A Treatise on Congregational Worship
Issue 7
Within the world of church worship that I have explored, I have found that there are two main schools of thought which roughly separates what I have hitherto been calling the Contemporary Worship Crowd and the Old Hymns Crowd. Bear with me on these terms—I don’t even like them myself, but everyone understands them. Therefore I shall keep using them until someone suggests a better terminology.
These two schools of thought might be better described as a result of whether a church has or has not succeeded in achieving the goal of producing congregational worship during the singing portion of its Sunday morning service. The two opposing and inevitable results are 1) the congregation is carrying the weight of the singing over the band or instruments; or 2) the band is carrying the weight of the worship over and instead of the congregation. Nobody that I have yet come across in really basic orthodox Protestant circles is willing to admit to having achieved the latter scenario. Look up any church’s website and you will find some sort of claim to performing congregational worship. Ask the guy who leads the singing and you will invariably find the same thing. Ask even the woke band leader at a mega church with skinny jeans whether his goal is or is not to produce congregational worship, and you will get a pretty standard response.
Realistically, this is a vastly unhelpful question. It is like asking any pastor worth his weight in grass clippings whether he adheres to the authority of Scripture. Everyone knows the importance of following God’s word, and everyone knows of the importance of congregational singing. The real question to ask is whether such things have actually been achieved. The real answer is what your own two eyes and ears observe. It’s really that simple. If you encounter a pastor who preaches the Gospel According to Fauci while claiming to follow the authority of Scripture, what you have is not a pastor—you’ve got a wolf on your hands. Similarly, if you see a congregation mumbling along to something fresh off the radio while the band gives a rock solid rendition of the song, what you have is not congregational worship—no matter what the worship leader might tell you he’s aiming for.
I believe this confusion primarily stems from the fact that most worship leaders do not have a solid grasp of how important congregational singing indeed is. So to begin with, let us delve into a study of what the congregation is, what happens in it in regards to singing, and how instruments fit into the whole thing.
Men, women, and children are present in the congregation.
This is an important point to make, especially in these times when we have an odd tendency to think that congregational worship consists of older children and adults. Thus we find parents neglecting their duty to teach their children how to behave in the congregation by shipping the small people off to a nursery while the parents get some spiritual “me time”. On the contrary, the congregation should consist of men, women, and children. Instead of joining the assembly with the mindset of getting one’s spiritual happy hour for the week, we need to remember that worship is a skillful act requiring actual work, and it is the parent’s job to pass this skill onto their progeny.
Examples in Scripture of where we find this principle laid out occur in Deuteronomy 31:12, Joshua 8:35, 2 Chronicles 31:18, Ezra 10:1, Nehemiah 12:43, 8:2, Joel 2:16, Ephesians 5:22-6:4 (implies that the three groups are present), and Colossians 3:18-21 (also implies they are present).
Singing by the people is a significant part of congregational worship.
In Exodus 15, when Pharaoh’s army was drowned in the Red Sea, Moses and the sons of Israel sang a song of victory to the Lord. Throughout Chronicles, we see the results of David’s work of gathering a skillful body of leaders who could sing well. The Psalms, meant to be sung in congregational settings, are full of calls to sing. Psalm 22:22 says “I will tell of Your name to my brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will praise You.” And Psalm 111:1 is similar: “Praise the Lord! I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart, In the company of the upright and in the assembly.”
Spoken words are important.
It is an ancient heresy, though still present today, that upholds the idea that the spiritual aspect of our work is better and more pure than our physical endeavors. People love to point out verses such as “singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord” and apply them to mean that dreaming up musical sounds and lyrics in your head is just as good as actually singing. In reality, spoken words are important. They carry weight and meaning, and they are powerful things.
Let all the earth fear the Lord;
Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.
For He spoke, and it was done;
He commanded, and it stood fast.
- Psalm 33:8-9
Today, in our shortsighted, materialistic worldview, we wonder why Esau got all worked up over Jacob stealing his blessing—just a couple of spoken sentences, right? Or we read about God creating the heavens and the earth and wrongly think to ourselves subconsciously how the words are just there to tell us what God is thinking as He wills creation into existence. Or we find ourselves wondering why Balaam absolutely refuses to curse the Israelites with his words, no matter what hill of dirt he is introduced to. Or, sadly, we think that singing is something that we do simply to entertain God and please our own desires for catchy beats and sleepy drones, thereby releasing our minds into a spiritual void of restful nothing for thirty minutes.
