Congregational Singing
It is Good to Sing Praises to God!
Psalm 100:1–2 “Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!”
Psalm 95:1–2 “Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!”
Colossians 3:16 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
Psalm 147:1 “Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.”
…and on and on the list of verses could go!
It is GOOD to sing praises to our God! Scripture is filled with commands for God’s people to sing to Him as well as references of God’s people worshiping Him through singing. It is incredible to think that the human voice is an instrument created by God for the purpose of bringing glory to Himself. As our hearts are filled with gladness and thanksgiving we are given the opportunity to let that joy overflow through our vocal cords and join in with all creation Praising the King of King and Lord of Lords. Singing really is a big deal individually and corporately, and I deeply believe that it is important to the heart of God. Therefore, when we sing, we are not just rejoicing in our awesome God but we are also participating in what God has commanded us to do throughout scripture.
I will restrain myself from expounding too long on the importance of Christians singing since we are all participating in this masters program and are clearly passionate about worship, music, and leading the church in song. But in any discussion on church leadership, I believe it is always important to start with a solid foundation based in scripture. I am passionate about using worship as discipleship and helping the church savor the joy and sufficiency of Christ.
As musicians, we are given a special gift to relate and connect with people in a way that many others types of ministers cannot. I once heard the songwriter Jason Ingram say, “we are helping write the prayers of God’s people.” What a powerful thought! Often times, the congregation leaves the service singing the songs and couldn’t tell you the main points of the sermon. I am not downplaying the importance of the teaching pastor’s role, but I am emphasizing the importance of the worship pastor’s role.
As worship pastors, we are given the responsibility to choose songs that will minister to people in the highest of highs and lowest of lows. We are given the responsibility to choose songs wisely in such a way that the congregations we serve will have an appetite for rich theology and not just pithy androgynous love songs. With a statement like that, it makes me sound like I am an angry old man in vestments singing A Mighty Fortress Is Our God on repeat. I am actually a contemporary worship pastor, but I am more passionate about lyrical content than chart position. I sing many of the top CCLI songs, but I am selective as to which songs we sing and why. Also, I will occasionally change a lyric to make it more theologically accurate. It genuinely concerns me that many churches are surfing the wave of contemporary Christian music and turning what should be participants at worship services into spectators at a concert. There are a myriad of things we could discuss here that impact the congregation’s ability or desire to sing like: melody range, decibel level of the sound system, lighting, etc., but I am sure we will get into all that in class.
To summarize, I love Jesus, I love the church, and I love music. On my office wall I have a plaque with a quote from Martin Luther that reads,
“Next to the Word of God, music deserves the highest praise. The gift of language combined with the gift of song was given to man that he should proclaim the Word of God through Music.”
I believe that music is a gift to be used as a tool to disciple and stir the affections of God’s people.
