The walk of shame

[OneStrike_ur_out]

I was asked to do the walk of shame one time. I refused to do it and was threatened with withdrawal. I must have called their bluff, because I was never withdrawn from. In fact, the whole thing just sort of faded away. I never quite understood what the point of it was anyway. I mean, having to go before the entire congregation is just flat out embarrassing. Suffering such an embarrassment only adds to what the person is already going through. If someone messes up, then that should just be between them and God. Not to mention, you just know that someone going forward is only going to lead to gossip. That practice just seems too problematic. Of course, I am sure that there is a Bible verse or two that the cOC put their spin on to justify doing it as well as to try and prove that is was done in the 1st century Church. Did anyone else ever have experiences with the walk of shame? The previous board had some really good posts about it. I wish I could find them again, but that board no loner exists. Anyway, any shares would be greatly appreciated.

[Cootie Brown]

When I was an elder I would tell the person going forward to simply say they were confessing a sin issue in their life & that they were repenting. I would tell them the specifics are nobodies business. That is between you & God & whoever else might be involved.

The Baptist do this too, but many mainline denominations don't. If your group are Bible literalists then this sort of thing is just going to be part of the beliefs & traditions.

The other option is simply not to sin. Live a perfect life.....good luck with that.

[Ivy]

Unfortunately, yes....made many walks of shame back in the day.

[Shrubbery]

I haven't ever made one (goodness, I couldn't even go forward during a service to be baptized... I did that via a small Bible study where we met after hours at the building to do that whole thing with just a handful of witnesses). I've seen others make them several times. In MOST cases, the elders have been somewhat vague about what was going on, unless it was a public sin. We have one guy that is mentally ill and sometimes thinks he's been sinning in ways that no one else in the congregation would think is a sin, and the elders have handled those situations really well - praying for him anyway, but acknowledging that they don't think what he did was a sin. Occasionally someone will come forward and read a note they've written to the church.

I suspect some of the walk of shame issues probably stem from bad elders. I've been lucky that the elders of my congregation are generally good guys and not out to get people. I disagree strongly with their theology, obviously. But these guys aren't trying to rule over people to death, ya know? Sounds a bit like what Cootie mentioned above. Now some of the more rural congregations closer to me... I've heard some bad stuff about the walk of shame and how the elders handled sin. One church split over such bad handling. Funny thing was that EVERYONE in the church thought the person had sinned. There was no dispute over that. It was how the elders handled that person that caused the split.

[B.H.]

It says somewhere in the bible not to shame repentant sinners. In my opinion that would rule out the walking down the aisle and confessing stuff. If the person feels they need to and it does not shame them I have no problem with them doing it of their own choice but I never thought it should be required.

[Tsathoggua]

When I was in Junior High, way back in the early and mid 1970s, I had a couple of acquaintances (a boy and a girl, unrelated) who would "go forward" every few weeks, with copious waterworks on display. Later on, they would talk about the horrendous acts that led them to the dreaded "walk of shame" up to the goldang'd pulpit. I never pressed them for this info, but would receive it regardless of my lack of interest. It was always the most trivial things imaginable, at least if you ask me. -- "I glanced through a book that no Christian has any business reading." "I watched a few minutes of a science fiction or horror movie." "I had lustful thoughts while looking at a classmate". --- Really, a true "walk on the mild side"!

After a better part of a year, they were each past this phase. Thankfully......

[Shrubbery]

"I had lustful thoughts while looking at a classmate". --- Really, a true "walk on the mild side"!

After a better part of a year, they were each past this phase. Thankfully......

I'm pretty sure that's called "puberty".

[Shrubbery]

Btw, I think the whole invitation stuff is really weird. I don't see any example in the Bible of a non-believer worshiping with the believers. They did their converting OUTSIDE of church. And 99% of the time an invitation is made, the only "non-coc" people there are the kids who haven't been baptized yet. And those kids usually get baptized during a camp or late at night after a Bible study or something like that. They're not coming forward to get baptized in front of the whole congregation most of the time. I think I've seen maybe ONE teenager get baptized? The rest have all done so after hours. And if it's available 24/7 to do it, why do we need to invite people after every sermon? And inviting sinners to come forward and confess... I don't see that in the Bible either. Do they think we have so many sins that we need this invitation every single week? The people who do come forward do so so rarely, and half the time it's either vague stuff that could have been handled by just going to an elder and asking to be included in announcements/prayers, or it's not even anything to come forward publicly about. A public sin would be spreading gossip about Bessy to half the church. Having lustful thoughts about someone that's not your spouse would be between you and God - it's not a public sin.

What other groups do this kind of invitation/altar call? I know the Baptists do, and I assume that's where the coc gets it. I can't think of anyone else, but I haven't been to all the denominations. I mostly attended your basic Catholic offshoots (Lutheran, Methodist, Episcopal) and the Catholic churches. Those groups don't do altar calls or invitations.

[Letmethink]

I don't see any example in the Bible of a non-believer worshiping with the believers.

Similarly, I find no example of preachers routinely preaching the gospel message to those who already believe.

If Christians want to do it by the book, rather than sitting in a pew 3 sessions a week with the same people hearing the same message, they should start preaching to atheists, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists - everyone who hasn’t accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

[SolaDude]

Btw, I think the whole invitation stuff is really weird. I don't see any example in the Bible of a non-believer worshiping with the believers. They did their converting OUTSIDE of church. And 99% of the time an invitation is made, the only "non-coc" people there are the kids who haven't been baptized yet. And those kids usually get baptized during a camp or late at night after a Bible study or something like that. They're not coming forward to get baptized in front of the whole congregation most of the time. I think I've seen maybe ONE teenager get baptized? The rest have all done so after hours. And if it's available 24/7 to do it, why do we need to invite people after every sermon? And inviting sinners to come forward and confess... I don't see that in the Bible either. Do they think we have so many sins that we need this invitation every single week? The people who do come forward do so so rarely, and half the time it's either vague stuff that could have been handled by just going to an elder and asking to be included in announcements/prayers, or it's not even anything to come forward publicly about. A public sin would be spreading gossip about Bessy to half the church. Having lustful thoughts about someone that's not your spouse would be between you and God - it's not a public sin.

What other groups do this kind of invitation/altar call? I know the Baptists do, and I assume that's where the coc gets it. I can't think of anyone else, but I haven't been to all the denominations. I mostly attended your basic Catholic offshoots (Lutheran, Methodist, Episcopal) and the Catholic churches. Those groups don't do altar calls or invitations.

Reformed churches typically don't do that.... The coming forward thing, i.e. altar call, came I think in the 19th century, started by Charles Finney I believe....