ALTAR CALLS
Disciples are
not made going forward to an altar, but by being baptized (Mt. 28:19)! This is the biblical way in which repentant
sinners…publicly declare their faith in Jesus Christ (Ac. 2:41; 16:15, 31-33).
The Word and Sacrament in Worship, Tabletalk,
Jan. 2005, p. 12. Used by Permission.
Those
who have reservations about equating immediate post-sermonic calls for physical
response (initiated by a planed appeal for such) with following the will of God
desire strong biblical rationale before they can approve it. Baptism,
incorporation into a believing group, regular worship and fellowship with other
believers, and day-by-day pursuit of holiness and acts of Christian love – all
these have the character of confessing Christ before men and are specifically
commended, as well as notably exemplified, in Scripture. Where is either the
mandate or example of the engineered call to “come to the front” stated as an
act of obedience to God's call to repentance? When walking down an aisle is
tantamount to following Christ and professing Him before men, the biblical idea
of godliness has vanished. The system that relies on the altar call encourages
these perversions.
Thomas Nettles
By His Grace and For His Glory, Baker, 1986.
Probably in
our own, modern substitutes for (immediate baptism upon profession) – raising
hands, coming forward, etc. – are the result of a felt need to do something for
those who believe. It seems certain that
those who believed were distinguished from those who did not. There is no evidence that the New Testament
evangelistic preachers asked them to come forward, but there is every
indication that they did invite those who believed to be baptized (Ac.
2:38). And it seems that this was the
way in which new converts professed their faith in Christ and came under the
care and discipline of the church.
Preaching with a Purpose, Zondervan,
1984, p. 74.
Most American
evangelicals are familiar with what Billy Graham does at the end of his
preaching, calling people to walk to the front. Sometimes these are called
"invitations." Sometimes "altar calls."
When you look for something like this in the Bible there is no clear example…
If you ask what the decisive, public way of taking a Christian stand was in the
New Testament, the answer is, baptism. The message
Peter gave in Acts 2 ended with the words, "Repent and be baptized in the
name of Jesus Christ" (Acts 2:38). Our renewed conviction is that we need
to regularly offer baptism as the decisive public way for people to respond
publicly to the gospel.
Sermon: I Baptize You With
Water, Matthew 3, May 4, 1997, By Permission of www.DesiringGod.org.
1. It is wrong to put
direct pressure on the will. The will should always be approached primarily
through the mind, the intellect, and then through the affections. The action of
the will should be determined by those influences.
2. In the end it may
produce a condition in which what has determined the response of the man who
‘comes forward’ is not so much the Truth itself as, perhaps, the personality of
the evangelist, or some vague general fear, or some other kind of influence.
3. The preaching of the
Word and the call for decision should not be separated in our thinking
4. This method surely
carries in it the implication that sinners have an inherent power of decision
and of self-conversion.
5. There is an
implication here that the evangelist somehow is in a position to manipulate the
Holy Spirit and His work. Some organizers today even predict the results.
6. This method tends to
produce a superficial conviction of sin, if any at all. People often respond
because they have the impression that by doing so they will receive certain
benefits.
7. You are encouraging
people to think that their act of going forward somehow saves them.
8. It raises the whole
question of the doctrine of regeneration. This is the most serious thing of
all. This work is the work of the Holy Spirit, and His work alone, no one else
can do it. And as it is His work it is always a thorough work; and it is always
a work that will show itself.
9. No sinner ever really
decides for Christ.
Preachers and Preaching, Zondervan, 1971, p. 269-279
(summary of his main points).
The problem
with (an altar call for rededication) is that it is not biblical. The crux of the gospel message is not a call
to rededication, but a call to repentance.
John the Baptist preached repentance (Matt. 3:2). Jesus preached repentance, both in His
earthly ministry and as the resurrected Lord (Matt. 4:17; Rev. 3:19). If one's previous commitment did not keep him
walking in obedience, a re-commitment is no more likely to make him
faithful. The proper response to disobedience
is not a commitment to try harder, but brokenness and repentance for rejecting
the will of Almighty God. God looks for surrender
to His will, not commitment to carry it out. Rather than asking church members to
repeatedly promise to try harder, churches must call their people to repent
before Holy God.
Corporate Hindrances to Revival,
Revival Commentary, v. 2, n. 2.
