Are Altar Calls Biblical?

[Ekklesian]

There are rites, however, given by which we confess our faith, and enter into fellowship of the Church.

One of those is confession.

Romans 10:10 KJV — For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Whatever mode or form provided by which that verbal confession can be made is a help to new believers...and if that is in the form of an altar call, then an altar call is biblical.

 

[sword]

I think I'll just line up with Spurgeon. Monday in the Pastor's study worked just fine.

Except many who visit on Sunday will not be back on Monday.

It implies only the Pastor is worthy or qualified to lead someone to the lord.

Many churches have an alter call for the unsaved to come forward so someone can lead you through what the Bible says but it’s also a time for a Christian to come forward to repent or a member to come forward and make a decision about the sermon or any other issue. It might be a time for one or a group to pray for another’s needs. All these thing can be done anywhere but to many the alter is a very special place.

Take a poll in your church you will find the number one place of salvation is in one’s childhood or adult home. A close second is at the alter of a gospel preaching church.

 

[sword]

From a Calvinistic viewpoint, God must save a person before they can believe. So we try to get the gospel to the born again to direct them to Christ. Free will people think they save themselves through obedience. So the altar call is one form of obedience they try to secure salvation with.

I see why you don’t believe in the alter call because you don’t believe people have a choice anyways. God will save who he wants and condemn the rest and people have no choice. No free will.

And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ

Do you not think when they taught the gospel they invited people to accept God free gift of salvation. You think they all made an appointment with the pastor in his office?

 

[sword]

Usually, the altar call gets in the way and becomes a sacrament the person trusts in instead of Christ.

I’ve been a Christian for 50 years and your the first person I’ve ever heard say such nonsense,

The alter is Just a place, and opportunity. You can be saved anywhere but if your just heard a gospel message for the 1st time or the 100th is the hole spirit is dealing with you what better time and place.

Today is the day of salvation.

 

[sword]

I’ve been a Christian for 50 years and your the first person I’ve ever heard say such nonsense,

The alter is Just a place, and opportunity. You can be saved anywhere but if you have just heard a gospel message for the 1st time or the 100th and the Holy Spirit is dealing with you what better time and place.

Today is the day of salvation.

 

[sword]

I am returning to the SBC church where I grew up. We do not do an altar call per se any more. My wife and I sat down with the pastor a few weeks ago to discuss membership. His practice is after such a discussion, he will call the person up at the end of the next service and present them to the congregation.

Now that said, 50 years ago on Mother's Day I came forward to "accept Christ" during a revival service at that same church. I asked the pastor to delay our presentation until Mother's Day due to that anniversary. (He underwent brain surgery for a neurological issue and was out of action between the time of our discussion and last Sunday so no problem there.)

But in that time, I've come under some Calvinist influence and have a hard time saying I "accepted" Christ now. Looking back, it was the culmination of the Holy Spirit working on me leading up to that moment. I've always wondered when was the exact moment when I got saved: when I prayed with the youth minister, when I gave in and took the first step into the aisle...it's turtles all the way down. That said, I was wondering how to accurately articulate what happened then. "I came forward and professed my faith in Christ" is something that would fit. Thank you.

Im likely the least qualified to give my opinion but I have always believed that when in a church service and because of the moving of the Holy Spirit you know your a sinner and want to turn from your sun and trust Jesus as your savior. The faith of just moving into the isle saved you but the time at the alter forms it up in your own mind. You go through the mental steps of what you did spiritually by leaving your seat. You confess that you’re a sinner and need a savior and you put your complete faith in Jesus’s Christ for your eternity. A good alter worker will go through each to make sure you understand the gospel and what it means.

 

[Ransom]

On Spurgeon's purported come-back-and-see-me-Monday alternative tot he altar call:

Except many who visit on Sunday will not be back on Monday.

I've heard this story too, though as I recall it was said of some other evangelist than Spurgeon. Which doesn't mean it's not credible, just that it's perhaps been misattributed.

The rationale given, though, was quite sound: Spurgeon (or whoever) was weeding out the serious confessors from the ones caught up in the emotion of the altar call. Someone genuinely and seriously concerned about his sins would make an effort to come back later, even when emotions weren't necessarily running as high.

 

[Ekklesian]

Today is the day of salvation.

No, it's Monday!

 

[Ekklesian]

Spurgeon (or whoever) was weeding out the serious confessors from the ones caught up in the emotion of the altar call. Someone genuinely and seriously concerned about his sins would make an effort to come back later, even when emotions weren't necessarily running as high.

The rationale is rational, but weeding out the tares is not our job. In fact, we're instructed to let them be lest we break some bruised reeds in the process.

As @sword aptly observed, He limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Not tomorrow, after you hear His voice, today.

And why the hesitation to help Christ's little children find the words for their confessions and prayers? What devil would let a new convert stumble around and stammer trying to find the words himself? If one expects the understanding of John Wycliffe in a new convert, I'd wonder if he's converted himself.

However, a church employing an altar call for every Sunday service, isn't really functioning as a church should either. Altar calls may have their place in an evangelistic outreach, like a revival or a crusade. But that's not what the Sunday service should normally be.

