What About Altar Calls.

[Cajun Huguenot]

The discussion of "altar calls" in the What About Tradition? thread got me thinking about another issue - Sunday worship.

The Churches that I know who do not have altar calls do not do so because of their view of worship. When I migrated from the Southern Baptist to the PCA I asked the pastor why they did not have altar calls. He told me that Worship was not to be geared toward evangelizing unbelievers but was for the people of God to worship the Lord and be nourished by him. He had a saying, "Shepherds feed sheep; sheep beget sheep.

My general experience in the SBC was that most worship was geared toward the unbeliever and never got very deep into the Word of God. My experience in non-Altar call churches is that the sermon is geared to training, edifying and feeding believers.

How does my experience measure up to the rest of you here?

Kenith

 

[Anoetos]

Yes, pretty much.

 

[student ad x]

Thank you brother(s) ....... so is 'church' somewhere that I may bring an 'underling' or no?

 

[Thaeoles]

I grew up in SBC, so the alter call was the norm. However, the church that I was attending when I was truly converted was C&MA church only did them on rare occasions.

As far as the direction that worship should be gear toward is both. Christ should be central in all topics in preaching, so the sheep will be well nourished to go forth and produce more sheep, and the Gospel is present for sinners to hear, allowing the Holy Spirit to do His work. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2.2, "For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified."

 

[Cajun Huguenot]

Thank you brother(s) ....... so is 'church' somewhere that I may bring an 'underling' or no?

What is an underling? I don't know what an 'underling' is.

I do invite people to worship service regularly, God will save who He wants when He wants, but worship (IMO) should be, and is where we worship, geared for believers to worship and not aimed at evangelism.

That is the "tradition" of the Reformed faith and I believe it is biblical. We should all be evangelizing, but in my understanding of "worship," evangelism is not it's primary focus.

I believe there is a place for "evangelistic services" but that is not what I'm talking about.

Thanks,
Kenith

 

[GQ Chris]

Far cry from the Pentecostal/Charismatic soul winning factory.

 

[student ad x]

-

 

[AMR]

Thank you brother(s) ....... so is 'church' somewhere that I may bring an 'underling' or no?

Of course. The real question is that if we have underlings why haven't we done so already, no?

AMR

 

[AMR]

My general experience in the SBC was that most worship was geared toward the unbeliever and never got very deep into the Word of God.

This was not my experience, but then again, I did not visit lots of other SBC churches. My only issue was a wee bit more topical preaching took place than I cared for at one church. Otherwise, it was my experience that the expository preaching was solid. Over the years, I have been invited to a few SBC churches in the past for special engagements, and the experience has been positive, too. Then again, since I was in the pulpit at the time, this goes without saying....

AMR

 

[AndOne]

The Churches that I know who do not have altar calls do not do so because of their view of worship. When I migrated from the Southern Baptist to the PCA I asked the pastor why they did not have altar calls. He told me that Worship was not to be geared toward evangelizing unbelievers but was for the people of God to worship the Lord and be nourished by him. He had a saying, "Shepherds feed sheep; sheep beget sheep.

I like this - good stuff .

I currently attend a large SBC and they do not have alter calls regularly. They have had them but very rarely. Although done differently then what you are probably used to in the PCA I believe my church has the view of worship that you have mentioned here.

Having said that - the leadership in my church makes no bones about the fact that they are Calvinist - so there is probably a correlation...

 

[edie19]

What is an underling? I don't know what an 'underling' is.

I do invite people to worship service regularly, God will save who He wants when He wants, but worship (IMO) should be, and is where we worship, geared for believers to worship and not aimed at evangelism.

That is the "tradition" of the Reformed faith and I believe it is biblical. We should all be evangelizing, but in my understanding of "worship," evangelism is not it's primary focus.

I believe there is a place for "evangelistic services" but that is not what I'm talking about.

Thanks,
Kenith

I agree Kenith. The church is the Bride of Christ, it is believers and as such (as I understand Scripture) is God's time to reach out to His children through teaching, music and prayer. It should primarily be vertical, not horizontal.

Consider Paul's letters - they were written to churches, often instructing them on what worship should be.

 

[JM]

The only call that alter is a call from God, if that leads you to the altar, I have no problem with it...I have a problem with decisional regeneration tho...

 

[kenrapoza]

The discussion of "altar calls" in the What About Tradition? thread got me thinking about another issue - Sunday worship.

The Churches that I know who do not have altar calls do not do so because of their view of worship. When I migrated from the Southern Baptist to the PCA I asked the pastor why they did not have altar calls. He told me that Worship was not to be geared toward evangelizing unbelievers but was for the people of God to worship the Lord and be nourished by him. He had a saying, "Shepherds feed sheep; sheep beget sheep.

My general experience in the SBC was that most worship was geared toward the unbeliever and never got very deep into the Word of God. My experience in non-Altar call churches is that the sermon is geared to training, edifying and feeding believers.

How does my experience measure up to the rest of you here?

Kenith

My experience has been very similar. I came from a large non-denominational church that had altar calls every service, but rarely preached the gospel during a sermon! The sermon was more about preaching the Christian rather than preaching the Christ. Since moving to the PCA, what I have encountered has been almos the polar opposite. It is a God-centered worship with Christ-centered expositional preaching, clearly distinguishing between law and gospel. We have no need for an altar call because the gospel premeates the worship service.

 

[kenrapoza]

The only call that alter is a call from God, if that leads you to the altar, I have no problem with it...I have a problem with decisional regeneration tho...

I agree, this is a good concise summary.