Corporate Worship

Of course! The goal of the musical aspect of worship is to glorify God by praising him for who he is and what he’s done. Different styles of music will highlight different facets of God’s revelation. The same thing goes for songs from different eras in history and nations around the world.

Teach about the importance of congregational singing as opportunity arises. This doesn’t have to be restricted to passages such as Ephesians 5:18-19, Colossians 3:16, and Romans 15:6, which explicitly mention congregational singing. A pastor can also rightly address congregational singing in passages that speak about unity, worship, or building one another up in the faith, because congregational singing relates to all of those broader biblical themes.

If church leaders want to develop and emphasize congregational singing, they should strive for musical accompaniment that is mere and enhancing, rather than full and enveloping.

It’s biblical. The New Testament commands Christians to sing together, even to address one another in song (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16). It’s neglected. In many churches, the music can actually discourage singing, whether because so much of it is performed, or the accompaniment is so loud, or the music is hard to sing. We emphasize congregational singing because so many churches seem to neglect it.

Performance music can focus our attention on the performers, or even on the music, rather than God.