Altar call

{{short description|Tradition in some Christian churches}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2020}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2020}}
An '''altar call''' is a tradition in some [[Christian church]]es in which those who wish to make a new spiritual commitment to [[Jesus Christ]] are invited to come forward publicly. It is so named because the supplicants gather at the [[altar]] located at the front of the church building. Most altar calls occur at the end of an evangelical address.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/thabitianyabwile/2011/04/29/what-about-altar-calls/ |title=What About Altar Calls? |last=Anyabwile |first=Thabiti |publisher=[[The Gospel Coalition]] |access-date=December 7, 2013}}</ref>

== Background ==
Altar calls are a recent historic phenomenon beginning in the 1830s in America. During these, people approached the [[altar rail|chancel rail]]s, anxious seat, or [[mourner's bench]] to pray.<ref name="Hardy 132">{{Cite book |last=Hardy |first=Carey |title=Fool's Gold? Discerning Truth in an Age of Error |date=February 21, 2005 |publisher=Crossway Books |isbn=978-0860075714 |editor-last=MacArthur |editor-first=John |pages=132 |chapter=Chapter 8: Just As I Am: A Closer Look at Invitations and Altar Calls}}</ref> One of the most famous 19th century revivalists, [[Charles Grandison Finney]], "popularized the idea of the 'altar call' in order to sign up his converts for the abolition movement".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wallis |first=Jim |url=https://archive.org/details/calltoconversion00wall_0/page/78 |title=The Call to Conversion: Why Faith Is Always Personal but Never Private |date=January 1981 |publisher=[[HarperCollins|HarperOne]] |isbn=0-06-084237-7 |page=[https://archive.org/details/calltoconversion00wall_0/page/78 78] |url-access=registration}}</ref> In many Churches of the [[Wesleyan-Arminian]] theology, the altar call, in addition to being an invitation for people to experience the New Birth, is also often used to implore believers to experience the [[second work of grace]], known as [[entire sanctification]].<ref name="Balmer2005">{{Cite book |last=Balmer |first=Randall |title=Protestantism in America |date=November 18, 2005 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=9780231507691 |page=238}}</ref> Notable examples in history of using altar calls include [[Billy Sunday]] and [[D. L. Moody]].<ref name="Hardy 132"/>

Rick Warren notes that the Bible does not refer to any similar practice.<ref name="Warren">{{Cite book |last=Warren |first=Rick |title=Preaching for Life Change Seminar: International Version |page=81 |chapter=Communicating to Change Lives - Teaching Notes |quote=I want to remind you that Jesus never said you had to walk from Point A to Point B in a church to become a believer. In fact they gave no come forward, down the aisle altar calls for the first three hundred years of the church because they didn't even have church buildings for the first three hundred years of the church, so there obviously weren't any aisles to walk down. The come forward invitation is a method that's only about 180 years old. It was invented by Methodist churches in the late 17th century and later picked up and popularized by Charles Finney in the mid-1800s—and the majority of evangelical churches use that form today. There's nothing wrong with it. It's just not necessarily a biblical commandment. It just happens to be a method that was used frequently for the last 200 years.}}</ref> Some in the [[Reformed Churches]] object to the use of the altar call for a variety of reasons. It is argued that the practice is intimidating and therefore creates an unnecessary and artificial barrier to those who would become Christians but are then unwilling to make an immediate public profession under the gaze of an assembly.<ref name="Warren" /> Others object in that they may mislead people into confusing outward conduct with spiritual change. In doing so, they argue, altar calls may actually give people false assurance about their salvation.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.9marks.org/partner/Article_Display_Page/0%2C%2CPTID314526%7CCHID629094%7CCIID1804792%2C00.html |title=1 www.9marks.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081030074538/http://www.9marks.org/partner/Article_Display_Page/0,,PTID314526%7CCHID629094%7CCIID1804792,00.html |archive-date=October 30, 2008 |access-date=October 13, 2018}}</ref> In addition, Carey Hardy argues that they change "the essence of the gospel", create believers with false professions of faith, and do not "follow the biblical method for public identification".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hardy |first=Carey |title=Fool's Gold? Discerning Truth in an Age of Error |date=February 21, 2005 |publisher=Crossway Books |isbn=978-0860075714 |editor-last=MacArthur |editor-first=John |pages=142 |chapter=Chapter 8: Just As I Am: A Closer Look at Invitations and Altar Calls}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Christianity}}
*[[Arminianism]]
*[[Conversion to Christianity]]
*[[Evangelicalism]]
*[[Evangelism]]
*[[Monergism]]
*[[Regeneration (theology)|Regeneration]]
*[[Sinner's prayer]]
*[[Synergism (theology)|Synergism]]
*[[Decision theology]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100309091156/http://9marks.org/CC/article/0,,PTID314526_CHID598016_CIID1804792,00.html Altar Call Evangelism] by Paul Alexander
*[https://archive.today/20130117210528/http://www.biblicalstudies.com/bstudy/ecclesiology/altar.htm The 'Altar Call' Is it helpful or harmful?] by Fred G. Zaspel
*[http://www.mountainretreatorg.net/articles/altarcall.html Altar Call] by [[G. I. Williamson]]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100324085200/http://www.wayofthemaster.com/botchaltarcall.shtml How to Botch an Altar Call] - adapted from ''Becoming an Emissary for God'' by Allen Atzbi
* [https://www.amazon.com/altar-call-HEATS-MINDS-Poverty/dp/B000BD9XPY The new altar call.(HEATS & MINDS) (Poverty): An article from: Sojourners Magazine]

[[Category:Evangelical ecclesiology]]
[[Category:Conversion to Christianity]]
[[Category:Christian terminology]]