Congregational Singing

“…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

“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

“The Christian faith is a singing faith…. when you consider the sum of singing commands and the role singing plays at so many critical points in redemptive history, we easily come to the conclusion that our God really, really likes to hear his people sing.” - Baptist Press

“A church’s songs are not a mere preamble to the sermon. Singing is not filler time to warm up a congregation. Singing is a holy practice. We sing because God has commanded us, and our songs should fill our hearts with delight.” - Matt Boswell

“2. The Songs Are Hard to Sing. Some of today’s most popular worship songs are beautiful but not built for group singing. They can sit too high vocally, repeat long bridges, or rely on emotional builds that feel better suited for listening than joining in.

“Excellence matters because God deserves our best. Authenticity matters because people can sense when we’re simply going through the motions. When the two are brought together, worship becomes both beautiful and life-changing.” - C.Leaders

“When it comes to song selection, it draws deeply from the rich history of Christian hymnody while including the best of the songs written in recent years. It is perhaps slightly stacked toward the works of Keith and Kristyn Getty and their associated musicians (e.g. Matt Boswell, Matt Papa) but it is, after all, a Getty product.” - Challies

“The engineer-type Christian often sees the sermon as the main event. They’ll tolerate the singing, but it’s the doctrine-rich, cross-referenced, bullet-pointed sermon that truly feeds them. Meanwhile, the artist might feel most alive during the music and quietly wish the sermon would get trimmed to fifteen minutes so they can get back to singing.” - 9 Marks

“My congregation sings louder than they did a year ago. I have been their worship leader for just over a year, and I have seen progress in their participation in worship through singing. They sing louder, they sing more heartily and more of them sing than a year ago.” - C.Leaders

“Now that we have biblical principles, we should evaluate each principle and see which method better fulfills this principle. I have made this caveat before and will make it again, but this is a matter of philosophy, not biblical obedience. You might disagree with me, and that’s fine.” - P&D