Why Don't You Have an Altar Call?

Every so often someone at New Day asks "Why don't you have an altar call?" In this blog I hope to shed some light on why we do the altar call the way we do at New Day.

Let's begin with Scripture. The first thing to understand is that the phrase "altar call" doesn't appear in Scripture. Asking people to come to the front of the church to pray after the message is delivered isn't commanded in Scripture and you're not breaking a command of God if you decide not to do it. As a matter of fact, this practice of calling people to the front to respond to the message only started about 100 years ago. It was not a practice of the church the first nineteen hundred years of the church. Calling people out of their seat and to the front of the church to pray after the messge is a method. A method is a procedure for accomplishing something, which brings me to a question I want you to consider...what is it we are supposed to be accomplishing with our preaching? I have nothing against those who use a traditional altar call, but I will say that the purpose and goal of preaching, according to Scripture, is not to get people to come to the front of the room to pray. The purpose and goal of preaching is Christ-likeness in our character and our conduct. And Christ-likeness comes when we apply God's Word to our lives. And that's why we do "next steps" at New Day instead of a traditional come forward altar call. It all goes back to God's purpose for preaching, God's purpose for human beings, and God's purpose for the Scriptures.

Let's me help you make more sense of this. Proverbs 19:21 says "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." This verse shows us that God has a purpose for everything (for you, for me, for everything). And God has a purpose for preaching. What is God's purpose for preaching? Ephesians 4:11-13 says, “(Christ) gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." The purpose of preaching is Christ-likeness! Colossians 1:28 teaches the same thing. "We preach Christ to

each person, using all wisdom to warn and to teach everyone, in order to

bring each one into God’s presence as a mature person in Christ.” Again, the purpose of preaching is Christ-likeness!

Christ-likeness is also God's purpose for human beings. And Christ-likeness is God's purpose for Scripture. Check it out...

What is God's purpose for man? Romans 8:29, "For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers." God's purpose for man is very clear: to make us like Jesus. Genesis 1:26 God said "Let us make man in Our image, in Our likeness..." Second Corinthians 3:18 says "...And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like Him and reflect His glory even more." First Corinthians 15:49 says "Just as we are now like Adam, the man of the earth, so we will some day be like Christ..." The purpose of man is to become like Jesus. Therefore, the purpose of preaching is to make people like Jesus. The same is true of the Scriptures.

What is the purpose of Scripture? Second Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: THAT the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” The purpose for doctrine, reproof, correction and instruction is so that we might be perfect - like Christ. The purpose of the Bible is to change our character (help us become perfect, mature, complete). And the purpose of the Bible is to change and our conduct (help us do good works). The purpose of Scripture is to help us develop Christ-like character and conduct. The purpose for the Bible is the same as God's purpose for preaching: Christ-likeness!

Having established that Christ-likeness is God's purpose for preaching, for mankind and for Scripture - The question now becomes "How does God make us like Christ?" His purpose and goal is that we become like Christ, but HOW specifically does this happen?

By applying God's Word to our lives! In John 17:17 Jesus prayed “Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth.” To sanctify someone is to make them holy (make them like Christ). And how does this happen? Scripture teaches that we are sanctified, made holy, made like Christ, when we apply God's Word to our lives. Information isn't enough. Satan and his demons have knowledge of the Scriptures but they don't apply it to their lives. Application makes all the difference. James 1:24-25 says, “Anyone who listens to the Word but does not DO what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it – he will be blessed in what he does.” Most preaching is producing hearers of the Word. But peoples lives are not changed if they are only informed by but not transformed. And peoples lives are transformed when the word of God is taught in a way that helps people apply what they've learned. Again, that's why we use "next steps" at New Day.

Now let me ask you a question...knowing what you know now about God's purpose for preaching, for mandkind and for the Scriptures (that Christ-likeness is God's goal) - and knowing now that the application of God's Word produces Christ-likeness in the lives of his followers - what seems to YOU to be the most effective method for accomplishing God's purpose? I dare not be so arrogant to say that my "next steps" are better than someone else's "altar call". I just know that I'll give an account to God someday and I've chosen the METHOD that I feel will best accomplish God's goals.

So there you have it - the WHY behind WHAT we do at New Day as it relates to the response portion of the service.