I think we've had more decisions for Christ in the last two weeks than any two week period at NCC ever. One of the things God has been speaking to my spirit is the importance of calling people to decision. Our destiny is determined by our decisions.
Long story short, we need to creatively and consistently call people to decision. So here's what I'm wondering: how do you facilitate people crossing the line of faith? Do you do it the same way each week? What language do you use? Any creative ideas that worked really well? I believe that baptism is the way we go public with our faith. So what role do altar calls, sinner's prayers, or raised hands play?
A penny for your thoughts.
Long story short, we need to creatively and consistently call people to decision. So here's what I'm wondering: how do you facilitate people crossing the line of faith? Do you do it the same way each week? What language do you use? Any creative ideas that worked really well? I believe that baptism is the way we go public with our faith. So what role do altar calls, sinner's prayers, or raised hands play?
A penny for your thoughts.
19 Comments:
I was raised Southern Baptist, and so I have a slight bitterness toward the altar call, but I have seen it done in very thoughtful and prayerful ways that work. For example, my church now (interdenominational) calls people to faith in Christ, and then tells them to go to the back of the room where members of our prayer team are waiting to talk to them about their decision.
The sinner's prayer, in the sense of the canned prayer written in every pamphlet for the last fifty years, seems really bogus. I mean, I think every sinner who becomes a Christian has his or her own sinner's prayer. Mine was simple: "God, I give myself to you." I think we should lead people to pray in repentance to God, asking him to forgive them and take over their lives.
I saw the raised hands taken to a bad place when I was in Kenya. I came out of the hospital where I was volunteering, and there was a street preacher telling people they needed to be Christians. He called for them to raise their hands if they wanted to believe. Every person raised their hands. Later that day, I saw the same people raise their hands to another guy who was preaching a different gospel. In my experience, the hand-raising can be pretty sketchy.
I don't think the way I tell my story or share the gospel is every exactly the same. We should be creative in telling people about Jesus.
Where is my penny?
I have learned, over the years, to not oversell the benefit without also advertising the commitment.
A weakness of the modern church has been to ask people to accept a ticket to heaven without instructing people about the life on earth as a Christ follower.
This is why discipleship/evangelism should be considered the same pathway. We are not so much trying to convince people to accept Jesus as we are inviting people to follow Jesus.
When you think about it, it is a huge difference in life impact and lifestyle change.
philunderwood
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I think Frank Viola makes some interesting statements about how the atar call became common place in his book "Pagan Christianity".
Every minister loves to have a "package" to sell universally, and so often one size fits no one.
I believe very firmly, at least in our American culture, that decisons to follow Christ are best made and FOLLOWED THROUGH at a one on one level. However that looks by volunteer workers, deacons, even media sources (I've seen successful conversions through DVD series).
Ultimately it is about the heart, when people encounter Jesus in a real way there is a reaction. To me the Christians job is simply to give words and guidance to this new hope that the Holy Spirit has awaken in the people we encounter.
We are seeing the exact same thing here in Tulsa. Over the last few weeks teenagers and adults have been coming to Christ by the hundreds. However, like you we understand that this is not the ending, it is just the beginning of their faith journey.
Now that they have came to Christ it is up to us as a community of believers to begin to help them walk out their faith in a real and personal way.
Saying a prayer is not the goal, knowing and walking with Jesus is the goal.
Thanks for all you do.
Kevin Moore
Hey Mark. I'm glad to hear about what God is doing at NCC. We've seen quite a few people give their lives to Christ at The Bridge as well. I began feeling a similar conviction as you did a few months ago. I was really challenged by how Craig Groeschel throws out the life line every week. If we're asking our regular attenders to invite their unsaved friend, giving an invitation only makes sense. We haven't done it every week, but I try to do it at least once every series.
In terms of the language and style, I basically borrowed from what Craig was doing. He basically turns the topic he's talking about into an invitation. For instance, if he does a message on generosity, he may say, "Let me tell you about the most generous person that ever existed man. His name is Jesus. He gave his life." "Today we talked about service, but there was the ultimate servant who served all the way to the cross." "We talked about marriage today, but there is one who loves you and wants you to be His bride." It means, of course, that you may have to think and pray through your transitions while doing your sermon prep. Even though God is the one that saves, preparing gives us a sense of expectation.
