The enduring legacy of evangelist Charles Finney is “exciting” church services and a misunderstanding of what evangelism is.

It’s hard enough to be a Christian in a world where our beliefs are constantly mocked and ridiculed. Christians seeking to live by the principles of Scripture face constant dangers. Depending on what part of the world a person lives in, those dangers are more severe. Here in the United States, we could face ridicule or stereotyping, lose friends or maybe even our job. In other parts of the world the loss could be as great as losing ones life for the sake of the Gospel.

With the challenges we face in living out our faith, we need all the help we can get to be strong and stand firm. Which is why it’s hard to believe that one of history’s most well-known evangelists left a legacy that is not helping.

If you are unfamiliar with Charles Finney and his work as an evangelist I suggest you start here. This well written article by Dr. Michael Horton will be an excellent primer on the man that brought us the “anxious bench,” the pre-cursor to today’s altar call. The article will explain how Finney focused on methods rather than the Holy Spirit working in his ministry. It will also highlight some of Finney’s dangerous and unbiblical doctrine. While much could be said about the damage to the American church brought by Finney, I want to focus on two things specifically: exciting church services and a misunderstanding of evangelism.

“You don’t want to miss church this Sunday, it is going to be the most exciting week ever!”

I’m sure you’ve seen or heard this before. It seems even churches are now “hyping” their weekend services. They want to let you know just how awesome the service will be, and how sorry you’ll be if you miss it. Countless books have been written on the most “cutting-edge” methods for creating exciting church services. Our current evangelical landscape is replete with “experts” that have entire ministries built around teaching churches the latest methods. Our program centric church is convinced that if we find the right method, we will see people saved.

Much of this can be attributed to Finney as he began to utilize methods designed to elicit an emotional response from his hearers. Horton comments that Finney’s tactics included “measures such as the ‘anxious bench’, emotional tactics that led to fainting and weeping, and other ‘excitements,’ as Finney and his followers called them.”

Finney was essentially seeking to create an exciting experience, an emotional appeal that sought to manipulate the senses of an individual and propel the person towards salvation. In case there is any doubt as to the mindset of Finney concerning the need and dependence on the Holy Spirit in his revivals, the following quote should make it clear:

“A revival is not a miracle…There is nothing in religion beyond the ordinary powers of nature.’ Find the most useful methods, (“excitements,” he called them) and there will be conversion. ‘A revival will decline and cease,’ he warned, ‘unless Christians are frequently re-converted.’”

The same dangerous ideas that led Finney during his career are driving many of our churches today. The desire to create an exciting show, with lights, smoke, bands, and personalities that draw people are no different than the “exciting” measure Finney sought to use. Rather than preaching the Bible in any way that drives people towards the cross of Christ, many churches are giving “talks” designed to speak to the “felt needs” of people. The damaging effects of these methods can be seen by simply walking through the front door of many American churches and asking the first passerby to explain the Gospel, expound on their theological positions, or recite any verse (other than John 3:16).

Finney feared that people would become “spiritually exhausted” by the desire for increasingly exciting services. It is said that “Toward the end of his ministry, as he considered the condition of many who had experienced his revivals, Finney wondered if this endless craving for ever-greater experiences might lead to spiritual exhaustion.”

We are clearly representative of Finney’s fear, due largely to his method of creating exciting church services. Finney emphasized methods, methods designed to manipulate emotions, methods that had to be recreated over and over to continue attracting people to the service. Many churches today house “spiritually exhausted” pastors, leaders, and volunteers that have to hype themselves up each week just to perform the functions of their various titles. Rather than emphasizing the clear preaching of the Scriptures, elaborate shows are constructed each week to make church exciting. Theological depth has been replaced with showmanship.

As for the altar call, this method, first used by Finney, has left a legacy of misunderstanding evangelism that has done tremendous harm to the American church.

Prior to the 19th century there was no such thing as an altar call. It might surprise many to know the church, even the American church, never used such a method. And yet, the American church experienced tremendous growth. But Finney wanted more. He wanted to see people saved immediately and sought to use the altar call (he called it the “anxious bench”) to create an emotional response from people. The unintended consequence, however, was to change the way Christians think about evangelism.

Few Christians in America today practice personal evangelism. There is a terrible dependence on the church, the pastor, and the altar call to do the work of evangelism. Many Christians are not even sure how to share the Gospel message, further evidencing the dependence on the church to do this for them. Whereas for many years evangelism was something done outside the church, after Finney, it was thought of as something the church does for people, inside the church.

Today, most Christians think the Sunday morning service is for the purpose of evangelism. Churches structure their services to be evangelistic, and people are told to invite their lost friends so they can hear the Gospel. Being reinforced is the idea that evangelism is the responsibility of the church rather than individual Christians. And, the Sunday service is for evangelism rather than teaching the Scriptures, worship, praise, prayer, and observance of the sacraments.

The legacy of Charles Finney in American evangelicalism is complicated. Many see him as a great revivalist, leading souls to Christ across the nation. Others see him as a destructive force, infusing a false doctrine, bad theology, and harmful methods into the church. Both can’t be right.