A call to unreserved surrender to God.
August 28, 2024 | Silver Spring, Maryland, United States | Ramon J. Canals
In 2022 the Seventh-day Adventist Church launched the Back to the Altar initiative. This initiative calls us to return to God as individuals, families, and churches; to restore the family altar by worshipping God in the morning and evening. It is a call to be more devoted to prayer and worship of God. “We should improve the opportunity for prayer, both in secret and around the family altar. Many need to learn to pray.”1 Back to the Altar is about spending unhurried time with God. It is about coming to Jesus as we are: weak, tired, and helpless. The initiative emphasizes four key areas: (a) personal worship, (b) family worship, (c) congregational worship, and (d) limiting distractions. It reminds us that “He calls upon us to offer ourselves on the altar of service, a living, consuming sacrifice. We are to make an unreserved consecration to God of all that we have and are.”2
Certain spiritual practices have been widely acknowledged throughout history as essential for a meaningful spiritual life. These practices include prayer, meditation on the life of Jesus, and the study of the Scriptures. When used together, these practices are integral to the development and growth of every church member. This is why emphasizing the importance of focusing on our relationship with God through prayer and reflection on His Word is critical to the initiative.
Communion With God
Back to the Altar is about communion with God. Ellen G. White wrote, “There is nothing more needed in the work than the practical results of communion with God.”3 Back to the Altar is a plea to individuals, families, and churches to return to God. The restoration of personal and family worship among Seventh-day Adventists is the most pressing need of our time, but doing so will require much prayer and effort. Like Elijah restoring the broken altar in Israel, we should commit to daily morning and evening worship, restoring our “altars” as individuals and families.
Radical Obedience
The initiative aims to inspire radical obedience to Jesus Christ, urging church members to surrender completely to His Lordship. This involves being guided by biblical truth and empowered by the Holy Spirit to live out faith practically. It challenges believers to follow God’s lead in all aspects of life, making intentional choices that honor Him. For this purpose, Back to the Altar provides resources, training, and support to help church members grow in faith and positively impact their communities.
Priority to Prayer and Worship
Back to the Altar encourages individuals and churches to prioritize daily prayer, worship, and personal and family devotions to cultivate a deep and abiding relationship with God. Jesus said, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you” (John 15:7). Why is the personal and family altar so important? Mrs. White wrote, “No words can properly set forth the deep blessedness of genuine worship.”4
Daily Surrender
Back to the Altar serves as a profound and inspiring reminder of the transformative power and deep significance of the cross of Christ in our lives. It beckons us to embrace a daily commitment to surrender every facet of our existence to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. The initiative encourages church members to open their hearts fully, permitting the Holy Spirit to infuse them with God’s constant life-giving presence. It’s an invitation to immerse themselves in spiritual renewal and personal growth based on God’s enduring love and grace.
Longing for God
Back to the Altar is a passionate pursuit of Jesus Christ and a wholehearted commitment to follow Him. It involves constantly yearning for God and His presence. Jesus promised to satisfy our thirst in John 7:37: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.” To practice Back to the Altar, we must cultivate a love for God and a desire to know Him more intimately by spending quality, unrushed time with Him. This involves developing a deep love for the Bible as the inspired Word of God and committing to study and apply its truths in our daily lives.
Authentic Relationship
Back to the Altar is a call to reject superficiality and embrace an authentic relationship with God. This relationship must be free from empty rituals and traditions. We are all very busy, but God loves us so much that He desires to draw us closer to Him. We can do this by spending quiet moments reading, learning, and meditating on His Word. We cannot truly know God and have an authentic, deep relationship with Him if we are unfamiliar with His Word. Only by studying and learning the Bible can we get to know Him.
Avoid Distractions
As a church we have never faced a more formidable challenge to personal worship than the one posed by digital media. Back to the Altar is a call to refocus our lives on worshipping and honoring God by turning away from the distractions of modern life. These distractions can include, but are not limited to, excessive busyness, digital devices, social media, and other forms of entertainment or noise that take our attention away from our spiritual well-being. Another type of distraction is overwork. This could be secular work or even working for God. We can become so busy serving the Lord that we forget the Lord of the work!
Prepared Hearts
Back to the Altar encourages us to prepare our hearts for Jesus’ second coming by living in expectation of His return and sharing the hope of salvation with others. This means committing to preparing our families for Jesus’ return by spreading the gospel and nurturing our relationships with our spouses, children, and loved ones.
1 Ellen G. White, in Review and Herald, July 24, 1883.
2 Ellen G. White, in Review and Herald, May 16, 1907.
3 Ellen G. Whte, Testimonies for the Church (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1948), vol. 6, p. 47.
4 Ibid., vol. 9, p. 143.