[MamaB]

I have been going to a SBC for 30 years. It is a call for repentance. When we have special events our pastor tells them to get involved in a Bible teaching church. He does not say join this church because it is the only true one. It is a very special time for people.

[fwdude]

The Altar Call is not mandated by scripture, and yet, every Baptist congregation acts as if it is. (I know, I have been a life-long Southern Baptist myself.) And no, it is not merely a call to "repentance." Any sinner, regardless of motive, can "go forward" and repeat the magic words of some canned sinner's prayer and he's in, no questions asked, no fruit of repentance required.

Most of the time, in my opinion, this device is used as a proxy for real repentance and cost-counting. Teens and pre-teens are often subjected to peer pressure to "go forward" together in a club-like initiation ritual. It is no better than the empty mechanics engaged in by the Roman Church.

Finney's meetings entailed "anxious enquirers" coming forward for further instruction, based on their particular expression of concerns and understanding of the situation of their souls, not to be given an instant membership card.

It shouldn't be a 'special time' for people. It should be a terrible crisis that demands horrible self-examination. A profound experience that changes them to the core.