The Evolution of the Evangelical Altar.

I always feel bad when I am at a church, and I am the only one not up at the altar.

It isn’t that I don’t love “altar calls.” But most of the times when I don’t go up front (follow the double negative), it isn’t because what the pastor says doesn’t apply to my life. It does apply to my life. The problem when it comes to altar calls is usually the call to come up front deals with something that every one can relate to.

It is an emotional appeal aimed at solely one thing – to get a large response.

I think it is okay to find something that all people can work on. It is part of the human condition. But it is entirely different when the altar call is practically, “Come up front if you aren’t perfect.” Most of the time in these situations the intention of the altar call isn’t about changing the hearts of the people, but it is geared towards getting a response from the pulpit. It is an emotionally induced application that leaves people feeling satisfied with walking out the door.

This is a typical monologue:

“I feel bad about [insert relevant sin].”

“I’m going to walk up front and stand and pray and cry for a few minutes at the altar.”

“Okay, now I am going to walk out the door and continue on with my life without actually making any changes to my lifestyle.”

So let’s get some facts straight:

First off, “altar calls” (as far as we know) were not a part of the early church. There isn’t any mention of altar calls in a service or in service order in any New Testament text. The altar in the Old Testament was the place where a myriad of different sacrifices were made to God. Along the way and as of recently, it was decided that it would be a place of spiritual sacrifice – offering oneself as a living sacrifice to God (Rom 12:1). Though this might be indirectly applying biblical truths, altar calls themselves are not biblical. Yet there are churches embracing altar calls and shunning moves of the Spirit, because moves of the Spirit are “unbiblical.”

Talk about your double standard.

There is a practical place for an “altar call.” We can embrace it as a tradition as long as we don’t try to defend it as doctrine. The altar is a place where one can receive prayer. It is a marvelous place for intercession. Sometimes it is even a wonderful place of proclamation and acclamation! The altar is a place where one’s life can be altered.

But the altar is NOT a place of application.

You can only apply the teaching of Christ or the Bible away from the altar. Application means that there is an action, and while the altar might help you take that first step, it can’t do anything after the steps are taken. That is just direct obedience.

If you go to the altar, make sure you walk your decisions out of the door. Intentions without actions are inanimate.

Live a life of animation.

Live a life of application.

Press on past the altar.

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Radical Restoration and Racy Reputations

In a small town, it is easy to get a bad reputation. And this scenario isn’t any different.

This woman (we will call her Jessica) was not only known for having a bad track record, but even now she is living with a man who isn’t her husband. I guess I should clarify and say, “one of her husbands,” because there are several. All in the town have marked her as an outcast… I mean, except for the men that are looking for a “good time.” Jessica is a slut in the eyes of the civilized and uncivilized alike.

This past weekend I helped lead worship at our church’s satellite campus in Stamford, CT. The city isn’t in the pristine condition of neighboring Greenwich. As a whole, however, Stamford isn’t much different than any other urban city in America. The church meets in a movie theater right in the heart of the city. Before the theater opens and people stream in, the church sets up, meets for congregational fellowship, and tears everything down with the coming crowd being completely unaware of all that had happened earlier that day.

What struck me as strange in my commute this week was passing the building where the “Jerry Springer Show” meets. Just two blocks away from where our church meets (in a movie theater) is one of the most degrading and debasing shows ever to hit the boob tube. I passed the building a couple weeks ago, and there were people flooding the street, waiting in line, hoping to get in to see the crudeness that would soon ensue.

Jessica isn’t a woman you or I know. She is a woman whose name has been lost over time. Today many Christians know her as “the woman at the well.” When the people in her community saw her as an outcast, Jesus came and shared with her the secrets to the kingdom of heaven. When men had spent years taking advantage of her and debasing her, Jesus chose to share with her, more than any other human, the secret of who he was as the Son of God.

She was neither worthy nor deserving of even being spoken to by a Rabbi of such high esteem. She was someone who today we would see on the Springer Show.

The woman at the well wasn’t even a Jew. The Jews saw themselves as the heirs of the Promise of God. The Samaritans, to whom the woman belonged, were a group of mixed lineages who worshiped at a different Temple than the true Temple in Jerusalem. Many Jews saw them as half-breeds. And this woman was the lowest of them.

The most profound moment of the woman’s encounter with Jesus was when she asked him about the Temple where she worshiped. She was wondering what he, as a Jew, thought about these “half-breeds” worshiping at a different Temple than the one they were supposed to. This is what Jesus said: “The time is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father… but the true worshipers will worship the Father in sprit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him.”

With Christ’s statement, he opened the door! A message of hope that was once exclusively to the Jews is now being offered to everyone! Where the people of God once had to go to the Temple to experience the Presence of God, now God’s Presence is made available to all people.

