ALTAR CALLS

A few readers are probably groaning as they see this title.  I understand!  I have negative – even humorous – memories of altar calls from my childhood and youth days.  Singing “Just As I Am” over and over as the evangelist promised “just one more verse”.  At times someone would slip into the seat with you and try to persuade you to go to the altar.  Evangelists would ask you to raise your hand if you were interested in acknowledging Christ as your Lord;  then, they’d strong-arm you into coming forward to pray.  Those situations incensed me – even when I was quite young;  it was just wrong!

Just so you’ll know:  that is NOT what I intend to talk about here. 

Some of the most favorable altar calls I ever saw were at Billy Graham crusades.  He would simply preach the gospel and then invite people to come and pray with him.  And they came – by the thousands.  “If you came on a bus, it will wait for you.”  Weeks and weeks of preparations had been made.  People had been trained to pray with ‘seekers’.  Information was available to take home and study.  The whole process was full of integrity.

As a pastor, I strongly encouraged altar prayer!  I did so for several reasons:

·         Why put off until later what you can do right now?  :-)

·         We make a public statement when we move forward and stand or kneel in prayer!

·         It gives others who love us and care about us a chance to slip to our side to join us in our appeal. 

·         If we’re willing to make this public gesture, we are more likely to hold to the commitments we’ve made!

I visit churches with some frequency and often write about the experience in my blog.  I always try to recognize what a church is doing that seems right or effective.  Of course, I also observe things that detract from worship or a sense of community.  I find very few churches that still offer altar prayer or make appeals for people to respond. 

Pastors may still appeal to people to change their lives, but I find few today who encourage that response to be public. 

For six years, I was Lead Associate pastor at a fast-growing church in Akron, Ohio.  75% of our congregation were first-time believers!  [If you don’t realize it – this is unheard of!]   Every Sunday, Pastor Brenda Young opened the altar for prayer and people [many of whom were new believers] flooded the front of the church – sometimes six deep!  Then, with them praying with one another, she led the whole congregation in prayer!  It was a powerful and moving experience.

Personally, I made many decisions to be true to Christ at the altar.  I received my ‘call to ministry’ while praying at the altar (at the age of seventeen).  

It was common in my tradition that following an altar service would be a time of ‘testimony’.  This was a time of public confession that was marked by humility and contrition.  The ‘crowd’ at this point was usually smaller and included those who were family or part of the committed core.  Genuine concern and affirmation were commonly and generously offered.

Being a Free Methodist pastor for forty-three years, I served Holy Communion in such a way that people had the option of kneeling at the altar to receive it.  The action involved in standing in community and literally coming forward had the impact of making our commitment more confessional!  In addition, people were always welcome to practice the admonition in James [5:13-18] where they could call on the elders to pray over them and anoint them with oil for healing.  This was a wonderfully compassionate and caring ministry.  While attending Springfield Church of God, when Pastor Jonathan would offer this invitation, nearly everyone present would crowd forward to participate.  It was a very caring picture!

But, these two alter-options (Communion and Healing) are very rare in churches by my observation.

So, my concern is, if many of us made our commitments to Christ while we were young at an altar of prayer, where are today’s youth making their decisions?  Where ARE people praying with one another – if not at the altar?  Where is the public confession that was naturally a part of praying at an altar? 

These things concern me!  It is likely a factor in the decline of the church’s impact in recent decades!