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 Is the traditional altar call outdated? |
ossen |
| Instead of the traditional altar call (inviting someone down to the front, to receive Christ or respond to the message, at the end of the service) is anyone using a different method. If so: Why do use a different method? What exactly do you do? Do you make an invitation each week? |
Member
Posts: 41
2/10/06 12:01 pm
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| We still do... |
Lsfpastor |
Altar calls, invitation for prayer etc... I do not see why this would need to change 
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Acts-celerater
Posts: 680
2/10/06 12:07 pm
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| Re: Is the traditional altar call outdated? |
rac |
| I hope this never changes. |
Friendly Face
Posts: 210
2/10/06 12:15 pm
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| Altar Calls |
Rick D Sexton |
We Still have them. We've had 15 adults saved in the morning worship service since the 2nd week of January.
If you don't have an altar call, it's like a car salesman who does a superb job on his presentation, but never asks you for the order....
The altar call is the closing......why do all the stuff leading up to it, and then not ask people for a public response?
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Friendly Face
Posts: 303
2/10/06 12:28 pm
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| Alter caall |
Singlesited |
I usually do not give a formal alter call if the sermon is more of a teaching than a preaching one.
when we have a visitor show up I will tweak there teaching lesson towards a commitment for Christ and give an alter call accordingly.
If the Spirit of the sermon is a more preaching format then I will give the call. Especially if I know of sick members or visitors.
I have always thought that giving an alter call without the atmosphere being conducive is just bringing those who normally pray to the alter out of obligation.(with little if any results) |
Friendly Face
Posts: 345
2/10/06 12:54 pm
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| The Altar Call |
BV COG |
Is the only traditional part of the BV service.
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Acts-dicted
Posts: 7914
2/10/06 12:56 pm
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| Re: Is the traditional altar call outdated? |
notwanghere |
| It's not outdated in my Church! |
Acts Enthusiast
Posts: 1794
2/10/06 1:31 pm
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| Re: Is the traditional altar call outdated? |
Pastor Gary |
| ossen wrote: | | Instead of the traditional altar call (inviting someone down to the front, to receive Christ or respond to the message, at the end of the service) is anyone using a different method. If so: Why do use a different method? What exactly do you do? Do you make an invitation each week? |
Not really, but neither is it the Bible-mandated road to repentance. I try to end every service with some kind of "call to action" at the climax of the day's message? --- sometimes that might be to break the congregation into small groups of 3 or 4 people to pray one for another; sometimes it is communion or calling people who want prayer forward --- now and then it is having them fill in something on their Sermon Notes outline sheet and holding it up to the Lord as we pray.
We have had people saved in almost all of the above.
The every-head-bowed-every-eye-closed altar call is a relatively modern invention, and is not Biblical in the sense of "Jesus and the Disciples did it that way", but is mostly the tradition with which we grew up.
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Last edited by Pastor Gary on 2/10/06 5:00 pm; edited 1 time in total |
Acts Mod
Posts: 3530
2/10/06 1:46 pm
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| COG is rooted in traditions |
famousflavius |
| I do not think the AC will ever go out of style in the COG. Nothing ever goes out of style when it comes to the traditional ways in the COG. I know pastors who feel like they have failed if no one comes to the alter. In fact if there is no response on the first call to the alter, the preacher will have the whole congregation come forward. |
Golf Cart Mafia Soldier
Posts: 2447
2/10/06 4:01 pm
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| I call it...... |
sheepdogandy |
Time to respond to the Word.
Everybody is encouraged to come to the altar and pray.
Those who are Christians and have no pressing needs are encouraged to come and pray for whomever the Holy Ghost is speaking to.
Especially on Sun AM I try to encourage those who are lost or backslidden to "come with them" as the saints come to pray.
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Charles A. Hutchins
Senior Pastor SPWC
Congregational Church of God
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Hon. Dr. in Acts-celeratology
Posts: 7298
2/10/06 4:09 pm
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| Doing away with the traditional altar call would be |
whyileftcog |
a travesty!!  When my husband first left the Lutheran Church to attend a pentecostal church we briefly attended a church that did not have traditional altar calls or any traditional preaching on the basics like
1. Everyone has sinned
2. The ONLY way to be saved is to ask Jesus for forgiveness
3. Man can do nothing to absolve another man's sins, etc.
It distressed me alot because, for whatever reason, it was awkward for me to talk to him intelligently about it (we weren't married yet) and I wanted him to really "get it". He was hungry for it and you could tell but I couldn't answer all of the "why?" questions he had having grown up Lutheran.
We got married and then started attending Castle Hills Church which is now Cornerstone, John Hagee's church. It was there that he really "got it". Before we found Castle Hills Church I would find myself sitting in church thinking "When are you going to talk about getting saved?!!!" I think the altar call is a precious, submissive, reverent part of the service and I would HATE to think any church would do away with it.
They had sort of a "faux" altar call at my mom's funeral (at her request). The pastor explained that they didn't have to come forward but asked that they raise their hand and led them in the sinners prayer. TWO people got saved at my mother's funeral thanks to a tweaked altar call. (Praise God!!)
I'd surely hate to see a church do away with altar calls. Ugh - I hate to even think about it.
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Friendly Face
Posts: 175
2/10/06 4:15 pm
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| Altar call is for every service |
Nature Boy Florida |
Else, why have a service?
