I love the posts that pop up regularly on social media that ask questions like, “Are you old enough to remember when … ?”
They ask questions like: “Do you remember when the driver’s left foot had to push a button on the floor of the car to turn the bright headlights on and off?” or “when there were only three channels on your television” or “when you stayed home from Sunday evening church to see the Beatles appear on the Ed Sullivan Show?”
Four-part altar call
Concerning church, do you remember when there was an altar call of the end of every worship service that had four parts to it? First, come forward if you want to receive or publicly profess Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior.
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Second, if you want to transfer your membership from another church. Third, if you want to rededicate your life to Jesus. Fourth, if God is calling you to vocational Christian service.
If you remember this four-part altar call, then you are my people. If you do not, then I want to talk with you about the fourth part of the altar call.
The issue of too few people appearing to be called into Christian ministry service as a lifelong vocation is talked about regularly. I agree with the angst about this issue. Yes, I believe there are too few people committing to lifelong roles of Christian service out of a sense of God’s spiritual call.
Perhaps it is because local congregations lack a formal system to help ever-maturing Christlike disciples understand the call of God on their lives. This applies to everyone, including people God is calling to be faithful and effective laypersons. But it may especially be true of people God is calling to a lifelong formal — even ordained — Christian ministry role.
Void that needs to be filled
Perhaps altar calls asking people to publicly declare they feel God is calling them into vocational Christian service ran their course. That happens to many things.
The challenge is it was not replaced with something that was equally effective. I believe there is a void that needs to be filled either with the former emphasis and method, or a new, even more effective way.
I certainly believe local congregations ought to take a lead in this effort. My role is not to design the new emphasis and method, but to call for it. Perhaps God is calling your congregation to engage in new initiatives in this area.
‘Learning journey’
As you think about the need for congregations to call out the called, let me give you a background of how it happened in my life.
The Baptist congregation I grew up in used the four-part altar call. When I was 12 years old, I went forward during a spring revival and told the pastor I felt called to vocational Christian ministry.
This declaration was not an event. It began a learning journey.
Our congregation had a learning community for people who felt called into formal Christian ministry roles. We had almost two dozen people in that learning community. We met regularly for prayer, training and planning for the next steps in our response to God’s call.
What is your church doing?
How is your congregation currently focusing on calling out the called?
How does God want your congregation to focus on this?
Are you called to vocational Christian ministry, but don’t know what to do with that sense of call? Begin with a conversation with your pastor or another trusted leader.
EDITOR’S NOTE — George Bullard spent five decades in Baptist congregational and denominational ministry. His ministry roles included three churches, three associations, three state conventions and one national entity. He began as a columnist for TAB Media Group’s publication The Baptist Paper in 2022. Bullard now serves as a strategic thinking mentor for Christian leaders through his ForthTelling Innovation ministry. TAB Media Group published his new book “Soaring with Faith: The Difference Maker for Congregations” — available on Amazon.
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