But no—words are structural components of our living world. They have the power to condemn, and they have the power to justify. By their use, a generational line finds itself blessed or cursed. Deuteronomy 1:34-35 reads “Then the Lord heard the sound of your words, and He was angry and took an oath, saying, ‘Not one of these men, this evil generation, shall see the good land which I swore to give your fathers.’ ”
Jesus says in Matthew 12:37: “For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” Of His own words, Christ says in Matthew 24:35 “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.” Similarly, Peter says in John 6:68, “ ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.’ ”
Words can be deeply harmful as well—Ephesians 5:6 reads “Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
And in Revelation 1:3 we are called to head the words given to us in Scripture: “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.”
Most of us were given a mouth and a throat and a good set of lungs with which to speak words. Let us use them well.
Instruments are good things to be used in celebration and corporate worship.
Switching gears, one of the theories I would not like to promote is the idea that instruments in general are inherently not for congregational worship. I am certainly of the opinion that certain types of instruments are not conducive to this function, as there are instruments which would do a very decent job at promoting such things. Let us set that idea aside for now as a worthy judgement call we will dig into later. For now, we will focus our attention on instruments referenced in Scripture, assuming that the Israelites were doing their best to achieve congregational worship with the resources they had.
King David is known for his musical skills as well as his ability to compose new songs and instigate large gatherings of organized worship to the Lord. 2 Samuel 6:5 mentions the kind of celebration before the Lord that David led as the ark was brought up from the house of Aminidab. “Meanwhile, David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord with all kinds of instruments made of fir wood, and with lyres, harps, tambourines, castanets and cymbals.
1 Chronicles 15 gives us an idea of the organized singing and who was in charge of it. “Then David spoke to the chiefs of the Levites to appoint their relatives the singers, with instruments of music, harps, lyres, loud-sounding cymbals, to raise sounds of joy. So the Levites appointed Heman the son of Joel, and from his relatives, Asaph the son of Berechiah; and from the sons of Merari their relatives, Ethan the son of Kushaiah, and with them their relatives of the second rank, Zechariah, Ben, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom and Jeiel, the gatekeepers. So the singers, Heman, Asaph and Ethan were appointed to sound aloud cymbals of bronze; and Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah and Benaiah, with harps tuned to alamoth; and Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, Jeiel and Azaziah, to lead with lyres tuned to the sheminith. Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, was in charge of the singing; he gave instruction in singing because he was skillful. Berechiah and Elkanah were gatekeepers for the ark. Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah and Eliezer, the priests, blew the trumpets before the ark of God. Obed-edom and Jehiah also were gatekeepers for the ark.”
Clearly, instruments were definitely present during the singing—and their presence enhanced the worship. 1 Chronicles 25:1 once again mentions the types of instruments used, as well as 2 Chronicles 5:12.
Singing took precedence over the playing of instruments.
This might not be a very popular idea. But I think it’s fairly clear from the texts we see which reference singing and the use of instruments. The congregation, and not some professional or otherwise select people distinct from the congregation, should carry the weight of producing music fitting for our Lord.
There are two main reasons I come to this conclusion. One is a simple law of nature: most people in Christian societies have dabbled with musical instruments of some sort, but very few have the skill to play them comfortably. On the other hand, every last one of us gets voice practice at least daily through the simple use of our natural voices. Some people can play instruments, but pretty much anyone can sing. It is one of those things a young child can learn as though he would learn how to speak—while learning to play instruments takes deliberate, structured training.
The other more persuasive reason I hold to this perspective is the overwhelming number of commands to sing in the Psalms compared to those calling us to play musical instruments. In the Psalms alone, there are 72 references made to singing, of which 29 are a command for us to use our voices in singing aloud to the Lord, and 43 to the voice—either our own or the Lord’s. However, there are only two references to cymbals, eight to instruments, ten to the harp, and 13 to the lyre. I am not advocating that we take a purely statistical approach to Biblical exegesis, but there is something to be said for the attention paid to the human voice over instruments.
Remember the power of words—without words, there is no congregational worship. Without instruments, there can still be congregational worship, albeit less well done. Therefore, instruments, while good things to have in worship, are not necessary to its inherent function.
This can also be seen in Chronicles when we are introduced to the skilled leaders who are in charge of the singing. These men were skilled in many types of instruments, but they were installed in their offices primarily because they were skilled at singing (2 Chronicles 5:12, 35:15)—and they used their instruments to aid them in executing this function (1 Chronicles 25:3).
Hopefully a solid case has been made that the singing of the congregation may be enhanced by the use of instruments, but not the other way around. Most, if not all, of my source material for this idea has come from the Old Testament, which some people may take issue with. But all—not some of Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching. I think we should go at it from the perspective that, although the exact organization of the church is different in the New Covenant, Old Testament aspects of worship are still generally applicable to our use today. Although the New Testament doesn’t address singing to a great extent, where it does, it seems to uphold rather than negate Old Testament practices of worship (Hebrews 2:12, Romans 15:9, Revelation 5:9, 14:3, 15:3).
