Altar calls became part of American worship services through revival meetings of the 18th and 19th centuries. When the Pentecostal Movement ignited at the turn of the 19th century, altar services became part of our DNA. Today, however, while many Pentecostal churches still have altar calls, others no longer include them.
Although altar calls were not part of worship gatherings in the New Testament church, the Gospel calls for a response in hearers’ hearts when it is presented.
When I heard the Gospel as a 10-year-old, I accepted Christ at an altar in Tampa one Sunday night. Three years later, I was baptized in the Holy Spirit at an altar in Dade City, Florida. On various occasions through the decades, the Holy Spirit has spoken prophetic words to me through others as I have prayed in response to altar calls.
Yes, I could have been saved, filled with the Spirit, or received those prophetic words somewhere away from an altar, but that is my testimony.
Looking at the altar’s history in the Scriptures, we find important truths for today.
A Place to Meet With God
When the first wave of tens of thousands of Hebrews returned from 70 years of exile, the altar was the first part of God’s house they rebuilt. Once built, “they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord” (Ezra 3:3). They wanted God’s presence to be with them, so they “built the altar…to offer burnt offerings…as it is written in the Law of Moses” (v. 2).
The Old Testament altar was messy, and the same can be true at our church altars. While animal blood is not poured out, people can pour out tears and sweat while pursuing God, and they might get loud. Is that one reason some churches have abandoned altar calls?
While we as Christ’s followers are temples of the Holy Spirit and, therefore, carriers of His presence, we must also join fellow believers in meeting with God. The altar is one place where this can happen.
A Place of Remembrance
When the Lord appeared to Abraham and promised, “To your descendants I will give this land,” Abraham responded by building an altar to the Lord (Genesis 12:7 NASB).
When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, the farmer feared for his life. However, the Lord spoke peace to him. “So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it The Lord Is Peace” (Judges 6:24 NIV).
For Abraham and Gideon, the altars they built were places of remembrance. They could point to these monuments of rock and say, “The Lord spoke to me here.”
Our children and grandchildren need such monuments! It is phenomenal when a young person points to an altar and says, “I remember how God helped me when I prayed there.”
A Place of Cleansing
When Isaiah saw a vision of the Lord in the temple, he cried, “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips…and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty” (Isaiah 6:5 NIV). Then, an angel removed a hot coal from the altar, touched Isaiah’s lips with it, and said, “Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for” (v. 7 NIV).
I once prayed at an altar with a 14-year-old boy who was fixated on heavy metal music. After he asked God to forgive him of his sins, he told me, “I don’t feel any different.” I responded, “We are saved through faith, not through our feelings. However, God does promise to give us His peace. Would you like to pray about that?”
He said yes, and we prayed again. Then he testified, “I feel it! I feel it!” The Lord had assured him through the gift of peace.
A Place of Healing
Jesus said if we approach an altar and then remember someone has something against us, we must “first go and be reconciled to [our brother]; then come and offer [our] gift” (Matthew 5:23-24 NIV). Of course, He was referring to the Old Testament sacrificial altar, but the principle still holds, for Jesus is concerned about our relationships with Him and others. The two go hand in hand. He wants to help us forgive and receive the forgiveness of others.
This is not always a quick fix. That is why a pastor might shy away from altar services—to not give the impression that everything can be fixed in a moment. However, the altar can be a place where healing begins. And in some cases, miraculous healing does occur at an altar.
I remember a girl praying at an altar regarding a relative who had abused her. “I can’t forgive him! I can’t forgive him!” she said. After the service, we connected her with a Christian counselor to help her begin working through the hurt.
A Place of Intercession
When God sent a terrible plague upon Israel because of their rebellion, “David built an altar to the Lord…and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the Lord answered his prayer on behalf of the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped” (2 Samuel 24:25 NIV).
One of the greatest values of an altar service is getting people engaged with intercessory prayer. Not just praying at the altar and forgetting about it but becoming intercessors during their private prayer times.
A Place of Thanksgiving and Praise
When Noah’s feet hit dry land after months on the ark, he “built an altar to the Lord” and offered “burnt offerings on it” (Genesis 8:20 NIV).
When Solomon dedicated the Temple to the Lord, the glory of the Lord filled the place. When the people “saw the fire coming down and the glory of the Lord above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord” (2 Chronicles 7:3 NIV).
When a pastor calls the congregation around the altar to offer corporate praise and thanksgiving, the glory of the Lord often fills the place. This time can include lifting hands, singing, kneeling, whispering thanks, or shouting praise.
A Place to Sacrifice
In obedience to the Lord’s command, Abraham placed his beloved son, Isaac, on an altar to sacrifice him to the Lord (Genesis 22:1-14). That’s the spirit of total commitment described in Romans 12:1: “Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God” (NIV). Such a commitment can begin and grow at a church altar.
A Place to Learn
As the Israelites prepared to enter the Promised Land, Moses told them,
“When you have crossed the Jordan into the land the Lord your God is giving you, set up some large stones. … Build there an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones. …And you shall write very clearly all the words of this law on these stones you have set up” (Deuteronomy 27:2, 5, 8 NIV).
Every time the Israelites would see this stone “billboard,” it would remind them of who had brought them into Canaan and how they were to live. This altar would be an ongoing teaching visual.
In our day, the altar should still be a place of instruction. This doesn’t mean we have to engrave the laws of God on our altars (though that might not be a bad idea!). It means when young people or new believers respond to an altar call, we have a “teachable moment” within our grasp. It can be a time to give the seekers an encouraging Scripture verse and pray with them. The altar can be where young people and new believers learn lessons they will never forget.
The Gospel
While not every worship service needs to end with an altar call, pastors should reconsider the content of their preaching if it rarely calls for a response to the Gospel. Like the Apostle Paul, every preacher should declare, “For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Corinthians 9:16 NIV).
Let’s preach the Word and encourage people to obey the Spirit when He leads them to come forward for prayer. Then let’s pray with them, asking God to intervene according to His will.
Lance Colkmire is the editor of Evangel magazine