After the "Best Sermon Ever" was preached I would ask the congregants to stand. After giving everyone a minute to stand, I would invite anyone who wanted to make Jesus the Lord of their Lives to walk to the front of the church for a time of prayer.
As you can imagine, this made new believers very uncomfortable as there was 250 to 300 sets of eye's staring at their back-side, so after witnessing the shock and horror on peoples faces for the last several months - I thought to myself, "there must be a better way to go about this." Thus began the discussion with friends, mentors, and staff about how to make a call to salvation without singling people out. I got tons of responses and after much prayer and meditation, we decided that we must make a great change in the "style" of our alter calls.
Here is the way that the new system works in our weekend gathering. I ask everyone to bow their heads for a time of reflection and prayer. I then ask the question, "is there any one here who desires to start a relationship with Jesus? If so, please raise your hand. Please know, that I am not going to call you down front, point you out, or embarrass you. I am simply going to lead you in a prayer." After we pray together, I invite anyone who prayed that prayer for the first time to the front of the church (as the congregants are being dismissed) to prayer with myself or one of the leaders. Also, everyone who chooses to start a relationship with Christ will be asked to participate in a public baptism, which is to confirm publicly their new relationship with Christ.
By the way, I am not saying that every church should make a change in this area and if you don't then you are stuck in a rut!!! For us, it was the right thing to do and furthermore it was the right timing for us to make a change.
In addition, we are also rethinking our discipleship process for new believers and desire to create an effective way to allow people to grow in Christ. Any ideas that you have would be greatly appreciated.
0 comments:
Post a Comment