Easter is one of the greatest times of the year to reach families.
I love to see how creative we are all becoming in reaching our communities. I know at our church we are doing a “Glow In The Dark” Easter Egg Hunt. It will be lots of fun, but that’s not the main event. Our main event will be our message of salvation to kids.
I wanted to share with you a message from our friend, Jerry Moyer about the importance of giving a Salvation altar call.
I believe that it is the goodness of God that brings man to repentance. When people understand the good news of the gospel and that the price has already been paid for them, they will want to receive this gift that has been offered to them.
By coming forward, in an altar call, it is making a public profession of faith. It lets everyone know what they did.
I realize that a lot of the “Church World” has moved away from doing altar calls during their services.
Many people have questioned why I continue to use this method of evangelism.
Let me start off by stating a few things that I see that would cause leaders to shy away from this method:
1. Just because someone comes forward during a service does not mean that a change has taken place in their lives.
2. Abuse in the past with high pressure of hell fire and brimstone.
3. There is no Biblical example of altar calls in the Bible and that it is a method that the modern church world has adapted for evangelism.
When I invite people to come to the front to receive Jesus, I am very specific about who I want to come forward.
I do not just tag an invitation on the end of each service as an afterthought. If I give an invitation to be born again, I spend time teaching about it. I believe that faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17). If the Word is not taught on the subject, how can a person have faith to receive salvation?
I also believe that there must be a time where children have a chance to be born again while they are attending our services.
There is a new trend that teaches that it is the parent’s job to lead the children into the new birth. I do not disagree with this. Ultimately it should be the parent that prays with their children to be born again.
But to be honest about this, a lot of parents are not comfortable discussing it with their children or don’t know how.
If we always put it in the parent’s ballpark, do we let these children creep through the cracks of our system if their parents are not themselves born again or may not even go to church.
I say no. Let’s make it a high on our priority list. Make room for it in our service schedules.
This is why I do Salvation altar calls. I don’t miss an opportunity to lead someone to Christ.
Jerry is one of the top Children’s/Family Evangelists in America.
You can learn more about his ministry Jubilee Gang by clicking here.
I would love to hear from you about what the Holy Spirit did at your church on Easter. Shoot me an email at service@superchurch.com.
