One of the lingering practices of the revivals and crusade meetings in recent centuries (like those of Charles G. Finney, Dwight L. Moody, Billy Sunday, and others) was the invitation hymn at the end of the service. Best known among those, perhaps, was “Just As I Am,” sung at the conclusion of every one of Billy Graham’s crusades across the world. In many churches with a revivalistic heritage it is expected that every service will conclude with an evangelistic invitation, and a hymn as people are encouraged to come forward to signify their decision to receive Christ as Savior.
While every true church is committed to evangelism and to inviting unbelievers to respond to the gospel, not every church is comfortable with this particular practice. That is especially so when the words spoken by the pastor give the impression that the act of coming forward is proof that the person has been born again. That is evident in the way in many such situations the person who has come forward is baptized on the spot and is immediately enrolled as a member of the church. But rather than telling them that they are now saved (“and don’t ever doubt it!”), those churches in a Reformed tradition will prefer to describe such a person as “a hopeful convert,” needing time to see if they have truly understood the gospel and are showing evidence of growing in that conviction and the new lifestyle of the redeemed as they are discipled.