The "altar call" is a decisionist technique designed to lead an individual to a new level of commitment to Jesus Christ. It employs an external activity to confirm an internal impulse. The typical altar call is an invitation by a preacher to believe in Jesus and to confirm that decision by "coming forward" to a predetermined location as a visible manifestation of the invisible decision, and for further instruction and prayer.
The Origin of the Altar Call
The earliest record of the altar call is found in the late eighteenth century among congregations of the Methodist Episcopal Church. (1) In the Anglican architectural tradition, the area before the communion table, at the front of the sanctuary, was called the altar. Occasionally the preacher called awakened sinners to the front of the sanctuary, that is, to the altar. Some years later Methodists organized camp meetings with an "anxious or mourner's bench" replacing the altar. Awakened sinners were invited to come to the "anxious bench" (the front pew or row of chairs) to receive specific instruction toward repentance and faith, while the remainder of the congregation tarried in prayer specifically for the mourners. The apparent success of this technique led to its adoption by nearly every itinerant evangelist of the Second Great Awakening, including the infamous Charles Finney. In addition to resident pastors inviting itinerant evangelists to their pulpits, though, many resident pastors themselves also began to conclude their sermons with altar calls. Pressured by the numerical success of the itinerants and/or by church members who sincerely desired a work of the Holy Spirit in the congregation, these men adopted what came to be called the "new measures" of the itinerant evangelist.
For the Arminian Finney, as for other proponents of the altar call, the preacher is a persuader who must employ whatever means are necessary to win the lost for Christ. For the confessional opponents of the altar calls, the preacher is a proclaimer of good news who humbly expects God to call effectually the listener to true faith. (2) This conviction was not an excuse for cold, heartless preaching or the basis for a lack of passion for lost souls. Instead, it affirmed that conversion is dependent on God's gift of regeneration. The Spirit moves when he wills, but God has made it clear that the Spirit does not work apart from the Word, so the preacher's task is to proclaim the Word.
The Reformation Alternative
If Reformation Christians are convinced by the arguments of their predecessors, how then should they evangelize? Evangelistic methods may vary but each one employed should be consistent with at least four biblical principles. First, evangelistic efforts should reflect humble dependence upon God as the author and finisher of salvation. We know that before Christ we were dead in sin, but God loved us, chose us, and effectually called us so that as awakened sinners we could hear the Gospel and respond with repentance and faith. We are justified. We also know that human efforts will not keep us in Christ; rather God who began the good work will bring it to completion. Our evangelistic efforts should reflect these concerns and therefore not attempt what only God can accomplish.
Second, evangelistic efforts by Reformation Christians should reflect confidence in the power of the Gospel, especially that proclaimed by the preacher or evangelist. We know that faith comes through the hearing of the Gospel. We believe that God is working in the hearts and lives of those whom in love he has predestined to be adopted as his children through Jesus Christ. We trust that the proclaimed Gospel will fall upon the ears of sinners empowered by God's Spirit to respond with repentance and faith.
Third, our evangelistic efforts should assume there is always more than what meets the eye. On one hand, the divine order of salvation begins behind the scenes with God's election that leads to calling, justification, sanctification, and finally glorification. These gracious acts of God are not unveiled until an individual receives Christ. On the other hand, Jesus, in the parable of the sower, warned against assuming that everyone who professes faith in Christ is a regenerated believer. We should therefore resist efforts to quantify evangelism. Fourth, our evangelistic efforts should reflect a deep commitment to the regular ministry of the Church, the mother of the faithful. A newborn baby is not kept among the specialists in the delivery room, but is quickly brought to his or her mother's breast for nurture. So, too, with the born again believer. We should not usher newborn believers to an altar of strangers but into the family of God where they can receive a sense of belonging, empowerment for living, and spiritual growth unto maturity in Christ. Our evangelistic efforts, therefore, should reflect a confidence in the regular ministry of the Church that is witnessed by a speedy introduction of new converts to the local church.
Looking to the Local Church
As a teenager I participated in a denominational youth convention held in Bozeman, Montana. During one meeting, as I sat near the back row of a large amphitheater that later in the evening would host a country rodeo, a speaker-musician named Jim Bolden challenged me to believe in Jesus Christ. He sang "Right now! Right now! Commit your life right now!" I praise God that, by his grace, I responded to that invitation to become a disciple of Jesus Christ. My instructions at that time, as I remember them, were to share my decision with my pastor or elders. So, I went home, attended the "pastor's class" already in session, and publicly professed my faith before my elders and my church.
I wonder if I would have responded to an invitation to rise from my seat and go forward. A few years before that memorable convention, Billy Graham invited me to come forward before a capacity crowd at McCormick Place in Chicago. I thought seriously about responding then, but remained in my seat. I also wonder if Jim Bolden had offered an altar call and I had responded, what difference it would have made. Yes, the convention committee would have had statistics of "decisions" that they could have shared with the bureaucrats in the denomination. Yes, I could have joined a mailing list to receive discipleship material from the denominational youth office, a practice that could have been viewed as a lack of confidence in the effectiveness of my local church. But, Jim Bolden did not offer an altar call. He encouraged me to return to my local church. By God's grace I believed and by God's grace I have been kept in the faith.
Now I preach each week. There have been times when I was tempted to conclude a message with an altar call. In retrospect, I sense that the temptation flowed from my own weakness: my desire for visible assurance that God was using me as an instrument of his grace. It may also have stemmed from pride, the chief occupational hazard of preachers. Whatever the motivation, I am determined to leave decisionist techniques with others whose theology allows such measures. At the risk of sounding elitist, my Reformed theology encourages the simple proclamation of the Gospel with humble dependence upon the triune God and him alone. With that conviction, I pray for humility of mind to submit to the Word of God and humility of ambition to desire nothing but an encounter between the living Christ and the people in the pew. (3) In the end, my preaching "may not be wise or persuasive," but I pray that, by God's grace, it demonstrates the power of the Holy Spirit. (4)
2 [ Back ] For an example, see John Williamson Nevin, The Anxious Bench, in American Religious Thought on the 18th and 19th Centuries, edited by Bruce Kuklick (New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1987). For an overview of Nevin's thought see Reformed Confessionalism in Nineteenth-Century America: Essays on the Thought of John Williamson Nevin, edited by Sam Hamstra, Jr. and Arie J. Griffioen (Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1995).
3 [ Back ] John Stott, Between Two Worlds: The Art of Preaching in the Twentieth Century (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982), 335.
4 [ Back ] 1 Corinthians 2:1-5.
