Reasons for Support of Altar Calls

Are Altar Calls the True Medium to Salvation?

(Adapted from John MacArthur’s book, Fool’s Gold)

Christ called people publicly; we should too. Examples:

Matt. 10:32… “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven.”
Matt. 19:21… Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
Mark 1:17… “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”
Mark 2:14… As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector's booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.

Formal public responses tend to strengthen the decisions people make.
Altar calls make presentation of new members/converts easy when done publicly.
Altar calls provide a visual proof of God’s working in a sermon or a church.

Cautions to Consider

The modern altar call lacks biblical support… Jesus called people to follow him and confess him before men, but that’s a far cry from asking people to walk the aisle as proof of their faith. Jesus never told others to simply “make a one time decision” but exhorted all to walk faithfully. The test of discipleship is not a one-time “decision.” A.W. Tozer, after delivering one of his dynamic messages, concluded by saying, “Don’t come down here to the altar and cry about it; go home and live it.” It’s not biblical, and it was never practiced until the 19^th century. Amazing that so many actually did come to Christ long before the modern altar call.
“Coming to faith” is often confused with “coming down the aisle”… Many preachers emphasize “coming forward” as opposed to “turning from sin and trusting in Christ.” Jesus himself told people, “Repent and believe!” He did not allow man-made techniques to cloud the clear intent of his message.
Altar calls give false assurance to the unconverted… Once a person makes a bold step to come to the altar many conclude that they are saved for eternity. Even preachers will give them assurance that their conversion is real right there on the spot without having ever met or talked to them. The person who comes forward ends up putting his/her faith in the act of coming forward as opposed to resting on Christ who alone is able to save forever (Heb. 7:25). Many go away and live a life of sin and rebellion, yet the recall their “decision for Christ” at the altar and have a false sense of eternal security. Assurance of salvation comes from a love of Christ through actions and obedience, not through an act of “coming forward.” Many people can point to a date (religiously), but they can’t point to a time when they were truly regenerated. The Holy Spirit is the One who gives assurance. George Whitefield said, “There are so many stony ground hearers, who receive the Word with joy, that I have determined to suspend my judgment till I know the tree by its fruits. I cannot believe they are converts until I see fruit brought back.” Spurgeon said, “It very often happens that the converts that are born in excitement die when the excitement is over.”
Many who are “converted” during altar calls fall away… Altar call “converts” who aren’t truly converted cause others to believe that one can actually lose their salvation when that person(s) goes back to a life of rebellion. Only a minority of crusade altar calls actually display the signs of true conversion. Some lose it just weeks after their “decision for Christ.” To be sure, there are some true conversions, but altar calls make and present all those who come forward appear as true converts. But this is not the case.
Altar calls based more on emotional manipulation than on biblical conversion… Soft music, the proper lighting, and a “gifted communicator” all play a part in getting people up to the altar of “conversion.” Being persuasive, however, is unbiblical when the message of true salvation is not preached. Sometimes the power of the gospel is usurped by a scare tactic that tends to work in bringing people forward without actually seeing a true conversion.
Scripture already explains how to make a public profession of faith… First, public baptism with a testimony of God’s grace is the best way to show the world one’s conversion. And baptism occurs long after the subject is spoken to in depth about their conversion. Second, the subject simply lives his/her life to the glory of God for all to see.
Altar calls suggest a lack of trust in God’s sovereignty… Many folks believe that “If we don’t provide an opportunity for people to respond to the gospel, someone might leave and never have another opportunity to believe. Then their blood will be on our hands. If they die this week w/o making a decision then their condemnation in hell is our fault.” Such tactics put unbiblical pressure on others to save another. Salvation is all God however. Man’s responsibility is to plant seeds (evangelize) and water the seeds (live out the Christian faith and teach God’s Word). It is God who causes the growth of the seed (1 Cor. 3:6-7). Evangelism is motivated by obedience and blessing, not guilty consciences. Martyn Lloyd-Jones spoke of altar calls: “This method surely carries in it the implication that sinners have an inherent power of decision and self-conversion.” Those who use them have an improper understanding of man’s depravity and inability to respond to Christ outside of God the Father drawing them to Jesus.

· Successful evangelists such as George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, and John Wesley never gave an altar call. They did not call sinners to make a public, physical response after evangelistic appeals.

· At first, the altar call was used as an efficient way to gather spiritually interested people together for counseling after a sermon. Rather than searching out penitent seekers one by one, a preacher would call them up to the front, or into another room, for conversation and prayer.

· Early camp meetings were filled with passionate preaching and extreme responses. Hundreds of listeners would cry out, shriek, groan, faint, swoon, twitch, and weep. Ministers usually viewed these responses as evidence of the Holy Spirit's work.

· By 1805, these spontaneous, bodily movements were less common. Ministers used an "invitation to the altar" as a visible way to measure people's response to their message. "Altars" were fenced areas near the main preaching spot of the camp where preachers urged sinners to seek salvation. Methodist preacher Peter Cartwright described a camp meeting in 1806: "The altar was crowded to overflowing with mourners." Another circuit-riding preacher recounted a time when "the enclosure was so much crowded that its inmates had not the liberty of lateral motion, but were literally hobbling en masse." Methodists experienced exponential growth during the first 20 years of the 1800s partly because of their evangelistic methods, including camp meetings and altar calls.

· Many people consider Charles Grandison Finney (1792-1875) to be the "father" of the altar call. Ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1823, Finney did not begin giving public invitations until long after Methodists had made the altar call a regular part of their camp meetings. Finney, however, did more than anyone to establish altar calls as an accepted and popular practice in American evangelicalism. Finney regularly called anxious sinners to the front of the congregation to sit on an "anxious bench." There, they would receive prayer and often be preached to directly. The altar call was also one of Finney's famous "new measures." He was convinced that ministers could produce revival by using the right methods, and that the altar call "was necessary to bring [sinners] out from among the mass of the ungodly to a public renunciation of their sinful ways."

· Finney believed that Christ's death had made salvation possible for all. Human depravity was "a voluntary attitude of the mind," not a nature one was born with. Conversion, therefore, depended on the human will being persuaded to repent and trust Christ. According to Finney, the altar call was a very persuasive tool to move the human will.

· Calvinist ministers such as Asahel Nettleton rejected Finney's confidence in human ability and his reliance on the altar call.

· Historian Iain Murray describes many opponents of the altar call who "alleged that the call for a public 'response' confused an external act with an inward spiritual change." Moreover, Murray says, the altar call effectively "institute[d] a condition of salvation which Christ never appointed." Critics argued that altar-call evangelism resulted in false assurance, as a high percentage of those who went forward to "receive Christ" soon fell away.

· Billy Graham's distinctive voice calls out, "Up there—down there—I want you to come. If you are with friends and relatives, they will wait for you. The buses will wait for you. Christ went all the way to the Cross because He loved you. Certainly you can come these few steps and give your life to Him."