"I would
like to go into the enquiry-room." I dare say you would, but we are not
willing to pander to popular superstition. We fear that in those rooms men are warmed
into fictitious confidence. Very few of the supposed converts of enquiry-rooms
turn out well. Go to your God at once, even where you are now. Cast yourself on
Christ, now, at once, ere you stir an inch!
C.H. Spurgeon
The altar
call is "old fashioned" in only a very relative sense. It is old
fashioned to us at this end of the twentieth century, but it first arose more
than eighteen centuries after Christ.
Now this may not prove that the altar call is wrong, but it surely
demonstrates that the non-practice of the altar call is not wrong. If neither
Jesus nor His apostles employed the method, and if they never commanded such to
be done by the church, then it obviously cannot be wrong to decide against the
more modern method. It is not a question of Biblical necessity but of modern
custom and convenience. A church which refuses the practice can never be
criticized for that refusal; indeed, such a church is at that point more in
line with the apostolic church than are those churches which have adopted it.
Fred G. Zaspel
The
"Altar Call" - Is it helpful or harmful? Published by Word of Life
Baptist Church, Pottsville, PA, 1998, All rights
reserved.
A man's
willingness (or unwillingness) to come to the front of a church building says
nothing about his willingness to come to Christ. Walking in front of a crowd
has nothing at all to do with the conversion process, and we have no right to
create such a false category of "public declaration of faith" and
thus pronounce the Biblical requirement fulfilled. We have every right indeed,
we have divine right to require baptism as this outward and public profession
of faith. And we have every right to expect that faith to continue to be
evident in life. But the altar call is another matter entirely. It is an
artificial, man-made requirement which, by virtue of its human origin, is a
matter of no consequence whatever.
Fred G. Zaspel
The
"Altar Call" - Is it helpful or harmful? Published by Word of Life Baptist
Church, Pottsville, PA, 1998, All rights reserved.
No one is
ever saved "as a result" of an altar call. We are saved only as a
result of the gospel… We don't want them to think that in order to be saved
they must walk an aisle. No! We want them to know that if they look to Christ
even while they are seated they will be saved. And so we must tell them that.
We must make the message very plain that they must go to Christ, and to go to
Him requires no physical movement whatever only a look of the soul… This is too
important a matter to erect needless obstacles or distractions. They must be
directed not to a geographical location in a building. They must be directed to
Christ.
Fred G. Zaspel
The
"Altar Call" - Is it helpful or harmful? Published by Word of Life
Baptist Church, Pottsville, PA, 1998, All rights
reserved.
The modern
altar call further runs the risk of confusing the idea of mediatorship. Who is
our only mediator? With whom does the sinner need to do business if he is to be
saved? Must he talk to you? To me? No, he must do
business with Christ, for He alone is the one who can bring us to God. But
instructing a man to "come and talk to a personal worker" may well
confuse matters. It again distracts from the One of Whom he should be thinking.
The sermon itself is the invitation, and it gives direction to Christ and to no
one else.
Fred G. Zaspel
The
"Altar Call" - Is it helpful or harmful? Published by Word of Life
Baptist Church, Pottsville, PA, 1998, All rights
reserved.
The modern
invitation system…reveals a misunderstanding of the role of the preacher. The
preacher's duty is not to "get decisions." His duty is to proclaim
the good news and exhort men and women to go to Christ. This is the means which
God uses to save. We preach, and God Himself uses the word preached to
"get the decision." (What a woefully inadequate term that is! Saving
faith is so much more than a "decision." It is running for rescue!)
These roles must never be confused… The role of the preacher is to exhort men
and women to faith in Christ. That is all. And that is enough. God is well able
to do everything else.
Fred G. Zaspel
The
"Altar Call" - Is it helpful or harmful? Published by Word of Life
Baptist Church, Pottsville, PA, 1998, All rights
reserved.
This modern
practice has tended to promote false assurance… We all know so many who
"know" they are Christians, because they were baptized as infants or
as adults for that matter. The same is true of countless people who have
"walked the aisle." They were assured that if they would "come
forward" and "make a decision" they could be saved. They came,
and there some well-intentioned personal worker convinced them that because
they came and answered "yes" to the various questions and then prayed
"the sinner's prayer" that now they are saved and no one should ever make them doubt it! Then they left. And they went back to the
same old life they had. They made no real public profession of Christ, but
because they did as they were instructed they "know" they are safe.
This is a needless problem which we have created.
