Altar Calls and Discipleship

Over and over the need for sacrifice comes up when I talk or think about sacrifice. It seems like there is so much that we need to sacrifice in order to become disciples of Christ. I can see how the thought of taking a discipleship walk could seem daunting to some when there is so much required of us. When I think of the alter calls that are given in some of the churches I have been in throughout my life, I can’t ever remember anything being said of what it costs to be a disciple. I remember the topic of change coming up and the saving Grace of God being brought up, but never anything of sacrifice. Come to think of it, I have never heard discipleship come up during an alter call. The leaders have only called the people up who wanted to give their life to Christ but have never told them what it entailed. Thinking on those altar calls it would seem that God is doing all the work and our work is finished when we walk up to the front of the church. Our actions get celebrated and we get to be a new number on the souls-saved-board and another Christian has been born. When will the church become less interested in the numbers on the souls-saved-board and more interested in the amount of productive disciples they are raising up? I was never taught that it was possible to be a Christian without being a disciple. I thought being a disciple was a quality of the life I was living in the eyes of the church and not an actual position that still needed to be filled in the kingdom of God today. I may be just ranting and raving because I see the lethargic state of the body of Christ today when there is so much work to do and it is being placed all on so few laborers. It is such a disservice to the Christians that we are converting to not allow them to experience the fullness of what Christ has to offer our lives when we decide to become disciples of His teachings and principles. Father God let your body be overcome with a fresh touch of your Spirit. Refresh those that are laboring for you and draw those who need to accept the call you have placed on their lives into service for your glory. Let a hunger and thirst for your presence and your will being done in their lives be incessant until they are sitting in your presence and moving in your will. Amen.