 

[Ekklesian]

 

[Baptist Renegade]

Do you think God has to wait for some preecher to give an altar-call in order to save someone?

God can use the foolishness of preaching (poorly presented even) and regenerate you on the spot! Happened to me one morning in June, 1981 and my life has never been the same since!

The problem with many "Altar Calls" is that you often get caught up in all of the methodologies and mechanics of "What must one do." Conversion therefore boils down to a "Decision" and some magic, hocus pocus "sinner's prayer" that people hang their hope upon and evangelists use such to bolster their numbers and brag upon their ministry success!

Nothing wrong about pleading with someone to trust Christ. I think we ought to do so and we ought to passionately preach the gospel to ALL MEN (without exception) but God is still sovereign over whom he saves and may or may not use your eloquent presentation in order to accomplish this.

Certainly, the pastor could be available on Monday for a meeting (or any other time). He could also be available right after the service or he could instruct anyone concerned with their spiritual condition to speak with one of the elders or deacons and when we are approached, may GOD HELP US if we just rush through and get a quick "decision" out of them so we can beat the crowd at Applebees!

 

[Ransom]

The rationale is rational, but weeding out the tares is not our job. In fact, we're instructed to let them be lest we break some bruised reeds in the process.

The parable of the wheat and tares is about the world (Matt. 13:38). The people of the kingdom and the people of the evil mingle, and at the end of days God will remove the ungodly from the world.

On the other hand, there are plenty of passages about keeping the church free of the ungodly (e.g. 1 Cor. 5). Not quite the same situation, but the same principle: we can let the wheat and tares grow together in the world, but not in the church. It most definitely is our responsibility to discern the difference. And if Spurgeon found a way to weed out some tares by distinguishing between seekers under genuine conviction of their sin, and people who were easily swayed by experience but whose conviction cooled with their emotions, so much the better. Some seed takes root, some doesn't.

 

[Ekklesian]

The parable of the wheat and tares is about the world (Matt. 13:38). The people of the kingdom and the people of the evil mingle, and at the end of days God will remove the ungodly from the world.

On the other hand, there are plenty of passages about keeping the church free of the ungodly (e.g. 1 Cor. 5). Not quite the same situation, but the same principle: we can let the wheat and tares grow together in the world, but not in the church. It most definitely is our responsibility to discern the difference. And if Spurgeon found a way to weed out some tares by distinguishing between seekers under genuine conviction of their sin, and people who were easily swayed by experience but whose conviction cooled with their emotions, so much the better. Some seed takes root, some doesn't.

I take the field to be the Kingdom of Heaven (13:24). But I can see your point.

I'm not a fan of what the altar call has become, but that's not the fault of the altar call. The seed that falls anywhere other than the prepared ground will either be snatched from the ears by the Devil, or will fall away on its own once persecutions and hardships arise.

We need to be careful that we aren't unwittingly engaging in the work of the birds or the scorching sun. God tills the ground. Our work is to plant and to water.

[Revelation 22:17] And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.​

God will give the increase, and His angels will do the harvesting and the winnowing.

 

[ALAYMAN]

I am returning to the SBC church where I grew up. We do not do an altar call per se any more. My wife and I sat down with the pastor a few weeks ago to discuss membership. His practice is after such a discussion, he will call the person up at the end of the next service and present them to the congregation.

Now that said, 50 years ago on Mother's Day I came forward to "accept Christ" during a revival service at that same church. I asked the pastor to delay our presentation until Mother's Day due to that anniversary. (He underwent brain surgery for a neurological issue and was out of action between the time of our discussion and last Sunday so no problem there.)

But in that time, I've come under some Calvinist influence and have a hard time saying I "accepted" Christ now. Looking back, it was the culmination of the Holy Spirit working on me leading up to that moment. I've always wondered when was the exact moment when I got saved: when I prayed with the youth minister, when I gave in and took the first step into the aisle...it's turtles all the way down. That said, I was wondering how to accurately articulate what happened then. "I came forward and professed my faith in Christ" is something that would fit. Thank you.

I enjoyed reading that brief snapshot of your faith journey.

I just recently had a pretty long conversation with a new attendee/Christian of our church who said that he was previously baptized twice but the first two times that he was baptized that his professions were merely intellectual assents and not a true born again experience. He is now absolutely sure he recently was genuinely saved, and uncertain of whether he should be baptized again.

I know of another story of a deacon at our church, who is now with the Lord, who when asked when he was saved, would respond "which time", lol. He believed in the doctrine of eternal security at this point of his life for quite some time, but he was uncertain at which point he actually was converted.

I tell these stories because individual Christian testimonies don't all look the same, they're not cookie cutters, and they're not easily definable sometimes.

 

[Ransom]

I take the field to be the Kingdom of Heaven (13:24).

I take the field to be what Jesus said it was (Matt. 13:37-39). It was his parable, he probably understood it better.

 

[Ekklesian]

I take the field to be what Jesus said it was (Matt. 13:37-39). It was his parable, he probably understood it better.

I stand corrected. Still, I think liberality is due when souls are facing a 'come to Jesus' moment.