“Where Have All the Altar Calls Gone?”

(7 Reasons Your Pastor Isn’t Giving Altar Calls)

If you are, or have been a church goer for any length of time, you’ve probably found yourself standing in a church service saying, “Hey where did all the altar calls go?”

NOTE: Your church may not use the term “altar call” but I will use it in this article for clarity.

The alarming reality as of late is the ghastly absence of altar calls in so many of our mainline, and Pentecostal/Charismatic churches. There are reasons for this that I will highlight below, but first let’s quickly address the rebuttal that may have entered your mind as you read the opening lines - and yes Pastor, I’m talking to you too. Sure, you might have a monthly or quarterly evening service where you “let your hair down”, worship a little longer, and invite people to migrate from their seats to the front. But let’s face it, that’s like saying, “Lord we need to maintain our routine on Sunday mornings, with nothing out of the ordinary. So, we have slotted You in to do all Your “different and unusual things” on this date at this time. Unfortunately, God doesn’t always fit into the scheduled program we try to squeeze Him into. And knowing that He is the almighty, omnipotent, omniscient eternal God, it is unlikely that we would ever qualify to be His program director anyway.

Many today don’t understand that God doing something unusual and powerful among us, comes on the other side of a corporate hunger, and radical pursuit of Him that creates a spiritual momentum towards a breakthrough. Much of our busy church schedules just don’t allow room for that. Bottom line, when it comes to God visiting our churches, it’s YOU that likely has to conform to Him - not the other way around. This is why slotting God in as an extra-curricular service expression generally only leads to a longer evening service that’s a little more tiring than the morning service. Pastors and especially staff, know what I am talking about.

For many churches today, it is a hard bargain to touch the sacred cow of choreography that is our Sunday morning expression. This is especially true for larger denominational churches that have more to lose if people leave, having not enjoyed the service change, or someone “fell under the power “ at the front when pastor laid hands on them. Now I am NOT talking about being whacky, weird, or fleshly. To entertain the flesh and grasp for manifestations is to completely err on the other side. This too doesn’t do anything for people who genuinely desire an encounter with the Lord during a Sunday service. Genuine spiritual experiences PLUS biblical discipleship is the recipe.

Unfortunately, many churches in North America are slowly being lulled to sleep by all manner of cookie cutter packaging, including the absence of altar calls.

Altar calls are where many wonderful encounters happen, encounters that can mark a person for Jesus for life. I know there were moments during altar calls that marked me as a young boy. Having grown up a third-generation pastor’s kid, I heard a few stories, and had many wonderful experiences during altar calls. Not only are these moments of deep repentance, and a corporate sense of drawing near to God, but this is where the average person learns the discipline of WAITING on the Lord, encouraged by those around them doing the same, together as a corporate body. These can be precious moments of seeking the baptism of the Holy Spirit, hearing the voice of God for the first time, or praying towards a breakthrough - among many other wonderful things.

The reality is, there are just some breakthroughs in one’s life that cannot happen through a few minutes of a drive thru “McSermon”.

Some encounters with God require a pressing in, and this can sometimes take time. This can happen during glorious altar calls as we seek the Face of God together. From there, we take home with us those spiritual disciplines we practiced corporately and apply them to our lives in our own personal prayer times.

At this point in the article do you still think altar calls are unnecessary in today’s post Christian society? Or perhaps you are saying a hearty amen, and desiring your pastor to bring back those days. But here’s the problem. Altar calls can sometimes be a bit messy. And the cameras are on… and some things that happen when encountering God at the altar, don’t make for great TV or Livestream. Also, depending on when you call the people forward, it can upset the carefully crafted aim-to-please Sunday morning service. After all, it might be getting close to lunch time, or the kids church workers might be tired. Now don’t get me wrong, there is sensitivity needed for all things people related, but I can assure you, the Holy Spirit has a strategy for you and your church to embrace the new wine without damaging the vessel. Am I talking about throwing out any Sunday service order and calling disorganization being open to the Lord? No. God is a god of biblical order, and some level of structure is healthy for a church community.

Perhaps the greater question here… more than what if someone leaves and goes to another church… Or what if we blow past our 12 noon end-of-service video… is what if we are missing out on something much bigger? What if we are missing out on a Heavenly visitation that has the power to revive this generation and save the next? What if we are missing out on some precious moments that could help restore a marriage or set some people free? What about seeking a touch from Heaven that would produce such fruitfulness in a local church that we begin to venture beyond our walls again, anointed and equipped to get back to reaching the lost? After all, for all of our church programs (as good as many programs are), pizza parties and socials (not to mention some pretty worldly attempts at evangelism), how is it working for us?

