Sinner's Prayer 

A Sinner's Prayer is a Christian term referring to any prayer of repentance, spoken or read by individuals who recognize the presence of sin in their life and desire to form or strengthen their relationship with God through his son Jesus Christ. It is not intended as liturgical like a creed or a confiteor.

It is any prayer designed to make it simple for one wanting to become a Christian to confess sin, acknowledge the need for salvation or redemption through Jesus Christ, and make a commitment to "receive Christ as Savior." The prayer is typically very basic, short, simple and straight to the point.

A sinner's prayer is sometimes uttered by Christians seeking redemption during a crisis or disaster where death appears imminent, such as the miners trapped by the Sago Mine disaster.

The use of the Sinner's Prayer is common within many reformed or Protestant churches, such as baptists, evangelicals, fundamentalists, pentecostal, charismatics, etc. It is generally not used by Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Orthodox and the other ancient traditional Christian Churches.
 

Origin:

Evangelists such as Billy Graham and evangelistic organizations such as Campus Crusade for Christ brought the concept to prominence in the 20th century. Televangelists often ask viewers to pray a Sinner's Prayer with them, phrase at a time, to become a Christian. Quite commonly, such a prayer appears at the conclusion of a tract and is recited in a religious service or other public service as an invitation for congregants to affirm their faith, sometimes as part of an altar call.

Example:

Heavenly Father, I know that I have sinned against you and that my sins separate me from you. I am truly sorry. I now want to turn away from my past sinful life and turn to you for forgiveness. Please forgive me, and help me avoid sinning again. I believe that your son, Jesus Christ, died for my sins, was resurrected from the dead, is alive, and hears my prayer. I invite Jesus to become the Lord of my life, to rule and reign in my heart from this day forward. Please send your Holy Spirit to help me obey You, and to do Your will for the rest of my life. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

Criticisms:

The validity of the Sinner's Prayer has been heavily criticized by a lot of Christians for a variety of reasons.

One criticism comes from those traditional Christians who believe that baptism is generally necessary for salvation, like the Churches of Christ. One such critic has labeled the prayer an "apostasy" since the presumption is that salvation can instantly be received (prior to baptism) upon confessing one's sins and accepting Christ as Savior and Lord. See baptismal regeneration for more information on this issue.

The absence of any example of conversion in the Bible through the Sinner's Prayer is also used to point out its baselessness. The New Testament would seem to indicate conversion by Baptism. In the conversion of Saul of Tarsus (the Apostle Paul), Saul is blinded for three days and is praying during this time Acts 9:9-11. Ananias arrives and baptizes Saul to wash away his sins Acts 22:16. Baptism is also called "washing of regeneration" and being "born again" in the Bible, indicating the regenerative quality of Baptism.

The sinner's prayer has also been criticized by Lutherans for compromising the doctrine of salvation by grace alone through faith alone, since it adds something to grace and faith (namely, the human act in the form of prayer). According to Lutheranism, prayer can never make someone a Christian. Prayer presupposes that one is already a Christian believer. Another criticism is that many fail to mature as Christians after their supposed conversion using the Sinner's Prayer. An article in Christianity Today claims that mediocrity and hypocrisy characterize the lives of many avowed Christians. It encourages believers to go beyond a Sinner's Prayer and "embark on a life fully devoted to the love of God, the love of neighbor, the moral practice of God's will, and radical, costly discipleship."

Still others object to the sinner's prayer being offered in a service where emotions may be heightened due to intense preaching, pleading, and/or emotional music, thus leading to an emotion-based decision, rather than a true heart-felt one.