Why did preachers start using altar calls?
I know there are answers to that question. I'm just not sure there are any GOOD ones. For about 1800 years nothing exactly resembling the modern day 'altar call' was commonplace by any stretch of the imagination. From Peter/Paul to Wesley/Whitefield there was hardly an altar call to be found. Since then, Finney/Moody/Graham made the altar call a staple in the evangelical world.
Do people need to make a decision to follow Christ? Sure. But what does walking to the front of a room HAVE to do with that? As a pastor I can sympathise with the desire to SEE the fruit of a sermon, but I'm reminded of a quote from Wesley's journal regarding such: "Preached at (such and such a place). Many seemed deeply affected. But God alone knows how deeply."
I think lots of great things have happened at altar calls in the past 200 years. I'm not saying otherwise. But I have a conviction that the prop may have caused more harm than good.
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