By David Shead
Principles for choosing songs
How do we choose the right songs for the right times? The following are five principles to keep in mind.
Tag Archives: Church
Choosing what we sing in Church: What makes for good and effective singing? (Part 4 of 9)
By David Shead
What makes for good and effective singing?
Allow me to suggest five aspects which make for good and effective singing in church.
- Good and effective singing in church relies first of all on a clear awareness of what corporate worship is about and what contribution singing can make.
- Good and effective singing is singing that helps to bring God’s people together in honouring him, in receiving his word, in prayerfully relying on him and in strengthening each other to serve him.
- Good and effective singing in church is singing by the church for the church and in praise of God.
- Good and effective singing is not measured by its musical quality or volume or frequency or style; good and effective singing doesn’t have to mean guitar, bass, drums and three professional vocalists (nor does it have to mean organ and robed choir!). In fact (and this is a topic for another occasion), “good music” and “good corporate singing” sadly too often seem to be almost mutually exclusive. Some of the best corporate singing I have ever been part of has been unaccompanied, or very sparsely (acoustically) accompanied, and some of the worst has been in the context of a high quality, highly produced, professional musical “performance”.
- Good and effective singing means the right song at the right time carried in the hearts and on the voices of the congregation to one another and to God (Ephesians 5:19)
For more in this Series:
What is corporate worship? (Part 1 of 9)
Why Sing? (Part 2 of 9)
What is the ‘shape’ of the corporate worship gathering? (Part 3 of 9)
What makes for good and effective singing? (this one)
Five principles for choosing songs (Part 5 of 9)
Choosing Songs – planning (Part 6 of 9)
Choosing Songs – preparation (Part 7 of 9)
Choosing Songs – order (Part 8 of 9)
Choosing New Songs (Part 9 of 9)
Choosing what we sing in Church: What is the ‘shape’ of the corporate worship gathering? (Part 3 of 9)
By David Shead
What is the “shape” of the corporate worship gathering?
Why don’t we just sing, and nothing else, when we gather for corporate worship?
We need to be careful that, in seeking to understand the importance of corporate singing, we don’t end up distorting our gatherings.
Choosing what we sing in Church:Why Sing? (Part 2 of 9)
By David Shead
Why sing?
What is the place of singing in corporate worship?
Of all the things we normally do when we gather together for corporate worship (singing, prayer, Bible readings, teaching, etc.), singing is not more worship or more “worshipful” than the other elements. All are equally acts of corporate worship. This is why it’s theologically misleading to refer to the song leader as the “worship leader”.
However, there is a particular and important contribution that singing makes to our corporate worship (just as there is a particular and important contribution that our corporate prayers make, or our instruction from God’s word makes, etc.). What is singing’s particular contribution? Why sing?
There are a number of important reasons:
Choosing what we sing in Church:What is Corporate Worship? (Part 1 of 9)
By David Shead
What is corporate worship?
“Worship” is the word that sums up the whole of life.
“Worship” describes the entire orientation of your life; your attitude of humble submission and service towards the thing or person that you most value in all of existence, whether that’s yourself (or another part of the creation like money, or leisure, etc.), or the true and living God.
‘Bring-A-Friend-To-Church’ Sunday
By Des Smith
This Sunday is ‘Bring-a-friend-to-church Sunday’. You may think, ‘Why didn’t I hear about this before? This wasn’t advertised!’ That’s because every Sunday is bring-a-friend-to-church Sunday. Next week’s will be too and the week after that. The fact is, one of the best and easiest ways we can share the gospel with friends and family is simply to invite them to church.
This is not often how we think.
Core in Membership (Part 5 of 5)
Universal Church Only – a vertical relationship.
From time to time, I will hear a believer say that they don’t have to be a member of particular local church – because they are ‘in Christ’.
Draw Near to God and to Others (Part 4 of 5)
Draw Near to God and to Others
Hebrews is helpful for anyone wanting to think about the importance of Church.
In Chapter 10 the author writes to Christians who were losing confidence – some were persecuted, some were leaving the faith to avoid suffering, and others were abandoning Christ because they wanted to fit in with the world around them. His advice? – draw near to God and draw near to others!
The Church – universal and local! (Part 3 of 5)
When you became a Christian, your membership in the church took both a universal and a local shape – a wide and narrow view if you like.
What is the difference?
Membership (Part 2 of 5)
Membership
In the world that we live in, ‘Membership’ is a fairly common idea. We have memberships to libraries, sports clubs, magazines or journals, road service organisations, schools, clubs, gyms, churches and much more.
We pay, to secure some benefit – be it the ability to borrow books, or to secure good seats to watch our favourite sport, or to receive the magazine that interests us, or guarantee help if the car breaks down, or help for the school to give our children a better education, or a vote in the club that we belong, or cheaper entry to be able to use exercise equipment. You get the drift!
In many ways, the benefits of ‘membership’ in our secular world mirrors ‘membership’ in a church, but not completely – there is a difference.