Sadly, for the ambitious I-will-build-the-next-big-church-in-the-city ego driven pastor, God showing up in church in a big way, arrives a close second, to “growing the numbers” on Sunday, and having an uneventful board meeting on Monday.

However, in the 21st century we have discovered that the size of your church doesn’t determine its health or even whether it is spiritual or not (let alone fulfilling the Great Commission). You can gather a crowd and build on almost anything these days.

Tragically, for many pastors today, the value of revival or reaching the lost, is not as high as the value placed on making a name for ourselves through building an impressive church organization.

You may disagree with me or find that statement critical, but after over 20 years of pastoring and coaching church leadership in various demographics and nations, I have seen some trends.

Now as promised, here are a few reasons for why we might not be seeing altar calls like we used to. Here we go!

1 . The logistics of the church venue may not facilitate room at the front for people to move forward from their chairs. This is fine. Believe it or not Holy Spirit understands this and, in such cases, He can move in people’s hearts wherever they are seated.

2 . As mentioned earlier, altar calls can be a bit messy. The genuine Gifts of the Holy Spirit in operation, falling under the power, tongues, weeping, and repentance don’t always pair well with today’s church media and camera angles. This begs the question… Should the cameras be capturing moments like that at all? I am sure there is a balance. Also, although we thought that “bringing your unsaved friends to church is ideal evangelism, the early church didn’t. They did not use their highly Spirit-filled worship services to attract new people. They instituted disciplina arcani, which meant outsiders weren’t invited to private Christian worship services. Evangelism was done beyond the four walls where the people were - and it was highly relationship based. I am not suggesting we ban visitors from our services, but something to consider…do the unchurched really understand anything we do in our services? If Sunday church is our main evangelistic tool, then we might find ourselves feeling the pressure to water down the whole thing to cater to a seeker. Oops…this may have already happened.

3 . Often the Type-A-needs-to-be-in-control pastor has anxiety triggers go off if things don’t go according to the strictly scheduled service choreography. Have you ever worked or travelled with someone like that? Things don’t go as planned - total meltdown. Your pastor isn’t a bad person - they just can’t handle any change of routine.

4 . The church pastor and leadership have bought into the belief that a steady dose of “my sermons and sermon series” will change everyone’s lives. God forbid an altar call cut into the time for the pastor to share everything he feels he needs to say up there on stage. For all our knowledge and sermonizing, I think we need to get back to DEMONSTRATING the things we are preaching and pay any price to see the power of God in our churches again.

5 . The church pastor might sincerely want more of God but just doesn’t know how to lead an altar call and follow the Holy Spirit. Yes, they might be a graduate of a Bible College, but haven’t yet been through the “School of the Spirit”. Pastor, Holy Spirit is taking enrollment and you can start to grow in this area as early as this Sunday!

Now just in case you think I’m picking on the pastor too much…

6 . The church board has applied certain pressures on the pastor, and set up a religious stronghold in the church, making it almost impossible for the church to go deeper spiritually. Yikes. It sounds shocking, but again…this IS a prevailing issue in so many denominational churches. If it’s a board driven church and the board isn’t pressing in to God themselves, the pastors hands are spiritually tied, whether he or she knows it or not.

7 . The congregation isn’t hungry and would very much like to keep things “the way we’ve always done it.” This is a very real issue today. It is no secret that an apathy and just plain deadness has crept into the church through all manner of societal backsliddenness. The good news is, that any pastor or leader who will dare to pay a price and seek God, can bring God with them on Sunday morning, and a breakthrough can happen. We have a whole Bible full of turnarounds because someone partnered with God and dared to obey.

In conclusion let me encourage leaders who say, “We have given many altar calls but not much happens.” Or maybe you as a leader are still apprehensive about venturing down this road with your well-established congregation. The Lord is a “rewarder of them who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). The scripture also says “You will seek me and find me, when seek for me with all your heart search for me with all your heart. I will be found by you…” (Jeremiah 29:13).

I promise you that as you press into God corporately, something will happen. If nothing has happened yet, keep pressing in as a leader and lead your congregation in this discipline. The truth is, after a Spirit-filled time seeking God in a service, people are reminded in the very depths of their soul the reason they came to church. They didn’t come REALLY for the social club, food, and coffee (as nice as those are). They can get that in the world. The REAL reason people go to church (whether this fits your theology/core values or not) is to have an encounter with God, and leave changed.

- Derek Schneider