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 a 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.
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