Songs are tools that offer us a thought, an understanding, a glimpse of God and His attributes.
We then respond to those truths in our minds while singing, whether found in O Worship the King or It Is Well or Rock of Ages or the latest Chris Tomlin, Tommy Walker or Dennis Jernigan tune.

I’ve been guilty of being so consumed with wrong notes, new tunes, old tunes that I’ve left the platform after “leading worship”, sat down in my seat and realized I never thought about God once, much less given Him anything or allowed Him to minister to me. Music, at least that day, had become an idol. Obviously, this is sin!

I’m determined to keep God as the object of my devotion and of my church as well. We use a test for selecting music, whether am old hymn or a newer tune.

Criteria for inclusion in a worship service:

Is it TRUTH? ie is it theologically accurate?

Is it singable after hearing it two or three times?

Does it cause me to worship? (not sing! Worship!)
You don’t have to sing to worship. We don’t have to control the Holy Spirit or congregations by demanding they respond in a certain way. I have often worshiped most deeply by sitting quietly and thinking and thanking God for His love.

If it is singable truth that causes me to worship, how can we best introduce this to our group? How many different ways can we teach this in the context of a worship service? Instrumental versions, solos, choir features etc. “You’ve heard this now at least three times. Join in this new song of praise.”

Support the new song offering with Scripture. Tie it into a sermon point. Talk BRIEFLY about the thoughts the Spirit placed in your mind when you first heard or selected this song.

Every church has it’s particular bent. Let’s use what works for our congregations and get off the crusades to destroy anything we dislike, misunderstand or in many cases, can’t pull off because of our personal tastes, training and talents.

One thought that comes to mind – triggered by the comment about Maddy prior and the CD “Sing Lustily and With Good Courage – Gallery hymns of the 18th and early 19th centuries” Saydisc CD-SDL 383 The cover notes quote Wesley’ instructions for singing 1761.

1. Leanr thses tunes beofre you leanr others….
2Sing them exactly as they are printed without altering or mending them at all…
3. Sing All. See that you join with the congregation as frequently as you can…
4. Sing lustily and with good courage. Beware of singing as if you were half dead, or half asleep; but lift your voice with strength…
5. Sing modestly. Do not bawl, so as to be heard above or distinct from the rest of the congregation, that you may not destroy the harmony…
6. Sing in time… Whatever time is sung, be sure to keep with it…. take care not to sing too slow…
7. Above all sing spiritually. Have an eye to God in every word you sing. Aim at pleasing Him more than yourself or any other creature…

The cover notes then explore the transformation of church music from the 17th century into the 18th discussing the move from the Psalmody to a more personal relationship to God focus using secular music and popular tunes.

praise of God is something that is not confined to the devout or the more spiritual. The christian church needs to mine the musical traditions and contemporary scene for anything thatmakes our hearts leap and focuses us on the God of Creation.

I learned that music was way too divisive and it makes the services last 30 minutes longer than they really need to. For me, I have found that true worship happens in the closet or car or on a mountain when you are alone.

I just wish we would sing “row row row your boat” and have Jesus in the boat. It is hard to get too carried away or divisive with that.

I’m not musical at all. We recently moved across state, and I’ve visited several churches over the last months, and I’m so frustrated with trying to sing. I WANT to, but unfamiliar contemporary songs are so hard to pick up for all the reasons you mentioned, OR I quit because it’s one of those chanting “7-11″ things that just feels silly and new-age-y by about the 8th repetition.

Recently, I was so frustrated at only being able to really sing a line or two, in time and pitch, out of the whole song, but then they began “All Creatures of Our God and King” (David Crowder version), and it was easy. More people joined on that than any other and it was a great experience. I don’t know why that song was so much easier, but maybe many of you will.

May I point out another difficulty I’ve noticed in tuning in and becoming absorbed in corporate singing?….The best example for what I have to say is the blasted coffee/donut bar that so many churches offer now. I’ve been to three different contemporary evangelical services lately where people bring their coffee and donuts into the sanctuary! It’s hard to join corporately in focused worship when the guy next to you is slurping coffee and the lady in front of you is gnawing on a donut. Then, there are the people checking text messages, etc. I think it’s indicative of a general nonchalance about corporate worship that you’re hearing (or not) from your places up front. There no longer seems to be a reverence for the act.

