The “altar call” is a counterfeit sacrament
by OriginalSoapbox
The quote from Joel Carpenter in my previous post describes what I know from first-hand experience to be true: the most significant spiritual experience in fundamentalist Christianity is the altar call, an emotionally-charged experience in which persons are brought into the visible Kingdom of God to their joy and the delight of those around them.
While I don’t want to discount the veracity of anyone’s conversion experience, it seems this practice of the altar call attempts to meet needs in fundamentalist Christianity which have for most of the church’s history been met through the practice of the sacraments.
1. The need for reconciliation with God, salvation, and public profession of saving faith in Christ.
This is the basis of the altar call. Sinners cannot be reconciled to God unless they will turn from their sins, place faith in Christ, and acknowledge His lordship over their lives. The altar call places this choice clearly before them. Will they come to Jesus, or will they remain in their seat and refuse His call?
2. The need for continual public confession, repentance and re-dedication to Christ.
As Carpenter notes, though originally for the unsaved, the altar call was so agreeable as to be extended to believers as well, who, though they were already saved, felt the need of fresh unction and commitment. Revival moments served to encourage them also in their faith.
3. The need to feel unified with the Body of Christ.
The altar call is always practiced in places where the church is assembled. A private altar call is an impossibility. It unifies the church and encourages the members that they are in fact members one of another in Christ.
Doubtless, the altar call is a source of much spiritual encouragement to many people. Yet every single one of these needs is met, in a fuller and more meaningful way, in the practice of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, the two ordinances given by Christ to believers as means of grace.
Baptism.
The Gospel call in the book of Acts is consistently joined to baptism. “John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Mark 1:4). “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). “And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name” (Acts 22:16). “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Galatians 3:27). “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4), and finally, “Baptism . . . now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 3:21).
These scriptures shouldn’t be dismissed. It is folly to count a person’s entry into the Church happening at any time other than their baptism. How many people must raise their hands or ‘go forward’ at an altar call who never end up being baptized? Why are people permitted, just as I was as a teenager, to go for years professing Christ without being baptized? And yet they are counted as converts. Conversely, how many people ‘convert’ at altar calls who have already received the sacrament of baptism?
The Lord’s Supper.
Those looking for confirmation of their salvation, forgiveness of sin, and confirmation of their membership in Christ’s body should not have to seek out rare revival moments, since the sacrament of Communion is offered to them regularly in church. In the Lord’s Supper, Jesus offers the Christian his own body and blood, the means by which saving grace has been procured, as a reminder of his death and resurrection and the believer’s continuing life in him. Communion is practiced with other believers, preserving the unity of the Church. Communion is also accompanied by confession and absolution, so that the Christian may have nothing to prevent him from following Christ with a whole heart.
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
(1 Corinthians 11:23-26)
The altar call, I believe, arose within fundamentalist environments that were hostile to the historical understanding and practice of the sacraments because they viewed them as superstitious–or else had simply forgotten why they were significant. What we need now is not more experimental piety, but to return to practicing the gifts of God which Christ has ordained for the use of his Church.
“It is folly to count a person’s entry into the Church happening at any time other than their baptism.” The more I read what the Bible actually says about baptism, the more I feel comfortable admitting that I agree with you on this.
Although it should be noted that this doesn’t preclude a “conversion experience” at some other point(s) before or after baptism. Because, after all, we must continually be “converted” — “offer your lives as a living sacrifice… be transformed by the renewing of your mind,” as St. Paul says in Romans 12. Sometimes that happens in a sudden and fairly life-changing way. This experience should not, on the other hand, lead us to ignore what the Bible says about baptism. God’s Word interprets our experience, not the other way ’round.
On the altar call for those who are already believers, the Lord’s Supper really is a magnificent way of receiving this — we are, in literal fact, “called to the altar” every week. I tried to bring out some of the “altar-call” aspects of this at the conclusion of a recent sermon which, if anyone’s curious, may be listened to here: http://columbachurch.posterous.com/epiphany11812
“If Christ him selfe which giveth salvation doe require baptisme, it is not for us that looke for salvation to sound and examin him whether unbaptised men may be saved, but seriously to doe that which is required and religiously to feare the daunger which may growe by the want thereof.” (Hooker, Lawes, 2:257)