Are We Still a Singing Church?

I was scrolling through a worship leader group on social media the other day when someone posed the question, “How do we know if our worship songs are resonating with men in the church?”

I quickly quipped, “If men are singing them.”

Someone followed up on my response by asking why it seems like both men and women just don’t sing in church anymore.

Now, I recognize that this was one person’s observation based on the churches and worship environments she has experienced. I’m also not sure I can say I’ve personally experienced the same thing. I’ve been blessed to serve in churches that sing. But I hear some version of this concern often enough in worship leader circles that I think it’s worth asking:

Are we still a singing Church?

And if congregational singing really is declining, why?

There are probably plenty of factors outside the control of worship leaders, and congregations themselves have some responsibility for how they participate when the church gathers. But before we blame the people standing in front of us for not singing, I think those of us leading them should be willing to ask whether we are actually helping them sing.

Here are a few questions worth considering.

1. Are we singing in a way that is easy to follow?

Sometimes, in an effort to lead expressively or sing skillfully, we can actually make it harder for people to follow us. We ad-lib. We embellish melodies. We change rhythms. We choose keys that showcase a vocalist rather than serve the average voice in the room.

There is nothing inherently wrong with musical creativity. But when we are leading congregational worship, our primary responsibility isn’t to demonstrate what we can do with a song. It is to help hundreds of other people sing it.

Our singing should invite people in, not leave them trying to figure out where the melody went.

2. Are we using the right worship language for the people we are ministering to?

Every congregation has a musical language.

That doesn’t mean we simply give people whatever they prefer. Worship leadership should never be reduced to consumer satisfaction. But good shepherds know their people.

What musical vocabulary does your congregation understand? What kinds of melodies can they naturally sing? What songs have become part of the language of your church?

There is a difference between allowing preferences to dictate worship and understanding the people God has actually entrusted to us. Part of shepherding a congregation is knowing what helps these people give voice to biblical truth together.

3. Are we choosing the best songs?

Not just good songs.

Not even necessarily great songs.

And certainly not simply our favorite songs.

Are we choosing the best songs for our congregation?

That requires us to evaluate far more than whether a song sounds good or is currently popular. We have to consider its theme, melody, lyrics, singability, theological diet, emotional focus, and the role it will play in forming our people.

A great worship song isn’t automatically a great congregational song. And a great congregational song somewhere else isn’t automatically the right song for the people we lead.

If the Church isn’t singing, perhaps one of the first questions worship leaders should ask isn’t, “What’s wrong with them?”

Maybe we should first ask:

“Are we giving them something they can sing?”