If, as Mike Raiter fears, congregational singing is in its dying gasps, how are we to breathe new life into it? If the current model is wanting, towards which vision should we look instead? I don't know, but this is what I think we're looking for. (This is an extended response to the The Briefing, edition 355 (April 2008))

From time to time people question the songs we choose to sing as a band, and the number one concern is over the inclusion of songs from Pentecostal churches. We need to be be careful what theological baggage the songs we sing bring with them, but equally we should avoid being paranoid or unnecessarily divisive. 

We know that singing in church is not only great, it’s thoroughly biblical. God’s people have always been a singing people … and we always will be! Many good things will not be carried over into the new kingdom – there won’t be marriage in heaven, nor will there be any need for evangelism – but there will definitely still be singing (Revelation 5:13).

Yet as I lugged my 45kg keyboard into church last weekend, I did pause for a second to wonder why I was bringing along my instrument to join in. It’s amazing how quickly a sore back and tired arms can make you start thinking critically about this aspect of contemporary church practice.

Hitting the road with GH has highlighted to us a strange situation (in many Sydney churches at least): we are sure we want our congregational music to be hip and contemporary- soft rock, pop, R&B, whatever - but we’re also sure that we don’t want to spend any money on an adequate sound system.

Most people don’t take the responsibilities of organising church music seriously enough, and this is reflected in the way we organise our music ministries.

Why are we so afraid of emotion in our worship music? Well produced but unbiblical music can give us a “spiritual experience” without spiritual reality: we feel close to God without the need for the pesky accessories (like God’s word and obedience and stuff). But given those dangers we good evangelicals seem to have decided, recently I think, to ration out our emotion in conservatively levelled teaspoons rather than risk losing our hold on The Word. This makes sense, given that words are immune from abuse, whereas emotion is strange and usually bad.

Let me warn you ahead of time: say the word “worship” in a lot of evangelical churches these days and you might find yourself stumbling unaware into the crossfire of a topical theological debate. Here's our take on the situation.

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