Is the Whole Church Participating in Worship
What is corporate worship, and does it live up to expectations? Some words used to describe it are collective, joint, shared, united, combined, communal and common. So, we could say corporate worship is the church as a united body of believers, collectively with one voice to worship Him and praise the Triune God, the only One worthy of our devotion.
As the song says:
You are the One that we praise.
You are the One we adore.
You give the healing and grace,
Our hearts always hunger for.
Oh, our hearts always hunger for!
Most churches want their congregations to join in and participate in worship, while sadly, there are those churches that do not.
HALLMARKS OF CORPORATE WORSHIP
For this article, we’re focused on corporate worship in the context of congregational singing. First, of course, it should be scriptural. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be creative; creativity is part of the Imago Dei (image of God).
Second, it should be simple. You have highly talented musicians and singers leading the service, but for some reason, that’s just not working for the congregation. This isn’t because they can’t play or sing; they can do both exceptionally well. Rather, in many cases, the congregation simply can’t sing along or follow the often intricate and musically challenging songs. Congregational singing is not the place for a key so high it can break glass. Nor is it a place for rhythms and time signatures that are too difficult to follow. This is especially true when all the congregation has to follow are words on a screen, which often do not communicate any clear pattern to follow.
Third, congregational singing is not the place for music leaders to show off their vocal range. Frankly, some songs, even outstanding ones, are not made for corporate singing. They are fine as solos but not for a congregational sing-together.
Fourth, skilled leadership is essential. A person doesn’t have to have a degree in music to lead your church in congregational singing. However, leadership should be significant enough that it’s thought about before Sunday. What I mean is that we want our instruments to honor the Lord by sounding the correct notes — which also means our voices. That doesn’t mean we can’t let “beginners” lead — we can and should. The point here is to put thought, time, and practice into leading for the inclusion of everyone in the service.
Finally, congregational singing should serve one another. We serve one another by singing others’ preferred songs. We might call this the Philippians 2 principle of singing (see Philippians 2:3-4). This means that we all have favorite songs and styles that we enjoy. As leaders, we can serve our congregations better by thinking of songs and styles they enjoy, singing them with joy, knowing that we are honoring God, and loving our brothers and sisters in Christ as we sing with them.
Unfortunately, song selection has become divisive in many churches, primarily because of style. As it’s important to remember the vertical aspect of our singing, we must also not forget that there is a horizontal aspect: corporate singing. In our worship, we serve one another by singing loudly (I don’t mean obnoxiously). We serve one another by singing truth (Colossians 3:16).
At a training event recently, I was asked: “What is considered too loud for the music portion of the service?” I replied with a non-technical answer: “I observe the congregation and determine if it’s too loud or soft by their posture. If it’s too loud, they will be sitting and watching, not singing, not engaged.”
It’s the “If I can’t hear the person next to me singing, it’s too loud” syndrome. If the band is the only thing you hear in the room, it’s too loud. I certainly don’t need a dB audio level meter to know this. I use my eyes and can see it. It’s obvious. The same thing goes for a worship team that can barely be heard; they should be playing a little louder than the congregation to lead. The congregation may not want to sing out if they don’t have a strong voice to follow.
A beautiful balance happens when the worship team is leading, and the congregation is included as part of the team, just like a choir, singing praises collectively, as if with one voice. In the end, we’re all in the band.
At this same training, a person teaching alongside me voiced a different opinion. He explained to the class that leadership has decided that they DO NOT want to hear the congregation singing in his church. The main PA system sound level is set to mask the congregation’s voice. Did he really say that? I thought I was hearing things. I’m not here to judge, but that’s certainly not biblical.
The Bible contains over 400 references to singing and 50 direct commands to sing. The longest book of the Bible, the Psalms, is, in fact, a book of songs. In the New Testament, we’re commanded not once, but twice, to sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs to one another when we meet (Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16).
I don’t know where your church leadership falls on this issue, and I intend not to try and change anyone’s viewpoint. However, if you’re part of a church that wants to include your congregation in your collective corporate worship, I want to offer some ideas and ways to help.
A LITTLE HISTORY
Prior to the Reformation, worship in any form was primarily done for the people. Music was played by professional musicians and sung in the official language of the church, Latin, which laypeople couldn’t read, speak or understand.
The Reformation brought open worship back to the people, including congregational singing using simple, attainable tunes incorporating biblical scripture for lyrics in the common language people spoke daily. Worship has now become participatory.
It starts with leadership. Pastors and elders set the tone, and it flows down to the worship team, the techs and the church at large. If you have a problem with church policies, don’t stay and be divisive; don’t rebel and reject the proper authority over you. If you can’t agree with the church’s policy or doctrine, please do not become a backbiter or a grumbler.
If leadership desires a concert style of worship, then that’s what you should strive to deliver. I am certainly not advocating doing something that flies in the face of what your pastor and elders have mandated.
On the other hand, if you want participatory worship shared with everyone present — but for some reason, it’s just not living up to expectations — here are some suggestions that may help facilitate your congregation’s participation and encourage their engagement.
NEW SONGS
Relatively recently, the church — regardless of denomination — had a collection of songs assembled over many years that became part of our communal worship fabric. We knew the songs and, in many cases, the page number of those songs, and we all sang them together, whether it was a hymn or chorus. These songs were, of course, found in the ubiquitous hymnal, a relic in many churches and a shim for floor monitors in others. These are songs that survived generations, songs that are instantly recognizable. We sang them by heart, without the lyrics being projected onto a screen.
Do you still hear them in your church, or do you long for them? Don’t get me wrong; I like new songs, too. Bob Sorge, the great speaker and author, has a great line about the old song/new song debate. He says, “Old songs gather us — new songs propel us!” True! However, when a licensing service (like CCLI) has over 300,000 songs in its library, it will be necessary to say “No” to some of them.
I typically teach audio and music tech classes with the occasional team-building session. Because my students come from different denominations and regions, with unique backgrounds and varying skill levels as musicians or singers, I ask them to stand up and sing Doxology together, a cappella. This helps to unite us in our devotion to God, and nothing brings you closer than singing a familiar song. The sound of this group of complete strangers singing praise to God with one unified voice is pure, unadulterated sweetness.
If you’re part of a church that is constantly teaching new songs, then you’re forced to repeat them over several services so that they become a part of the church’s repertoire. There are different methods to teach new songs to the church, and I will include links later in this guide to give you some examples.
Does your worship team have complete command and understanding of how to play and sing the new song you will teach? Worship teams, on average, are almost always composed of volunteers, who usually have less time per week to rehearse and memorize songs than a professional band. If this is the case, and it usually is, your worship team may not know the song better than the congregation.
Some worship pastors will compile a song playbook of 40-50 songs for the year. The band and singers thoroughly memorize the songs, which allows them to enter worship more freely with the rest of the church. If the worship leaders know the song intimately, it helps everyone else join in because it has now become part of the collection of songs we know and love to sing together. Limit new songs to 10-12 a year.
Here is an excellent video from Paul Beloche talking about this: Introducing a New Song at Church.
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