Despite the many denominations, many church services have the same or similar overall elements and order of operations. One feature that many services include is an altar call – an opportunity for people to go to God in prayer while still meditating on the message from the service or responding to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. They come to the front of the church and pray at a space designated as the altar. This moment ensures that people are given an opportunity to come to Christ in prayer as soon as they believe.
An altar call is a time of prayer and response after a sermon. They are sometimes called invitations, since it is a time when people in the congregation are invited to respond to the sermon at the altar of God.
Generally, it is an opportunity to respond to the Gospel and be saved, though it can also be to repent of sin, to ask for help or healing, or to seek wisdom in a difficult situation. Some churches only do them at revivals, while others do them every week. They became popular in the United States during the First Great Awakening, when preachers encouraged an immediate response to the Gospel at their revival sermons.
An altar call can look different, but generally it is a time after the sermon for people to come up to the space designated as the altar at the front of the sanctuary, and they can pray or speak to the pastor, a deacon, or an elder about something for which they want guidance. Generally, though not universally, the pastor will invite people to close their eyes in prayer, and invite anyone to come forward to the “altar” and pray. Often there is music going, a signal to those who did not come to the altar that prayer up front is still happening, and it usually ends when everyone has returned to their seat. Sometimes deacons, elders, or select members of the congregation will stand up front and pray with people, or go into another room to pray with them and give Biblical counsel.
There is no place in the Bible that describes anything resembling an altar call practiced in the New Testament. In fact, much of the structure of a modern church service is not explicitly lined out by the Gospels, the Epistles, or the Book of Revelation. Instead, it is extrapolated from existing practices in the Jewish temple - giving a monetary donation, worship, a time of teaching from the Scriptures - and descriptions in the Book of Acts of what the early believers did. These practices included the similar rituals as listed above, but also included the taking of Communion as ordained by Jesus Christ at the Last Supper.
Some of the pros of an altar call include:
- It gives someone an immediate opportunity to deal with sin.
- It provides a regular opportunity for unrepentant sinners to go to God in prayer and start a saving relationship with Him.
- It can be a time of reflection.
- It gives people an opportunity to think about the sermon.
- It serves as a reminder that the Gospel demands a response; it is impossible to do nothing.
- It can provide a false sense of how many people are getting saved at church
-People can feel peer-pressured to go to the altar, rather than responding to the Holy Spirit
- It can lead someone to put their faith in the action of the altar call for their faith, rather than in Jesus Christ. Just like some people believe that the Sinner’s Prayer is what saves them rather than Jesus, some people become deceived because they walked the aisle, and do not bear fruit in their lives.
- Sometimes they’re used by pastors to pressure people into responding; one or two people come, so the pastor makes the music keep going and encourages people to come.
- Some evangelists present the altar call as the only appropriate way to come to the Lord.
- In massive revivals and certain mega-churches, there are actors planted to make altar calls look big, pressuring people to come forward.
- It can create an insecurity in believers, who fear their conversion was false because it didn’t “feel” or “look” a certain way.
Sources
Balbier, Uta. Altar Call in Europe Billy Graham, Mass Evangelism, and the Cold-War West. New York: Oxford University Press, 2022.
The Great Awakening The Roots of Evangelical Christianity in Colonial America
Altar Call Inviting Response to the Gospel
Bethany Verrett is a freelance writer who uses her passion for God, reading, and writing to glorify God. She and her husband have lived all over the country serving their Lord and Savior in ministry. She has a blog on graceandgrowing.com.
He is a cross pendant.
He is engraved with a unique Number.
He will mail it out from Jerusalem.
He will be sent to your Side.
Emmanuel
Bible Verses About Welcoming ImmigrantsEmbracing the StrangerAs we journey through life, we often encounter individuals who are not of our nationality......
Who We AreWhat We EelieveWhat We Do
2025 by lntellectual Reserve,Inc All rights reserved.
