Ten Reasons the Altar Call Can Be Destructive to the Gospel of Jesus Christ

1. Sinners will equate "coming down the aisle" to "coming to Jesus" and may not really be experiencing any true conversion at all.
2. Most preachers who perform altar calls assume an inherent capacity in man to come to Christ, which is dangerous and not Biblical (see Romans 3:10ff).
3. Altar calls are often joined with a sinner's prayer. These prayers can be wrongly viewed as a magic formula that guarantees the salvation of the sinner, even when no true inward change has taken place.
4. There is no record of an altar call anywhere in Scripture.
5. The very term "altar call" is a misnomer because the front of the church is not an altar. There is only one altar upon which Jesus made the once-for-all sacrifice. Coming to him is not about coming to the front of the church but coming to him by faith.
6. Many altar calls rely upon emotionally manipulative techniques to boost results such as playing "Just as I Am" over and over.
7. Altar calls take the focus away from the merits of Christ and put the focus on the efforts of the sinner.
8. Altar calls wrongly assume that God sovereignly saves through an invitation rather than through the gospel (Rmns 1:17-18).
9. When true preaching takes place, those who are convicted will not need an invitation to come to Christ.
10. Altar calls put pressure on the pastor to produce results. This will mean that he might feel tempted to reduce every sermon to a four spiritual law, evangelistic message. Whenever this happens, the gospel has undoubtedly been watered down.