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Acts-pert Poster
Posts: 16619
2/10/06 4:17 pm
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| no altar calls here |
philunderwood |
i am a departure from most posts here... but it is a philosophical shift not a methodology shift.
i believe conversion is a process and not just an event. i am always open to what one poster called 'a call to action' or, a time to respond. we almost always have a worshipful meditation time after the message with prayer and a very focused 'here's-how-you-respond' word.
we have a prayer room that is open, counselors/prayer ministers there and ready. we do not have a call to the front.
not against those who do, but it is just not culturally applicable for this context.
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Golf Cart Mafia Underboss
Posts: 3954
2/10/06 4:30 pm
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| Not meaning any disrespect to anyone but !!! |
BlessedinMsTn |
the church is not the place for sinners to be saved anyhow, this is a great tool of the enemy to cause the Pastor to focus on an area of ministry that he is not called to.... This is what has caused the stalemate in the church for many years,,,, using the time that God has given us for "the perfecting of saints" that those saints might go out and bring people to Christ, NOT TO CHURCH.... once people are saved then they are to be brought to the place of teaching and training, which is the church.. Satan however has masterfully devised a plan that makes the preacher do the saints job,,, the man of God was not given to the world he was given as a gift unto the church,, if he would focus on his calling of "equipping, training and Exhorting" the SAINTS who has been given to his care then there would never be a sinner in church at all,, they would have all given their lives to Christ on the jobs and in the homes of America and then they come to church for their training . . .So,,, we have 300 church member show up for church on Sunday,,,,,,, they are there to be trained to be exhorted to be equipped for Christian service and all they hear is another sinners message, calling maybe TWO sinners to repentance while yet again 298 saints leave with no more education or equipping than they had previously . . . . . .Not one time in the New Testament was anyone saved in a church,,, the only thing that happened under the five fold ministry was people falling asleep from boredom and falling out of windows,,, why? Because the church was not a place of hype it was a place of training Christan's how to go out and WIN THE LOST,, not BRING THEM TO CHURCH . . . .this is why the Jehovah's Wittiness church is growing so fast,, visitors are not welcome to their meetings,,,, but rather their congregants receive training during their services,,, and encouragement to GO OUT and CONVERT . . . . .but just like so many other things we keep on doing what we've always done.. ..... The Five Fold Ministry is not called to preach to the lost,, we are called to equip the saints and in doing so we MULTIPLY our effectiveness to reach the lost....
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Posts: 6126
2/10/06 4:51 pm
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| Not meaning to be offensive to BlessedinMsTn |
whyileftcog |
Our church has a conventional altar call EVERY service with instruction on how to be saved. However, there is never a time when I walk out of my church that I feel I haven't been fed.
Maybe I didn't understand or receive your post as intended but I'm concerned by your answer.
Christians can be fed and sinners saved in the same service with significant emphasis on both.
And Phil, I think the altar call is somewhat symbolic. It takes some guts to get up and walk to an altar in front of a church full of people. It shows submission to the drawing of the Holy Spirit on a person's heart. Going to the altar to be saved is an event that is the catalyst for a life change. Certainly you don't HAVE to go down to the altar to be saved. You can be saved anywhere but it's just my humble opinion that while we want to be progressive or emergent doesn't mean EVERYTHING has to be changed. If it ain't broke - don't fix it.
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Friendly Face
Posts: 175
2/10/06 5:00 pm
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| We still need altar calls |
revstevef |
Remember the hit "The Altar" by Ray Boltz. We need altar calls. This gives time to respond to the word, after the church is pricked in heart. Whether that would be a sinner needing salvation, a christian needing deliverance, or the physically ill needing healing.
I do not however, like the begging some preachers do, to come to the altar. Sometimes preachers plead and beg with the church. this some times can hinder the move of God. Make and altar call, and get on with prayer.
Steve |
Friendly Face
Posts: 168
2/10/06 6:02 pm
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| Re: Is the traditional altar call outdated? |
Memory03 |
100% for sure! always have, always will...I'm not going to get so smart that I think I can do it without GOD.
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Posts: 21953
2/10/06 6:39 pm
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| I respectfully disagree....... |
sheepdogandy |
that salvation is a "process" rather than an event.
Also, to the comparison to the Watchtower philosophy.
The scripture references are almost too many to count.
Read the book of Acts.
Thousands were saved in ONE day.
As the people responded to the PREACHED Word of God.
It seems God is pleased with the "foolishness" of preaching and will save as many as believe.
I could go on.
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Congregational Church of God
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Hon. Dr. in Acts-celeratology
Posts: 7298
2/10/06 7:08 pm
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| To SHeepgoady: I encourage you to go on |
BlessedinMsTn |
You said that you could go on about instances of people being saved in the New Testament church . . .I call you to that challenge....
The people who were saved on the Day of Pentecost prove my point exactly,,, where were they saved???? OUTSIDE the church setting, the local church assembly, in the streets,, which is exactly what I am saying . . . .In NO local assembly in the NT do you find sinners being saved but rather you find believers being taught the Word of God . . . . . So go ahead and go on
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Hon. Dr. in Acts-celeratology
Posts: 6126
2/11/06 12:27 am
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| Re: I respectfully disagree....... |
Pastor Gary |
| sheepdogandy wrote: | | that salvation is a "process" rather than an event. |
Actually, is both an event AND a process. We are saved, we are BEING saved, and we SHALL BE saved.
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Acts Mod
Posts: 3530
2/11/06 1:16 am
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