Many churches doe not have hymnals, and many rarely (if ever) sing hymns.
Other church continue to sing mostly hymns.
I am not asking you what you prefer, but the poll question refers to the church you attend. You are encouraged to comment about your preferences.
The subject is about congregational singing, not special music, offertories, etc.
Poll Results
Does your church’s main service usually include at least one hymn or vintage Gospel song?
Yes, our church sings mostly hymns/Gospel Songs. Votes: 17
Yes our church usually includes one or more hymns/Gospel songs in our main service. We are blended, at least to some degree. Votes: 7
Yes and no — some services do, some do not. Our services vary. Votes: 4
No, we do not include hymns or Gospel songs or do so on occasion but not regularly. Votes: 0
Other Votes: 0
Discussion
New"Old" Hymns
It’s sad to me how neglected hymns from 18th century and earlier are becoming. … and how many Christians think an “old” song is one from the 1960’s.
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
NewOld?
Old, as in … “Shine, Jesus Shine?” Heh!
Tyler is a pastor in Olympia, WA and works in State government.
NewExactly
That was so 1990!
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
NewI want people to come to
I want people to come to church to worship God, not because of the music. At the same time, I want them to use music in the worship once they come. Thus, it should not matter how old or new the song is as long as it accomplishes that purpose. We do not have a piano player or other musicians, so we use a Gloria electronic hymn player for our church plant. It corresponds to the Celebration hymnal 1997. That means that most of our songs are at least 2 decades old. It also means that we have over 800 to choose from. There are so many great old hymns and I started out having us sing different ones every week because there are so many good ones to choose from. Suddenly I realized that many of these old classics were new to some of the people- especially the kids, so I decided to chose a few to sing more regularly. That way they would become familiar and more well known. Today I watched a group of 7-10 year old boys singing with enthusiasm during the service as they recognized the songs. That was heart warming.