Fred G. Zaspel
The
"Altar Call" - Is it helpful or harmful? Published by Word of Life
Baptist Church, Pottsville, PA, 1998, All rights
reserved.
There are
serious dangers in the modern invitation system. It is not a Biblical practice
but a relic of nineteenth-century American evangelical tradition. It confuses
the nature and object of saving faith. It confuses mere professions of faith
with true, saving faith. It fosters false assurance. It distracts thinking away
from the workings of God in the inner man. It mistrusts the God-appointed means
of preaching and the power of the Holy Spirit working through the Word. It
mistakes the role of the preacher. And it rests on an unscriptural view of
human ability.
Fred G. Zaspel
The
"Altar Call" - Is it helpful or harmful? Published by Word of Life
Baptist Church, Pottsville, PA, 1998, All rights
reserved.
Don’t come
down here to cry about it, go home and live it!
A.W. Tozer
How
many churches today are full of people who have been psychologically pressured
but never truly converted?
Mark Dever
The
Gospel and Personal Evangelism, Crossway, 2007, p. 108.
When did
pastors and evangelists stop relying solely on the evangel and start relying on
methodological innovations? Neither this mindset, nor the methods that flow
from it, can be traced back to the apostles. The fact is,
altar call methodology is a relatively recent innovation.
Daryl Wingerd
The Corrupt Root and Bitter Fruit of Altar Call
Evangelism, Christian Communicators Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org. Used by Permission.
Every
biblical evangelist will, as part of his preaching, implore his hearers to
repent and believe. Some may even invite hearers to come forward at the end of the
meeting to speak with a pastor or counselor in order to learn more about the
gospel, ask for materials to read, ask questions about the Bible or what they
heard in the sermon, etc. But no truly biblical evangelist will assure a person
that he will be saved if he will, at a particular moment in time, decide something,
say something, or do something in response to an invitation.
Contrary to the biblical goal of gospel preaching, which is to make men humble,
penitent, and wholly dependent on God, such invitations and assurances actually
serve to increase self-reliance and build unwarranted spiritual confidence.
Daryl Wingerd
The Corrupt Root and Bitter Fruit of Altar Call
Evangelism, Christian Communicators Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org. Used by Permission.
The preacher
may not mean to convey this, but his actions and words so strongly imply it
that the listener cannot help but think that he must do something beyond
merely believing if he is to be saved. Likewise, the one who does respond
outwardly as instructed cannot help but assume that he has gained something of
eternal importance by doing so, even though outward responses often reflect no
corresponding inner reality. And when the meeting is
over, the one who did not respond as invited cannot help but believe he
has missed the “opportunity."\” Most evangelists who favor the altar call
method also strongly affirm the doctrine of sola fide (justification by faith
alone). But the charge that their methods appear to contradict this doctrine
cannot be easily dismissed. If nothing related to salvation is gained by
a person's outward response to some form of altar call, then what is the reason
for asking people to respond in these ways if they want to be saved? Are people
saved by faith alone or are they not?
Daryl Wingerd
The Corrupt Root and Bitter Fruit of Altar Call
Evangelism, Christian Communicators Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org. Used by Permission.
Altar call
evangelism rarely produces lasting fruit. While the initial statistics are
often impressive, the numbers of those who bear the biblical marks of
regeneration are usually minute in comparison. D. A. Carson calls attention to
this disturbing pattern in his book, A Call for Spiritual Reformation: “To
what extent do those who profess faith at world-class evangelistic meetings
actually persevere, over a period of five years from their initial profession
of faith? When careful studies have been undertaken, the most commonly agreed
range is 2 percent to 4 percent; that is, between 2 percent and 4 percent of
those who make a profession of faith at such meetings are actually persevering
in the faith five years later, as measured by such external criteria as
attendance at church, regular Bible reading, or the like” (Baker, 1992, p. 24).
Daryl Wingerd
The Corrupt Root and Bitter Fruit of Altar Call
Evangelism, Christian Communicators Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org. Used by Permission.
The truth is, altar call methodology creates more problems than it
solves. Most “decisions” produce only what the unchanged human heart is
easily and deceptively able to manufacture on its own – false religious zeal
and moral resolve. The only difference is that in this case, all is done under
the banner of Christianity, as opposed to some other religion. While we should
rejoice that many have been truly saved through these methods, we should mourn
that many more – likely the vast majority – have been left in a worse condition
than before.
