The following is a post that I have been intending to do for quite some time - on the gospel invitation system (any organized method that requires people to make an outward response to the gospel). Mark Dever, pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church, was once asked if he does invitations at the end of the worship services. When he replied that he doesn't, the questioner then asked, "Then how do people get saved?" Mark explained they get saved the same way people got saved for the 1800 years prior to Charles Finney's invention of the invitation system...by repenting of their sins and trusting in the finished work of Christ alone for their salvation. The altar call has become so ingrained in evangelicalism today that many do not realize that it wasn't part of evangelism before the 1800s. The system has been refined by various preachers/evangelists over the years to the extent that many equate "coming to faith" with "going down the aisle." This is not only wrong; it's also dangerous. So, I want to present some thoughts on the invitation system (taken from a pamphlet by Jim Ehrhard entitled The Dangers of the Invitation System).

1. The danger of promoting a method not promoted in Scripture - Jesus called men to a life of discipleship, not just a one time decision about Him made during an altar call. No passage of Scripture indicates this method being used by Jesus or the disciples.
   
2. The danger of eliciting an emotional response based upon the personality of the speaker or the persuasion of the appeal. In the parable of the soils, Jesus describes those who "when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness", but "they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time." There is a psychological pressure especially in crowds that cause people to respond apart from genuine saving faith. "The extension of an appeal for public decision may result in a purely psychological response that provides a catharsis for the emotional pressure of the sermon. Such persons falsely assume that their action has made them right with God. In others, it may drive them further into skepticism and doubt about the reality of the conversion of anyone." (p. 9)
3. The danger of confusing the "coming forward" with salvation - probably the greatest danger. We are saved by faith in Christ alone, not by going through the act of walking the aisle in obedience to the evangelist. Sometimes people are asked to come to the altar to make commitments that don't even include the gospel. Billy Sunday exhorted people to "come on down and take my hand against booze, for Jesus Christ, for your flag."
   
4. The danger of counting great numbers who only discredit their profession by their lives. "Even the statistics compiled using the invitation system show that only a very small percentage of 'professors' show any signs of conversion even a few weeks after the decision." (p.12) Few are genuinely interested in church, the Bible, or even talking about their faith in Christ. "Such was not the common experience before the use of the invitation system. Those who were converted were so thoroughly changed that there was no need of a system to encourage decisions or record them before there was fruit." (p.13)
5. The danger of giving assurance to those who are unconverted. When we share the gospel, we must be careful not to give assurance to those who show no evidence of a changed life. But, that is what the invitation system does. People are led to believe that their one time "decision" settles things with God, and many are even told to never doubt or examine their salvation. Are they continuing to follow Christ? "For years, we have heard about the values of the invitation system. It is even widely intimated (often plainly stated) that one who failed to give public invitations could not be concerned for the souls of men. Yet could it be that the very opposite is true: that the very extension of such an appeal might be the means for deluding many into a false state of assurance ultimately resulting in their damnation?" (p.15-16)

Instead of using the invitation system, we should simply proclaim the truth of the gospel, call men to repentance and faith, and leave the results to God who alone can bring people to faith. (John 6:44) It is the power of God's Word that converts, so no human manipulation or pleading is necessary.