Have you ever looked around in your community and wondered why our country seems full of churches, yet still full of corruption, broken families, and violence? Why is it that we have so many people calling themselves “born again,” but so little evidence of new life? Could it be that something deadly has entered our churches—a false idea that sounds right, feels spiritual, but quietly kills the life of the church?
Many South African Baptists would quickly reject obvious heresies like denying the Trinity or rejecting the Bible. But there is another heresy, far more subtle, that most of us would not even recognize as one. It is called Decisional Regeneration—the belief that a person can be born again simply by making a decision, praying a short prayer, or walking down the aisle after a sermon.
At first glance, it looks innocent. After all, don’t people need to “decide for Christ”? Don’t we want them to come forward when the pastor invites them? But behind this seemingly harmless practice lies a tragic distortion of the gospel—one that replaces God’s work in the heart with human effort, and true conversion with religious emotion.
How It Began
The roots of this teaching go back to the 19th century, to men like Charles Finney in America, who taught that “religion is the work of man.” Finney believed that revival could be produced through the right methods—music, atmosphere, persuasion—and that conversion was within the power of human decision. His methods gave birth to the modern altar call, where people were invited to “come to the front” or “pray the sinner’s prayer” to receive Christ.
For many churches, including ours in South Africa, this practice became a normal part of evangelism. Pastors began to measure success not by faithfulness to God’s Word, but by the number of “decisions” recorded after a service. Over time, the altar call became sacred tradition. Few ever stopped to ask: Is this how Jesus or the apostles led people to salvation?
The Problem with Decisional Regeneration
Jesus told Nicodemus, “No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again” (John 3:3). The word “again” can also mean “from above.” The new birth is something God does—not something we produce by our own will. The Bible says that believers are “born not of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God” (John 1:13).
But decisional regeneration says the opposite. It says a person can be born again by their own choice—by repeating a prayer or signing a card. The result is a Christianity centered not on God’s sovereign grace, but on human effort. This may feel empowering, but it leaves many people deceived. They think they are saved because they “did the prayer,” even though their hearts remain unchanged.
This is why so many churches today are full of unregenerate members—people who have never been truly born again. They attend services, sing, and give offerings, but they do not love Christ or walk in obedience. The altar call gave them a false assurance of salvation, and no one ever told them that the new birth is a miracle only God can perform.
How This Heresy Spreads
The reason this heresy spreads so easily is because it produces visible results. It fills pews and creates statistics that look impressive. People can point to hundreds of “decisions” after a crusade or youth camp and feel that the gospel is advancing. But these “decisions” often fade quickly. Studies have shown that many who “come forward” show no sign of Christian life a few months later.
When this happens, churches often blame poor follow-up or lack of discipleship. But the real issue is deeper: the person was never truly converted. They were moved emotionally, but not regenerated spiritually.
Over time, this weakens the church. Membership rolls grow, but spiritual maturity declines. Worship becomes more about entertainment than reverence. Preaching becomes shallow and man-centered. The focus shifts from God’s glory to human need. Slowly, without noticing, the church drifts away from the gospel of grace and begins to trust in its own ability to produce converts.
The Connection with Altar Calls
Altar calls are not wrong in themselves. Inviting people to respond to the gospel is biblical. But when we use the altar call as proof of salvation, we replace God’s work with a man-made ritual. We tell people that if they walk forward or pray a certain prayer, they are now Christians. We forget that Judas walked with Jesus and said all the right words, yet his heart remained hard.
An altar call should be a place for broken sinners to cry out to God for mercy—not a formula for producing quick conversions. When we turn it into a system, we create confusion. Some people go home thinking they are saved when they are not. Others, after realizing nothing has changed, become bitter and cynical toward Christianity.
The church historian Iain Murray warned that such false conversions often create unbelievers who are “sprinkled all over the country”—people who once responded to an emotional appeal but now despise religion because they found it empty. This is happening in South Africa too. Many who once “accepted Jesus” now mock the church because they never experienced real new birth.
The Long-Term Effects
The effects of this heresy are slow but devastating. Because the church fills with unregenerate members, discipline becomes impossible. Carnal people elect carnal leaders. Churches split over petty issues. Pastors lose courage to preach repentance, fearing to offend the crowd. Gradually, the gospel itself is watered down.
The next generation grows up thinking Christianity is about saying the right words, not about being made new by the Spirit of God. Eventually, even the idea of regeneration sounds old-fashioned. When the church accepts this false teaching as normal, it becomes spiritually dead long before it realizes it.
A Call for Reformation
I do not write these things to attack others, but to call for repentance and renewal. We must return to the biblical gospel—the gospel that says salvation is of the Lord. We must teach our people that no one can come to Christ unless the Father draws them, and that true conversion shows itself in a changed life.
Our evangelism must not aim for quick decisions but for true disciples. Jesus did not tell us to “go and get people to raise their hands.” He said, “Go and make disciples… teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” When God is at the center, the fruit may come slowly, but it will last.
Let us pray for a new reformation among South African Baptists—a reformation that replaces man-centered decisionalism with God-centered preaching of grace. Let our altar calls be calls to humble repentance, not to self-confidence. Let our churches be filled with those who have truly been born from above, not those who merely repeated a prayer.
Because when the church builds on the false foundation of decisional regeneration, it may take years before the cracks appear—but by then, the damage is deep. The most deadly heresy is the one that looks most like the truth.
May God grant us the courage to see it, name it, and turn back before it is too late.