God isn’t looking for people who attend the right or wrong temple or church. God is seeking those who worship him in spirit and truth. That’s why we can meet in a movie theater down the road from Jerry Springer. That’s why any person from any walk of life is welcome to worship Jesus as Lord.

Jesus seeks out those who are hurting and abused. He doesn’t care how the world might view them. Jesus brings the message of reconciliation and restoration.

Are we doing the same?

Preference in Performance

One could imagine the shock of terror on the rigid man’s face as the music began to play. Were people actually taking a part in this? Were people singing psalms over the popular bar melodies that had become so popular within the culture? This wasn’t the convoluted orchestral music that the man in the congregation was used to. This was blasphemous! Bar music and church music should not mix, and it was equally nonsensical for the people of the audience to join along. What has the world come to?

I am currently enrolled in a church history class at Central Bible College. This past section we went over the life of Martin Luther. It was both informational and inspirational. One thing that I never considered before was the way in which Luther changed congregational worship. The professor, Dr. Crabtree, vividly illustrated the emotion behind this idea. Before, the congregation merely listened, not participating in congregational worship (i.e. singing along with the music), but the service was directed towards the Lord’s Supper. When the Reformation happened, Luther took many of the popular secular bar songs of his time and put Christian words to them. Singing and participating in worship has since been an integral part in many evangelical church services.

But has the “American Church” gone off the deep end lately? Many have thought so and have dubbed a new genre of worship in the American Church that has been whispered across the pews… no, not pews… this church is too relevant for pews! This genre is unofficially known as, “Performance-driven Worship.”

But isn’t every “worship service” a performance? Once music is added into the mix, the shindig is on! I find it appealing that some people pick and choose what they consider a performance. I find it even MORE appealing when churches mask their approach to their performance, wanting it to seem as though they aren’t performing at all! Let me be frank: a lonely woman tickling the ivories and wailing “Days of Elijah” can have just as much of a performance factor as an immaculate, well-practiced worship team with strobe lights and fog machines.

The big question here really is: “Who are we performing for?”

I think one of the problems here coattails along with my previous blog – that people are trying to integrate personal and corporate worship. If worship is to be a performance towards God, then it is in the hands of the worship leader to make sure that God receives the most glorious and richest performance ever! This means that the music genre will have to be culturally specific – meaning that there will be churches with an organ, and there will be churches with a fog machine. This also means that the person leading worship picks songs that glorify God and are conducive to a corporate worship setting. But this problem isn’t the only one.

I think another problem is that people are confusing “performance-driven” with “self-gratifying.” The point of a “worship performance” is to point the people to God not point people to oneself. I’m sure that people can stand in awe of both God and in awe of the guitarist’s mad, face-melting solo, but just make sure the point is not lost. Remember that this is a weighty balance. Some ego’s can handle it and some can’t (from an on-stage perspective). If leaders don’t have patience and understanding about these issues, I don’t know if this balance can ever be resolved.

Maybe you need to reflect on a time when you weren’t gracious with the worship at a church you attended. Give the key-tickling, 90’s-song-wailing, sister in Christ a chance! And don’t assume that the fog machine is there to replace the “Holy Ghost.” Learn to live with one another. And remember that EVERYONE HAS AN OPINION ABOUT WORSHIP MUSIC!

This is just my opinion.

Commitment. Corporate. Congregation.

“But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.” –John 4:23

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” –Romans 12:1

In my realm of Pentecostal praise and worship, in a congregational setting (I can’t speak for the whole realm of Christdom), many believers are swayed to try and have an “experience” with God. I think that they are missing the point of congregational worship. I don’t think congregational worship is about having an experience with God. I think that it is a precedent to the real focus of what is involved in a congregational setting – proclamation of the Sovereign King.

Proclamation is giving glory and praise to God despite what one is feeling. It is being shackled to declaring the truth, despite what experience or feeling says. Proclamation has to do with commitment. Like I said above, I think that experience is important, but I don’t think it is the main focus. Experience should be what a believer seeks in their own personal devotional time. This is a two-fold process of balancing experience with proclamation; its fruits are a personal walk with Christ and fulfilling the mission of God, which is the Great Commission.

I don’t think that congregations are the only ones in the wrong here. I think leaders of the church are to be held responsible too. Take time and read the majority of music sung in corporate worship settings. The majority of them talk about 1st person experiences – ignoring the purpose of congregational worship, which is to worship God as a collective whole.

Do you have a healthy balance of personal devotion and commitment?

Take time this week and focus on what you do when you spend time with God personally and corporately. I don’t think that these two ideas should be divorced. But I do think that we need to have different focuses of them in different settings, because there are different purposes of worshiping God collectively and personally. Remember – I don’t have this figured out. I might change my mind in a week and wonder why I ever thought this. Take time this week, whether you agree or disagree with me, and ask yourself if you are truly worshiping God. Live for Him. Meet with Him. Declare His love.