By Ezekiel Kimosop
An altar call is an invitation extended by a preacher to his congregation or audience requesting them to come forward and publicly confess sin or disobedience. This invitation is often made at the conclusion of a sermon or public preaching of the gospel.
An altar call is therefore an offer or opportunity for a person who has been convicted by the preaching of the word of God to publicly receive Christ or renounce sin.
This practice is identified with Evangelical Baptists and Pentecostals. It is however not embraced by sections of the Reformed tradition. Critics of the altar call attribute it to controversial 18th century American preacher called Charles Finney who they say abused the practice to draw men to himself rather than to God.
Are altar calls consistent with Biblical truth?
In order to address this question objectively, it is only fair that we first consider the popular objections against the practice.
COMMON OBJECTIONS TO ALTAR CALLS
1) Altar calls are manipulative. They employ psychological techniques that are intended to cause people to blindly respond to the preacher without true conviction.
2) Salvation is purely the work of God and He alone exclusively calls men to Himself without the involvement of any act or will of man. Altar calls are therefore unnecessary.
3) Altar calls shift the focus of the audience from God to man. Man (the preacher) is ultimately glorified for work that God alone has accomplished.
4) There's no passage in Scripture where an altar call is taught or practiced by the New Testament Church.
5) Since God knows the elect (those chosen to eternal life) and had predestined them to eternal life from the foundation of the world, an altar call is unnecessary. His calling is effectual.
MY RESPONSES
1) My view is that altar calls that are made in good faith and purely for the advancement of the gospel cannot be considered manipulative. A true preacher does not call men to himself but to Christ. The preacher is merely a steward of Gods grace (1 Corinthians 4:1-2).
A person who responds to an altar call is under God's conviction for sin. They voluntarily come forward and publicly proclaim their faith as a celebration of God's working in their lives. Dr R Larry Moyer, a veteran evangelist, says that public confession is important not for justification but for living a victorious victorious Christian life.
2) My view is that salvation is a synergistic process involving God's gracious providence in Christ and man's responsibility for accepting this grace. To exclude man's responsibility in salvation is to deny the authority of Scripture.
The public proclamation of the word of God is integral to the salvation process. Romans 10:14 says "How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?"
3) A preacher with a true calling from God cannot and will not take any glory for God's grace and His glorious power in saving sinners. The preacher is merely an usher who directs men to the cross.
This is what we can confirm from the ministry of John the Baptist. In John 1:29-30, John says "...Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me."
John pointed men to Christ. We learn from the same passage of Scripture that two of John's own disciples, on hearing his words, immediately left him and followed Jesus (John 1:35-36). John was not offended by their departure. John also declared that Jesus should increase even as he (John) should decrease (John 3:30).
The first altar call [if I may so describe it] was perhaps made in Genesis 3. Adam had transgressed against God and chose to hide from Him. When God came calling, He sought Adam, saying, "Where are you?"
Man, since Adam, has consistently rebelled against God but God in His immeasurable grace and mercy, finally sought him in Christ. God is not seeking man in order to condemn him but to cure his sin and restore his relationship with God.
Those who preach the gospel in truth are God's faithful agents and stewards. When they make an altar call, they are effectively drawing men to God, beseeching them on God's behalf to come to Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:20 says "Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God."
Finally, it is instructive that an altar call does not preclude the working of God in calling sinners to repentance. God's calling deserves the sinner's response. The altar call is a golden opportunity by which God's grace is met by the sinner's response.
I must caution here that any sinner who comes to Christ in response to the preaching of the gospel should be presumed to be acting in truth. To cast aspersions on the sinner's response is to entertain a judgmental spirit.
God alone knows the sincerity of a person's heart. We have no spiritual barometer by which to determine if the sinner is sincere in his response.
4) There's evidence from some passages of New Testament Scripture that the preaching of the gospel concludes with an exhortation or invitation to the hearers to turn to God. The procedure or methodology may not necessarily be similar in every aspect to the altar call practice we know today but the objective in both cases should be the same: getting men to repent from sin and to come to Christ.
The first sermon delivered by Peter during the day of Pentecost was concluded with a call to repentance. The Bible describes the powerful impact of his public proclamation of the gospel under the power of the Holy Spirit.
Luke conveys both the question from the convicted sinners and the answer from God by Apostle Peter. Acts 2:37-38 says:
"Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."
I believe that those who repented possibly came forward to meet Peter and the apostles or that some methodology was employed in identifying them. This is how we get to learn about the large number that responded to Peter's sermon. Acts 2:41 reveals that about 3,000 souls were converted during the preaching of the gospel on that very day - the day of Pentecost!
An altar call offer's the converted sinner an opportunity for spiritual accountability and instruction in the way of Christ by a Christian community.
Notice that when Apollos [a Christian evangelist from Alexandria who is described as "mighty in the Scriptures"] came to Ephesus, he was deficient in Christian instruction (Acts 18:24-28). Notice that he had been instructed in the way of the Lord but not sufficiently enough to ground him in the truths of the gospel.
When a faithful Christian couple, Priscilla and Aquilla, heard Apollos preach in the synagogue in Ephesus, they discerned his incapacity and took him to their home where they guided him in the way of Christ. Apollos went on to serve God as a faithful minister of the gospel (1 Corinthians 1:12, 3:4-6, 16:12).
5) An altar does not interfere with or countermand God's foreknowledge of those who will come to Christ. If anything, it sufficiently compliments it. It is a means to an end, not an end in itself, for the end is Christ. It is necessary for the preacher (and the Christian community) to identify those who have responded to the call of the gospel so that they may disciple them effectively.
If God cares about details and numbers, how much more should we? (cf. Matthew 10:30; Luke 12:7).
CONCLUSION
My view is that altar calls made in furtherance of the gospel are godly, needful and should be encouraged whenever the gospel message is proclaimed. There''s absolutely nothing ungodly about the invitation to Christ provided that the motives are noble and are consistent with the objects of the gospel in Christ.
When an altar call is made in truth, men are effectively directed to Christ and God receives glory. The church is edified by God's working in Christ in bringing souls to His fold.
Jesus says in Revelation 3:20 says "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me."
When we make an altar, we are beseeching men to open their hearts to Christ and receive Him in truth.
© Ezekiel Kimosop 2020
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