Latest / The Daily Writer / Whatever Happened to Singing in Church? Part 1: Foundations

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Whatever Happened to Singing in Church? Part 1: Foundations · The Daily Writer

• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome everybody to the Born to Create podcast.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Kent Sanders and I'm your host.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm an author, musician, and teacher, but most importantly, I'm a husband and a dad.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: Here on the show we talk about practices, habits, and strategies that help us live out our creative calling.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: This is episode twenty-three, and today our topic is whatever happened to singing in church.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: You can find the post that accompanies this episode, as well as all the links at KentSanders.net slash singing dash foundations.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: This is the first episode in a five part series examining the important but rarely discussed question of why people don't sing as much in church anymore.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: This post will lay the foundation and the rest of the series will look at the cultural, environmental, leadership, and musical factors that have contributed to a decline in congregational singing.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm addressing this issue because worship services are one of the most important meeting points for art and faith for the Christian.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you enjoy our journey into the world of worship leading and church music.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: I started leading worship in the late 1980s when I was a teenager.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: I grew up in a small country church in southern Missouri, and we only sang hymns on Sunday morning.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Back then you were called a song leader instead of a worship leader.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: I would work with my good friend Chris, who was a phenomenal pianist, and every Sunday we would pick out a few hymns before the worship service.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Today worship services in growing churches are much different.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: There are various kinds of media, bands using click tracks, complex sound and lighting systems, and lots and lots of planning and rehearsal.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: This is neither good or bad, it's just the way that we do church today.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: Change is inevitable, and the church must adapt its methods and strategies according to what works best in a particular cultural setting.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't adapt and change, you die.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: That being said, one of the side effects of what I call a production emphasis in modern worship is that people don't seem to be as engaged anymore in singing.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: One of my jobs as a writer is to make observations and report on what I see.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: What I usually observe in any type of modern worship setting is that a large percentage of people aren't singing, they aren't engaged, and are doing more watching than participating.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: If there's one thing I have learned in my decades of experience with worship ministry, both in the local church and in teaching, it's this.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone has an opinion about music.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: When people are discussing this topic, they often respond with pure emotion instead of a calm, reasoned, rational way of thinking.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: I am declaring this series a no drama zone.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: I will do my best to lay out the reasons.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: I believe people don't sing as much in church anymore.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: More important, I want to offer what I hope are some intelligent, reasonable solutions.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: Now you might ask why I'm talking about all this stuff in the first place.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: There's several reasons.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: First, I care about pastors and worship leaders, and I want to offer my thoughts on why people aren't engaging as much these days in worship, as well as give some ideas for solutions.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: Second, congregational singing has been an important part of faith expression for thousands of years for God's people, and I want to know why engagement has declined in the modern church.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's a question worth asking.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: And then third, I rarely hear anyone in church leadership circles talking about this issue.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're a pastor, church leader, worship leader, worship team member, or a Christian who has an interest in creating more engagement in worship gatherings, this series is for you.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't fall into any of those categories, you'll at least learn a few things about church music.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: Before we get into specific reasons for the decline of congregational singing and some solutions, in the rest of the series, I think it's really important to lay a bit of groundwork and briefly look at why singing is an important part of worship in the first place.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: Singing as an element of worship has strong roots in biblical practice and church history, but to keep things brief, let me share three basic reasons why singing in church still matters.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: First, singing is a way to express our worship.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the Bible is filled with examples of people worshiping through song.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: Here are just a few.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: In Exodus 15, Moses and Miriam lead the Israelites in a song of praise after crossing the Red Sea.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: The longest book of the Bible, Psalms, is the worship song book of ancient Israel.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: In Luke chapter two, we find songs by Mary, Zechariah, and the angels during the birth narrative of Jesus.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: The Book of Revelation contains a number of hymns that play an important role in the book's structure.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: And these are, as I said, only a few examples.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: Singing plays the same role in our lives as it did for God's people in times past.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's a way for us to express our love and our devotion to our Creator.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: Second, singing has a teaching function.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: You would be hard pressed to remember the main points from a recent sermon, but I'll bet you can easily sing more than a few worship songs by heart.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: Because music has built-in devices like rhythm and rhyme that help it stick in our memories.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: Worship songs have an important role in teaching us about God, Scripture, and even ourselves.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: For that reason, the worship leader has an important teaching role within the church.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: In some ways, it surpasses the responsibility of the pastor.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: The pastor is speaking words to people, but the worship leader is selecting songs that people will then sing back to God and to one another.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: So the worship leader, in a sense, is literally putting words in people's mouths, and I think that's a pretty huge responsibility.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: Third, singing helps build community.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: When people sing and make music together, it unites them emotionally.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: This is why people who were in bands, choirs, or musicals in high school and college generally have good memories of those experiences.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Music is such a powerful force that it can draw diverse groups of people together.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: In the church, I think there's also a spiritual component at work with music.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: Something special and unique happens when God's people set aside their individual differences and come together and worship Him through song.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: One of my favorite quotes of all time comes from Eugene Peterson's book Reversed Thunder, which is a fantastic and very readable commentary on the Book of Revelation.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: He says this Moses sings, Miriam sings, Deborah sings, David sings, Mary sings, angels sing, Jesus and his disciples sing, Paul and Silas sing.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: When persons of faith become aware of who God is and what he does, they sing.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: The songs are irrepressible.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: For these reasons and many other ones, congregational singing is an important art form as well as a vital way to express worship and community.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to explore the role of music and worship even further, you can check out my master's thesis called Worship Leadership in the Bible.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: There's a link to download it in the blog post.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: My thesis is not light reading, I'll just kind of give you some advance warning, but it's filled with helpful information about the role of music in worship.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: In the next episode, we'll look at several cultural factors that have impacted singing in church, and I'm looking forward to sharing that with you.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: What do you see as the main benefits of singing in church?
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: Are there some others that I neglected to mention?
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: I would love to hear your thoughts and feedback.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: You can join the conversation and find the post and the links that accompany this episode at KentSanders.net slash singing dash foundations.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: When you visit my site, you'll find all kinds of great resources to inspire your creativity.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'd also love to share a gift with you when you subscribe to my newsletter.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: You can check it out and learn more about my books, writing, and services at KentSanders.net.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'd love to connect with you and you can tweet me at Kent Sanders, or you can find me on Facebook and Instagram as Kent Sanders.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: I hope that you'll also check out our Born to Create Facebook group by visiting KentSanders.net slash Facebook group.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, remember that you were born to create and designed to make a difference.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: What will you do with the time you have left?