Question:
Dear Rich,
What does the Bible teach regarding invitations used at the end regular church services?
J_________
My Answer:
Dear J_____,
My quick answer to your question is this: The Bible has nothing at all to say concerning the kind of invitations that are a common feature of many evangelical worship services. As far as I can tell, the Bible makes no demands that a person "walk an aisle," "fill out a card," or "pray a prayer" in order to be saved. Obviously the Bible does present qualifications for salvation (qualifications that are met in Christ, but qualifications nonetheless). We must repent and trust Christ. In my opinion, these things (faith and repentance) can be undermined (and even redefined) by our emphasis on the externals demanded by the "altar call."
A good knowledge of church history is always helpful in understanding where we are and how we got here. The "invitation" or "altar call" is a relatively recent innovation that finds its origin in Charles Finney's "anxious seat" or "mourner's bench."
Finney's "anxious seat" methodology has its origin in his faulty theology. Believing that all people were naturally able to respond to the gospel (a denial of the bondage of the will and the necessity of grace to initiate and create new life), Finney devised a system that would "put on the pressure," so to speak. Like many modern evangelicals, he also measured success by numbers (which can be quickly amassed) and not fruit (which takes time to develop). The "altar call" or "anxious seat" was the perfect method both for persuasion and numbering. Sadly, this faulty methodology has found its way into the very "liturgy" of the Evangelical church.
When many Evangelicals abandoned a set liturgy for a "free" form of worship, what they ended up with was an unwritten liturgy. Part of that unwritten liturgy is the expectation that every meeting end with an "altar call" or an "invitation to come forward." This has become such an important feature in Evangelical worship that many Evangelicals do not believe you have truly preached the gospel unless you have an altar call!
As a Christian minister I regular call on people to trust Christ and live a life that is pleasing to Him. I call on both believers and unbelievers to do this. I diligently try to present Christ in all His manifold glory. I believe that when Christ is preached, the gospel is preached, for Christ is the sum and substance of the gospel proclamation!
In short, I always expect my people to respond to God's revelation. That is the reason I call them to faith and action. However, I am opposed to "the invitation system" as an essential part of every worship service. It is a recent innovation based on erroneous theological presuppositions. I believe that it ultimately does more harm than good. If you are currently involved in a church that regularly practices this system, there is no need to raise too much of a fuss. No church is perfect in this world. Thankfully, God can even use our weak, man-made devices for His own glory!
Yours in Christ,
Rich
© Richard J. Vincent, January 19, 2000
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