Daryl Wingerd
The Corrupt Root and Bitter Fruit of Altar Call
Evangelism, Christian Communicators Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org. Used by Permission.
Concerns
related to the altar call:
1.
There
is no clear biblical precedent or command related to the modern public
invitation or altar call.
2.
Many
today equate “coming to faith” with “coming down the aisle.”
3.
There
is a danger of giving assurance to those who are unconverted.
4.
A
large number of people who are “converted” during altar calls fall away.
5.
The
altar call can be effective in getting people to respond even if a clear,
biblical presentation of the gospel and accurate biblical preaching are absent.
6.
Scripture
already explains how a convert is to make his profession public – baptism and a
holy life.
7.
For
some, the use of an altar call uncovers a lack of trust in the sovereignty of
God.
Carey Hardy
A
Close Look at Invitations and Altar Calls, Shepherds Conference, Grace
Community Church (summary of his main points).
If the walk
forward is an outward declaration of an inner-saving decision already made by
the hearer in the seat, is this just an “act of witness”? Why then are people told to “come forward to
receive Christ”? How is receiving Christ
related to coming forward?
Carey Hardy
A
Close Look at Invitations and Altar Calls, Shepherds Conference, Grace
Community Church.
The
biblical method of focusing on the gospel itself, without props, and allowing
God to save whom He wills, when He wills, demands the hearing of the Word. And
it demands trust that God will call His elect to Himself according to His own
timetable. When the Word is preached, there will be varying responses (Acts
17:32-34). Just be faithful to preach the Word…and leave the results to God. He
will save His elect according to His own timing.
Carey Hardy
A
Close Look at Invitations and Altar Calls, Shepherds Conference, Grace
Community Church.
The
real question is: How powerful is the Word of God? Can it change men from
sinners into saints without an extension of an altar call? Will it convict and
convert (as God promises), or will we need to add something that helps men
“settle it”? You will never be able to do without the invitation system until
you are thoroughly convinced of the power of God's Word (see Rom. 10:14; Jas.
1:18; 1 Pet. 1:23).
Carey Hardy
A
Close Look at Invitations and Altar Calls, Shepherds Conference, Grace
Community Church.
First,
there is no biblical precedent or command regarding a public altar call.
Whatever might be said for its use, we cannot resort to the Bible for support.
Jesus nor Paul, nor any other early Christian leader used it. Did Jesus ask His
listeners to come to the front after He preached the Sermon on the Mount? Did
Paul say, “Every head bowed, every eye closed” as Luke quietly sang the
invitation hymn on the Areopagus? Did Peter have seekers raise their hands as a
sign of their interest in Christ at the end of the Pentecostal sermon?
Jim Elliff
Closing With Christ, Christian Communicators
Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org
. Used by Permission.
Evangelistic
preaching does say, “Repent and trust Christ now.” But there is nothing
sacrosanct about getting people to occupy a certain piece of geography at the
front of a building. Nor have I kept them from Christ by not having them
respond to a public altar call. Rather I am offering them Christ without
anything in between. I want nothing between their soul and the reality of
Christ’s offer. To put something in between is a practical sacramentalism.
Jim Elliff
Closing With Christ, Christian Communicators
Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org
. Used by Permission.
It
is the Holy Spirit who gives assurance of life in Christ, not the evangelist (Rom.
8:16). We are to relate the basis of assurance but leave the actual assuring to
the Spirit.
Jim Elliff
Closing With Christ, Christian Communicators
Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org
. Used by Permission.
Is
it love for the lost that will perpetuate practices producing such damning
deception in so many – or is it merely love for success?
Jim Elliff
Closing With Christ, Christian Communicators
Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org.
Used by Permission.
I
think it is the preacher's responsibility to get attention and comprehension.
It is the Hoy Spirit’s responsibility to produce yielding, retention, and
action – that's not my job. All the slick techniques, all the gospel marketing
packages, all the pulpit histrionics of jumping and stomping and flailing
around, and doing whatever they do to create the mood. All the sad stories, the
mood music, the endless invitations, the hand raising, the walking to the
front, all of that kind of pressure is not preaching the Word. It has nothing
to do with comprehension. The decision of yielding, surrendering and then
retaining and acting, is between the hearer and God, and not the hearer and the
preacher.
John MacArthur
Commitment
of a Powerful Leader, Sermon, 1992, Tape GC 56-3.