mind and would definitely weigh in on the "in favor" side of alter calls or public professions.

Matthew 10
32 “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.

Another verse that came to my mind would seem to at least be putting a caveat on loose public professions.

Matthew 7
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

I don't know if I helped or hindered the conversation, but it is what it is.


In Christ, GB

 

[StormHawk]

Once God's salvation through the transforming power of His Spirit with the confirmation of speaking in tongues is rejected, feeble and deceiving man-made "gospels" come in.

 

[seeingeyes]

The altar call is a sales tactic. Get 'em fired up and get 'em signed up. Just like evangelism 'courses' and the sinner's prayer and the modern definition of tithing that gets the plate filled when it is passed.

How else could we quantify the 'success' of our 'ministry' without these easily measurable phenomena?

 

[BFine]

^^ What type of churches are you folks attending?

 

[briareos]

Bfine,

I grew up in a lovely church and have always viewed the Altar Call as good as well. My church did not use it as persuasion or coercion.

I am simply beginning to think it isn't really needed and that it may not be a good idea. Now inviting people down to the front in order to be prayed for or to something else is fine in my book, for sure... but needing to walk down front in order to accept Jesus isn't a good idea.

I am by no means saying that inviting people to front for whatever reason is bad. I think the idea that salvation through an Altar Call isn't wise.

 

[seeingeyes]

^^ What type of churches are you folks attending?

Ok, I guess my post was a bit on the cynical side. lol

I am skeptical about the origins and intentions of churchy tactics, it's true. Nevertheless, God works through them! The origins of the altar call were clearly for 'new' christians to make an official declaration of faith, and much good has been accomplished with it (Billy Graham anyone?).

But it has sprouted some not-so-fresh fruit, too. Like the idea that a 'conversion' is an instantaneous mental and verbal assent, which implies that 'knowledge' is the key to the kingdom, which leads to a split between 'salvation' doctrines and 'non-salvation' doctrines and other kinds of weirdness. It's hard for folks like me who were raised in the church to suss out such extra-biblical ideas because they are packaged part and parcel with the Gospel.

It seems that your church has transformed the altar call into a space for fellowship and prayer, and praise God for that.

 

[BFine]

The churches we attended as children didn't make it a priority that one
must come down to the altar in order to be saved.

I loved those old country churches, it was so simple then...the love
of God freely flowed.
My church didn't transform the altar call, it's how it'd been since I was a small fry...
I grew up attending church where Sunday was the big event, families spent the day at church in fellowship after preaching and the older people fixed supper...there was singing, prayer time, children's hour and then we all sat down and "broke bread together." I miss that!

I'm over 40 and it has amazed me what some churches have done to the altar call.
It's become like a sideshow attraction or something-- I/we stay away from that.
I know it goes on but I somehow-- I had hoped that those churches would
of stopped making it a prerequisite to salvation...ugh!

 

[seeingeyes]

The churches we attended as children didn't make it a priority that one
must come down to the altar in order to be saved.

I loved those old country churches, it was so simple then...the love
of God freely flowed.
My church didn't transform the altar call, it's how it'd been since I was a small fry...
I grew up attending church where Sunday was the big event, families spent the day at church in fellowship after preaching and the older people fixed supper...there was singing, prayer time, children's hour and then we all sat down and "broke bread together." I miss that!

I'm over 40 and it has amazed me what some churches have done to the altar call.
It's become like a sideshow attraction or something-- I/we stay away from that.
I know it goes on but I somehow-- I had hoped that those churches would
of stopped making it a prerequisite to salvation...ugh!

Well, according to the OP your church has transformed the altar call, albeit well before you were born. If an altar call was initially intended to "bring him to the test; call on him to do one thing", then the circus sideshow is more in-line with the altar call's original intended purpose than your church's version which calls up the children of God to pray over each other.

And, like I said, praise God for that.

 

[briareos]

Well Finney didn't create the thing, he popularized it and his use of it, method of using it is what made it such a huge part of Christian churches today.

 

[LilLamb219]

We do NOT do altar calls at my church (Lutheran).

Our focus is on Christ Jesus and Him crucified for our salvation. We do not believe in decision theology (John 15:16 "You did not choose me, but I chose you...") but we believe that those who want to express their faith in Christ do so BECAUSE they know they are saved...not to think that they gain salvation by thus confessing.

 

[Pal Handy]

There is nothing wrong with asking people to make a choice to
accept Jesus Christ by publicly acknowledging before men
that they have chosen Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior.

On the day of pentacost after Peter preached the gospel publicly,
about 3,000 men accepted Christ before witnesses and were baptized.

Act2
41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized;
and that day about three thousand souls were added to them


Jesus spoke about our need to confess Him before men.
Jesus knew that what is in a man's heart will be expressed in his actions.
Jesus knew that those who were willing to confess Him before men
had made the choice to follow Him and accept Him as Lord.

Matthew 10
32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.



Jesus said that if we confess Him before men...
He would confess us before His Father.

So what better way to confess Jesus before men
then after hearing the gospel, going forward in declaration before men
who are a witness to your decision that you truly have accepted the gospel as
God's truth as you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior.



Finney did not invent the alter call but mearly followed Christ's
declaration that those that confess Him as Lord before men, He will
confess that He accepts them before His Father in heaven.





Billy Graham's - "The Call" - YouTube

 

[LilLamb219]

Once God gives us the gift of faith in order to believe, it's more of a realization though...not a choice. We choose to reject. That's pretty much what man can do.

 

[paul1149]

God can use anything. I have seen moving footage of Billy Graham conducting the first open religious event in 60 years it post-USSR Romania, and the crowds couldn’t wait. They broke into a run by the hundreds to get to the altar. You could sense their relief, as if a man in the desert had found fresh water.

But man tends to get his clammy hands on anything religious and make a mess of it. The dynamic I see in Acts is that the Gospel is preached in power, with attendant signs and wonders bearing witness, with the result that the listeners ask to be saved. I hope the church gets back to that intimate dynamic, because much of the altar calling I hear these days is formulaic, even liturgical, and without convincing authority.

 

[briareos]

As stated more than once Finney did not invent the altar call but rather popularized it and I for one do not agree with his stated purpose for it and usage of it.

I believe we do need to be able to confess Jesus before men, but that is hardly the means to be saved one does not need to do anything before anyone in order to be saved.

 

[Pal Handy]

Romans 10:17 (AMP)


17 So faith comes by hearing [what is told], and
what is heard comes by the preaching
[of the message that came from the lips] of Christ (the Messiah Himself).

 

[MCab]

I'm a recovering altar-call addict.

I was always going to alter calls, even after I got saved, hoping for some changes in who I was. It was all out of self-hate and improper guilt.

Then I realized that even the best sin, that God loves me no matter. So I quit going to alter calls and became content in His love.

Well, and I quit going to church all together too.