Altar Call

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mercygate

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In the car on the way to work this morning, I was listening to J. Vernon McGee’s “Through the Bible”, and McGee said that the altar call was first used by Dwight L. Moody.

Since the question comes up often on these forums, I googled “altar call where come from” and came up with the following article from a Baptist, who does not recommend universal application of the altar call in evangelism. I quote the relevant passages on the history. This is the link to the full text.

Ironically, “the old fashioned altar call” was unheard of until the nineteenth century. It first came into being by the influence of Charles Finney, the pioneer of modern evangelistic methods. In Finney’s crusades (c. 1830) seats at the front were reserved for those who, after the sermon, would respond to the challenge to come to the Lord’s side. Those who were thus “anxious” for their souls were invited to walk forward to the “anxious seat” where counsel and prayer would be given them.

The practice was designed to force decisions, to get results. So it did, and with slight variations the new method spread with increasing popularity through Finney and, later, Dwight L. Moody, and finally into virtually all of nineteenth and twentieth century evangelicalism. Peter Cartwright, Sam Jones, R. A. Torrey, Billy Sunday, Bob Jones, Gipsy Smith, Mordacai Ham, John R. Rice, Billy Graham all employed the method with impressive success. The invitation system had come to stay.

In all fairness, it is important to observe that the practice was not born in the apostolic church. It is not found in the ministry of Jesus, His apostles or even the church of the post-apostolic period. We do see Jesus and the apostles “inviting” men and women to Christ and to be saved, but never by means of this particular method. “Invitations” they give, to be sure! But not altar calls. The altar call is “old fashioned” in only a very relative sense. It is old fashioned to us at this end of the twentieth century, but it first arose more than eighteen centuries after Christ.

Now this may not prove that the altar call is wrong, but it surely demonstrates that the non-practice of the altar call is not wrong.

Fred G. Zaspel
Published by Word of Life Baptist Church, Pottsville, PA
copyright © 1998 All rights reserved
 
Zaspel is correct, although there is some evidence that Methodist camp meetings did something like the altar call before Finney, but not much earlier (if earlier at all).

It has become such a tradition, some groups (such as mine) consider a minister a heretic if he doesn’t extend the invitation to “come forward” at the end of the sermon.

Imbalance is more common than balance.
 
Kevan said:
Zaspel is correct, although there is some evidence that Methodist camp meetings did something like the altar call before Finney, but not much earlier (if earlier at all).

It has become such a tradition, some groups (such as mine) consider a minister a heretic if he doesn’t extend the invitation to “come forward” at the end of the sermon.

Imbalance is more common than balance.
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Thanks. McGee’s point this morning was that it was a great thing in its time, and that Dwight Moody might have been called by God to use it but that it should not be universally adopted. Apparently, he did not do it in his Fundamentalist Evangelical church. He said on the radio that the “best” conversions – more than 100 – came out of his Thursday night Bible study.

I have heard that the Billy Graham Crusades keep pretty good follow-up statistics on the ‘calls forward’ at his stadium events, and the “keeper” rate is only 5%.
 
mercygate said:
Thanks. McGee’s point this morning was that it was a great thing in its time, and that Dwight Moody might have been called by God to use it but that it should not be universally adopted. Apparently, he did not do it in his Fundamentalist Evangelical church. He said on the radio that the “best” conversions – more than 100 – came out of his Thursday night Bible study.

I have heard that the Billy Graham Crusades keep pretty good follow-up statistics on the ‘calls forward’ at his stadium events, and the “keeper” rate is only 5%.
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McGee is right. As the Billy Graham stat you cited shows, “conversions” based on emotion rarely if ever last.

God bless,
Paul
 
mercygate said:
The practice was designed to force decisions, to get results.
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The Catholic in me can’t help but think if Catholics had first done this, one of the many anti-Catholic criticisms would have been “Catholics did this to extort money from the people.” 😃
 
MarcoPolo said:
The Catholic in me can’t help but think if Catholics had first done this, one of the many anti-Catholic criticisms would have been “Catholics did this to extort money from the people.” 😃
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The idea of going up to the altar to receive Jesus is EXACTLY what Catholics do when we receive communion.

michel
 
Kevan said:
Zaspel is correct, although there is some evidence that Methodist camp meetings did something like the altar call before Finney, but not much earlier (if earlier at all).

It has become such a tradition, some groups (such as mine) consider a minister a heretic if he doesn’t extend the invitation to “come forward” at the end of the sermon.

Imbalance is more common than balance.
Click to expand...
I believe they called it the “mourner’s bench” instead of an “alter”.
 
cazayoux said:
The idea of going up to the altar to receive Jesus is EXACTLY what Catholics do when we receive communion.

michel
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I’m not following…do you mean they stole the idea from us? And how are you relating this to my comment in earlier post? 🙂
 
MarcoPolo said:
I’m not following…do you mean they stole the idea from us? And how are you relating this to my comment in earlier post? 🙂
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🙂
Sorry for the confusion.
My comment maybe should have been a response to the original poster rather than your post.

I agree with your earlier post.
I don’t think they stole the idea from us.

Just stating the irony in that protestants that practice the altar call would say that Catholics do not have this practice.
However, I think our practice of going to the altar to receive Christ in the Eucharist is so much more meaningful.

Cheers!

michel
 
Kevan said:
Several names got used early, but the main one in Finney’s day was “the anxious seat.”
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True, my parents were saved on the mourner’s bench. I had an alter call. This is interesting though. I had just assumed that the alter call and its variations had always been part of evangelical christianity.
 