To Michael,
thanks for the post. I think that the “professionals” have taken over contemporary music in the church. Twenty years ago I could play every song in church.(At most 4 chords.) Nowadays I’m useless. Just like clergy-laity, perhaps a new breed of worship leader has emerged that surpasses the “ordinary”.

Criffton, Thank you for your insight on the Traditionalist side of our faith. As an adult I too appreciate the history/traditions of our church, including Gregorian chants. Chants are often played as background music before each mass, and when our church offers the extra Sacrement of Reconciliation services around Christmas and Easter. Melodically, most are very beautiful and help me relax and get in the right mindframe for the mass. But, as I hear from many of the teens in our group, they don’t share the same appreciation, and honestly, I’m sure I didn’t either when I was a teen. I think it’s the rare child that is sentimental enough to appreciate the traditions of the Church.

I think the same applies for many of the converts. I would guess that statistically, most converts are probably under the age of 40. They don’t have any prior ties to the old traditions of the Church, including the use of the latin language. The Tantum Ergo you reference is a beautiful melody (I just listened to it on youtube.com), but I dare say most of the converts (including myself) are completely lost when latin is read, spoken or sung during mass. It basically then becomes meaningless gibberish that does nothing to enhance the meaning of the mass. (I’ll probably be excommunicated for saying this! lol.)

It is my understanding that some of the Christian music publishers have theologians verifying the theological accuracy of their songs before they are recorded. I would hope that as Christians they would feel a sense of responsibility to make sure they are accurately sharing God’s word. (Of course, this thought is now skewd by whichever flavor of Christianity is considered THE real flavor…)

Anyway, I can appreciate your love of Gregorian and polyphonic music if that helps you become, and stay, closer with God, as well as continuing to use many of the timeless classics. But, weeding out some of the really bad songs might not be a bad idea. We use the Gather II hymnals. Maybe when GIA Publications is selecting songs for their Gather III hymnals they can ask themselves the following questions: Is this song still being used by the parishes (maybe take a poll from music directors)? Are we keeping this song only because of tradition or does it realistically contribute to the mass? Can we replace this song with a one that better conveys the same message? Can we change the key to one that is easier to sing, instead of just what is easier for the musician to play?

1. It’s true. People don’t sing together any much any more.

2. At least one person in my church tells me that the farther she sits in the back, the more difficult it is to sing. The church was built very traditionally, and people in the back can’t hear the music or each other and don’t participate. Also, the church is very rarely full, so that contributes.

3. I don’t mind projection screens if they work in the worship space, because it gets people’s heads out of their books. they don’t work in our space, though.

4. I read music, so having the music is important to me. But talk to people who don’t read music, and the notations are a foreign language to them (no, really, talk to them, having the music doesn’t help them at all).

5. there was a time before the printing press and the book when music was primarily passed down orally. Indeed, the music of the people, folk music, has always been passed down and learned orally. I love hymnals, but we had singing long before we had hymnals. And let’s talk about singing before we had hymnals. Or before there was much literary.

6. If you can hear each other, singing together is on of the greatest things a group can do. it’s like a drug. I wish people could experience it.

There are a lot of ironies here, but here’s another one: singing disappearing in an era with such a high literacy rate.

My original post is really an attempt to address the pragmatic matter of getting people to sing, rather than to advocate for certain types of songs over others. Of course, there are people who can’t sing (due to injury, infirmity or age), people who are averse to singing in general, and people who regard music solely as entertainment; my thought, however, is that there are some people who are not familiar with particular songs, but who might sing along if sufficient cues are provided to help them learn the songs they don’t know. In a nutshell, my original thesis was that the traditional environment generally provides more help to such learners than the contemporary one, for the reasons I originally stated.

Since there are probably no songs (except, possibly, for “Happy Birthday”) that literally everyone knows, there will always need to be a way for the people of the church to learn the songs of the church (new songs or old) from the church. (I don’t think we can get by with outsourcing this responsibility to Christian mass media.) If we do not attend to this need, then I rather suspect that congregational singing will continue to decline — regardless of what we’re asking people to sing.