We have people raise their hands from their seats. Doing an altar call is not only awkward in a theater type setting, but probably not the best method for our young, urban professional demographic. That's just my opinion. I've seen a handful of people who may have raised their hands more than one week. I figured, hey, between the 2 or 3 times they raised their hands, God got a hold of them somewhere:-). I just make it clear, if you have never accepted Christ and you would like to today, just raised your hands. Then I may restate again, "You've never prayed a prayer to receive Him, you've never trusted in Him, with no one looking, just simply raise your hands." Before I ask them to raise their hands, I also let them know what to expect. "I'm not going to ask you to come down. I'm not going have you stand up. I won't embarrass you. I simply want to pray with you." That way, they know exactly what will happen before they stick their hands in the air.
We have instances where no one raised their hands, but stated later that they did they prayed to receive Christ even though they didn't physically raise their hands. We've been following up with phone calls, but on Easter Sunday, I had a quick pow-wow in a section of the theater lobby. It made a big difference doing immediate follow-up. We're going to experiment with an environment similar to the one we do for our first time attenders. We'll have a section in the theater lobby (aka free space) where new converts can go, receive brief follow-up, and get some materials. We'll see how it goes. As you know, everything's an experiment :-)
One more thing, I also make it clear that saying the prayer doesn't save you. It's believing and placing your faith in Jesus Christ.
Call me crazy, I know I might get myself in trouble here. We know that everyone has a phone in thier pocket or purse. Use it! Why not have people TXT a message to a number. Then you have a commitment and contact info to follow up.
Awesome news about the many who are coming to Christ. As far as the invitation goes, I think it depends on the culture you preach in, When I received Jesus I came down to the altar, I have personally asked people to raise their hands, stand, come down front...etc, depending on what the Holy Spirit is leading me to do.
I think as already mention in previous post, the point should be to ask people to make Jesus their Lord and Savior, not just a get out of hell free card.
And keep the penny :-)
We've done a variety of things...to signify the faith step that people are taking...we've built a bridge for people to cross...even had the people that invited them to come to the service cross with them after they prayed...had a b-ball hoop on stage during a final four message and after they prayed had people take a shot saying "we're in...we've given our life to Jesus!" We've had people just raise hands and talk with them afterwards...given them crosses made out of nails to remind them of the decision...had them fill out a decision card...a variety of ways to have people step out and say "I'm a new follower of Jesus!" I believe it is good to have people make a statement...then after the decision we pray like crazy for them and work to follow up with them...want that seed that has sprouted to have DEEP roots!
I think that I've found that creativity in the call for a decision is one of the few areas that (perhaps) creativity is best to be avoided. When were talking about making a decision that affects the whole of their eternity it seems to me that sober truth-telling is important. I think that the honesty of telling people that Christ does not just want their life, but everything that they are is something that is important to avoid anything like the Kenyan example that Adam gave.
Love the dialogue that's going on here. I've really been wrestling with how to do this in our gatherings. I think it's something we must do, but I'm not sure how to do it in a way that doesn't feel forced (control), worked up (manipulated) or that makes people feel uncomfortable. I don't know, maybe we overcomplicate it. Maybe we need to think less and just do it. Sometimes over-thinking leads to paralysis. I'm interested, Mark, what have you guys been doing? How do you extend the invitation? What language do you use?
A danger in doing it the same way every week is that it can become a ritual and people can cease to understand its importance. In that sense, I would say that there's a difference between planning to do it the same way every week and asking God each week how He's like you to do it and receiving the same answer.
I would say (and it echos a few of the other comments), follow through. Get contact information. Set up a time to talk. Talk right away.
In other words - don't invite someone to be a part of a family and then forget to answer their knock when they arrive at the door of the family home. It's one of the things that is hardest for me to watch and that I'm most passionate about.
I know I have a particular way of giving people a chance to respond depending on the setting I'm in - whether I'm talking to the whole church, students only, or even talking 1-on-1. What I do know is that one of the best things anyone told me came from another one of our student pastors, Brian Mills.
He said, "I offer an invitation every time I speak. I figure if I give them a chance to commit their lives to Jesus, they just might!" We've been offering chances ever since, and people - students and adults - are responding every week to God's call (not ours).
Love hearing about people responding to God's call at NCC and the other churches in the comments! How awesome that we get to be a part of that!
This dialogue is truly insightful and useful - not to mention timely - some friends and I are discussing this very thing this week.