Since Protestantism rejects the Sacrifice of the Mass, why does it insist on having ‘altars’ in their churches? They are not altars. Altars are reserved for sacrifice as is shown in the bible. How about “table calls” instead?😉
 
Question:

What do you think John the Baptist and the Apostles were doing when they invited (as the article mentioned) people to come and be baptized? Or when Paul spoke and 3,000 people believed?

An ‘altar call’ isn’t always what you think it is. It is a verbal invitation (because some people need this physical prodding) to say what your heart already knows. That you need Christ. You acknowledge the need for Him in your life. I have actually seen people walk to the front of the sanctuary and bow their heads to acknowledge the need for Him in their lives. It is a wonderful sight because it means that God touched them and they listened. Then there are people there that will pray with them, because even though a lot of us have grown up in the Church and have learned how to pray those who are new to the idea may not know how, and help them start that journey.

Why this is SO bad I will never understand. I guess it is just one more thing that a lot of catholics don’t understand so they ridicule it. *sigh… 🤷

The church I attend doesn’t have a physical altar call, our pastor, in the beginning of the prayer at the end of the service, invites those in the congregation who have made a decision to learn more about Christ (hallelujah!) and to begin their path with Him to meet with the volunteers in the lobby after the service to get more info. He then prays for those who have opened their hearts to God. We also have a beginners class to help them start out and give them resources and contact info that they can use for a more indepth start to their life with Christ.
 
Singinbeauty said:
Question:

What do you think John the Baptist and the Apostles were doing when they invited (as the article mentioned) people to come and be baptized? Or when Paul spoke and 3,000 people believed?

An ‘altar call’ isn’t always what you think it is. It is a verbal invitation (because some people need this physical prodding) to say what your heart already knows. That you need Christ. You acknowledge the need for Him in your life. I have actually seen people walk to the front of the sanctuary and bow their heads to acknowledge the need for Him in their lives. It is a wonderful sight because it means that God touched them and they listened. Then there are people there that will pray with them, because even though a lot of us have grown up in the Church and have learned how to pray those who are new to the idea may not know how, and help them start that journey.

Why this is SO bad I will never understand. I guess it is just one more thing that a lot of catholics don’t understand so they ridicule it. *sigh… 🤷

The church I attend doesn’t have a physical altar call, our pastor, in the beginning of the prayer at the end of the service, invites those in the congregation who have made a decision to learn more about Christ (hallelujah!) and to begin their path with Him to meet with the volunteers in the lobby after the service to get more info. He then** prays for those who have opened their hearts** to God. We also have a beginners class to help them start out and give them resources and contact info that they can use for a more indepth start to their life with Christ.
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I didn’t start this thread to say that there is anything specifically wrong with altar calls. I know many Catholics who prior to coming into the Church were “saved” in churches that do this, and remember the altar call as a turning point in their lives. When the Billy Graham Crusade came to the New York area, Catholic parishes sent buses to the event, and many Catholics came forward to commit themselves.

For “saved” backsliders, the repeated altar call is akin to what we do in confession.

My point was that on these threads, we occasionally encounter Protestants who think it was a practice of the Apostolic Church. We also find people who believe that it always marks a deep and permanent conversion.

But even Fundamentalists (like JV McGee) and the Billy Graham Crusades, who keep score, note that the retention rate is low. True conversions (Catholic or Protestant) are deeper than a one-shot event. A one-shot event can be seminal but the road is a long one, and perseverance is a much greater grace. I bolded the parts of your post that are critical for nurturing conversions but are sometimes not present.

I agree that walking forward in public and acknowledging your need for Christ, and professing your faith are acts of grace, and maybe even more important, acts of humility. For Catholcs, this sort of thing often happens during retreats.

I put this thread up as a general historical point of reference.

BTW: At Mass this morning, Father said: "When you accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior and are baptized . . . " I nearly swooned. Everybody knows Catholics don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. 😛
 
peary said:
Since Protestantism rejects the Sacrifice of the Mass, why does it insist on having ‘altars’ in their churches? They are not altars. Altars are reserved for sacrifice as is shown in the bible. How about “table calls” instead?😉
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The table is not what we are referring to when we say “altar.” we are just referring to the area up front of the seats. You are correct to say that an altar is a place of sacrifice, but in the altar call, the one responding is sacrificing himself.

Any place could become an altar if a sacrifice is offered there.
 
Kevan said:
The table is not what we are referring to when we say “altar.” we are just referring to the area up front of the seats. You are correct to say that an altar is a place of sacrifice, but in the altar call, the one responding is sacrificing himself.

Any place could become an altar if a sacrifice is offered there.
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“Altar call” isn’t even in the bible!
 
peary said:
“Altar call” isn’t even in the bible!
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O Calm down! Neither is a lot of stuff we do. That doesn’t make it “wrong”. The problem with it is when people think that it is the ONLY way one can “get saved.”

I started this thread to put a little history on the subject.
 
Hi Singinbeauty,

As a cradle Catholic, I would have to say that the whole “accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior” seems so “what’s the big deal?” or “Duh!” to many of us. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t believe Jesus is my savior! 😃 Maybe being raised in faith makes it hard for me to understand how some people can suddenly choose to believe in Jesus because of some emotional experience during a sermon or whatever… :confused:

Also, my family has always placed more emphasis on the logical over the emotional, so I tend to want to learn about God and my faith, and the more I learn, the more excited I get. So I guess the emotion follows the logic?? 🤷 Just my 2 cents!

God bless
 
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