Trendy worship songs come and go like the evening news cycle. Rather than focus on novelty, we should choose songs that people know and teach them songs with a timeless quality.
Performance Versus Participation (Part 1)
Just as the pulpit symbolically represents the church’s teaching ministry, the stage and the pew—for our purposes—represent two competing views of worship—performance and participation.
Do Church Worship Bands Keep People From Singing?
Body
“In most churches today, the worship time has become a concert. People love the music, but they don’t know the words, and so they just watch. I visit churches pretty much for a living, and as I look around during the services, the vast numbers of the congregation are watching the stage and listening, not singing.” - Phil Cooke
Theology and the Power of Music (Part 2)
It is disappointing when a church that would never let a false teacher into their doors or stand in their pulpit, allows the influence of that deception to enter through one of the most powerful tools God has given to mankind—music.
Theology and the Power of Music (Part 1)
Music is so important to God’s people that the largest book in the Bible is a songbook, not only meant to help them worship in song, but also given by God through His Spirit to shape their thinking and guide their emotions.
Moody and Gospel Hymns
Body
“Instead of serving as a family heirloom that would be sufficient for generations, hymnals began to be treated as an accessory for churches and Christian social groups that would need to be replaced every few years to remain relevant. This was mostly for musical, not textual, reasons, since older texts continued to be preserved (albeit with choruses attached) alongside new ones.” - P&D
Choosing Music for Corporate Worship (Part 2)
The apostle Paul finishes his sentence about singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with the phrase: “submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ” (v. 21). When we intergenerationally submit to one another, with reverence for Christ, our personal pride and preference issues fade into the background as we consider others as better than ourselves.
Choosing Music for Corporate Worship (Part 1)
The songs we sing are with us throughout our daily lives away from church. The importance of choosing congregational music that aligns with the theology our churches uphold cannot be overstated.
Singing the Word of Christ
Body
“…our eyes were drawn to a sign hanging down from a raftor in front of us. Written in big letters were the words, ‘Remember to think about what you are singing!’ That phrase comes out of 1 Cor. 14:15… ‘I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing praise with my mind also.’” - Nick Batzig
Perfect Pitch Is Not a Fruit of the Spirit - Review of Ryanne Molinari’s ‘Spirit-Filled Singing’
Body
“She presents a well-argued case that those leading church music need to think beyond technical excellence and song selection to the spiritual formation of both the music team and congregation. Worship isn’t just something we do; it forms us for good or ill.” - TGC