It's important to go back to the beginning of the "alter call" - a couple of hundred years ago, people spent hours - sometimes days - at the front pew of a church crying out to God when they were invited to do so.
In many ways, the thing that it's become kind of takes some of the responsibility from us as individuals - we figure our part is to get a person into a service, then it's up to the Holy Spirit and/or the minister to get that person to come forward, raise their hand, etc.
I'll never forget taking a friend to such a service with that kind of attitude - and the speaker ended his message by saying that he knew we were waiting for him to give an invitation and he wasn't going to do it - that it was up to us to have that conversation with that person. I cannot tell you how frustrating that was - especially since he was right!
There are some I know who have a hard time imagining a service without an alter call - but I'm with Adam, I'm more than a little burnt out on that tool - and I think we need to encourage people to go much further than a walk or a raised hand.
Again, awesome discussion!
Our Pastors have really been seeking the Lord on this very subject lately. And I feel we are moving to a much more Biblical perspective. You see, we still give an altar call, but the decisions are not "announced" and "celebrated" right away. Our pastors have taken a few counselors through training that helps them walk someone through a complete and thorough look at salvation - much more than can be expressed in a simple invitation from the pulpit.
We walk them through
Sin - how it seperates us from God;
Depravity - how we can do nothing on our own to overcome sin; Repentance - a change of mind that leads to a change of behavior (turning from something (our sin) to someone (Jesus) - loving Him more;
Propitiation - how our righteousness is based solely on what Jesus did;
Purpose - Having a PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP with Jesus;
Growth - Continued repentance and placing their faith more and more in Him - goal being to glorify Him;
Eternal Security - you can't loose it because it's not about you;
Baptism - how it doesn't save, but it's an outward symbol of an inward change - and an act of obedience.
You see,I really think it is more Biblical than just a come down and get out of hell free – or raise your hand, or say a prayer. Whatever. It may be that some truly have come to Jesus by saying a simple prayer (I do not doubt this can happen), but how many really “get it” that do that? And on the other hand, how many are we giving a false sense of security? That because of an altar call and a "feeling" that saying a simple prayer gave them. I'm not saying it can't happen. It’s just pretty scary how many people over this last century – or hundreds of centuries – who knows – may have thought that kept them from hell?? Wow, it’s overwhelming to think!
Take for example an evangelistic outreach we had a couple years ago. Same principal - go house to house "presenting the gospel" (you know, in 5 minutes or less) and then ask them if they want to be saved. We had so many people that "said a prayer" - like 75 or more - and maybe 1 has come to church since then. Is there evidence of a change - any fruit? Of true salvation? We even had one lady that was "saved" - said a prayer - with 2 different teams. How many of those 75+ think they are "okay" and headed for heaven? Scary, huh??
Anyway, hope this wasn't too lengthy. It's been a pretty big issue lately for us too! Great to see everyone's input.
Lets solidify the commitments by getting the people into the baptismal tank as soon as possible. Many church dedicate babies at Sunday morning services. Why not encourage the person to be baptize the next Sunday? Immediate baptism is the pattern in Acts.
To many people make commitments and get away. Baptism is a wonderful way to help a person solidify the commitment. How do you get a hand raiser to get into the tank?
Our purpose at Capital Christian Fellowship is to Love God, Love People and Live as Disciples. So...at the close of every service we lead people to 3 choices. We believe that some type or response after having been with God is really appropriate. We all respond by:
1. Staying in our worship center at your seat or at the altar to pray alone or with a prayer leader and connect to and LOVE GOD!
2. Head out to our lobby, halls, parking lots, houses and local restaurants build community and LOVE PEOPLE!
3. Or head to our EntryPoint booth/corner and hear about the next step that you can take at CCF as we LIVE AS DISCIPLES!
Each week, we respond in accordance with our vision. Love God. Or Love People. Or Live as a Disciple. It also keeps reminding people of what our purpose is and that we are totally committed to living it! Heavy duty hard pushed altar calls are done only when that is the sense that the Holy Spirit has laid on my heart that day.
Hey, Mark. I really appreciate it that you actually alert us to people getting saved. We don't talk ab out his anymore in church like I remember people doing back 20 years ago, and it seems as though winning souls is not even on the church's radar screen any more. It's good to hear that there is actually a positive eternal result to all that we do.
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