Hammering down with this perspective is a simple and yet brutally honest way of evaluating the efforts of worship leaders. Is the singing and music actually done by the congregation? And if not, how should it be accomplished?
I was one of those unfortunate people whose childhood happened to coincide with a fad of putting training wheels on children’s bicycles. The idea was that if you rode the bike long enough with training wheels, sooner or later you would somehow figure out how to ride the bike without them. They thought that, suddenly, children would learn how to balance without having been forced to practice this act in any extent. Eventually, my dad decided something external to the manufacturer’s bright ideas needed to be performed, and the training wheels were removed. I was then given many shoves through the yard—to include one interesting encounter with the clothesline—until I figured out how to stay upright. Years later, some more intelligent engineer made a bike for very small children—one with no training wheels and no pedals. It allows the short person to figure out how to balance before adding the additional complicating factor of pedals to the mix.
Our modern contemporary worship style is very similar to a bicycle with training wheels. Except imagine for a moment that instead of a normal bike with training wheels, it was just a bike with training wheels and no back tire. This is because the modern contemporary style is designed primarily for entertainment purposes. If it won’t sell on the radio or in a concert, it’s not worth the time to compose. It is this style which lends itself to a band-led worship setting—one in which the congregation follows along as a sort of afterthought, since that is exactly what it is. Granted, one of the popular aspects of modern contemporary worship is that it is so easily applied to concerts and corporate worship. But the composers have this in mind only as a means to an end—a successful hit piece.
When this style is applied to corporate worship, the result is a band which carries the entire weight of the production, and the congregation is invited to participate if it desires. But if it doesn’t desire, no problem—the band will take care of things. It practiced all the songs on Thursday night and Sunday morning, after all.
Some have suggested that what we need to fix this issue is a different way of conducting the same style of music. What if, for instance, we removed the instruments every so often as an attempt to spur the congregation into the idea that it is indeed a meaningful piece of the machinery? While a good idea, it reveals something going on at a deeper level. It is when the instruments are stripped away from our modern style that we discover that the bicycle with training wheels we have been riding not only has been denuded of training wheels—it is also lacking a back tire. This is where we find that the songs we currently sing have been composed to make full use of the instruments. Without instruments, the musical effect falls remarkably flat. Without them, the song has no legs. And without the training wheels, the bike simply doesn’t function. It just doesn’t sound good—in fact, it’s downright awkward. And I do not think this is a result of a simple discomfort over singing without instruments—I’ve done that many times with other musical styles without the awkward feeling of desperately needing something to carry the musical effect.
Apart from the main issue of the worship no longer being primarily produced by the congregation, another unfortunate side effect exists. A church’s singing, if led entirely by the band, is generally full of emotional manipulation. The whole attitude changes from the congregation offering up their praise to the idea that the congregation is only receiving the week’s allotment of spiritual renewal. If the music isn’t relaxing enough or catchy enough, it loses popularity and slides out of the rotation. Thus, the congregation’s emotions are constantly being pandered to and manipulated by the current musical trends. This, as well as a lack of knowledge for what we are actually doing on Sunday mornings and Who is present, is how we get pagan worship styles in our Christian worship services. I’ve touched on this in a past article, so I won’t delve into it again here. But suffice it to say that if you ever find yourself feeling guilty for not getting really worked up by the general ambience of the worship like everyone else seems to be, resist the urge to fit in. Getting sucked in by emotional manipulation does not make anyone more spiritual, at least not in a productive manner.
I greatly dislike people who complain at length about any given subject without offering a solid, workable solution. The solution I would like to present is widely applicable to a range of uses. The same song can be applied to a full congregation with instruments, or to the same without instruments, or to a family worship setting, or around a table full of good things with guests, or in the car on a road trip, or in the statehouse on a strategic day. The content of this solution is theologically sound hymns and metrical Psalms. And the style is that which the church has been using for the past 500 years since the time of the reformation—what most of the older generation would call the style of “old hymns”. Granted, people whom I would trust also suggest that one of our end goals should be to sing the psalms in such a way that the inspired text of the psalm is not modified. But that is rather beyond my expertise. Maybe I’ll get there someday. For now, and for the church as a whole, we have plenty of work on our hands if we are to come close to the skill we used to possess.
There are many benefits to this style. As already mentioned, it is good for a variety of applications—the song stays relatively the same whether instruments are used or not because the instruments follow the congregation. Sure, a piano or other instrument is often used to keep the pace moving. But overall, the style of old hymns is far more conducive to a congregation singing (in harmony) with the musical instruments standing in a supplemental, supportive role. I will delve into what types of instruments are best for this approach in a later article.
Also in contrast to our modern style, the older method leaves the emotional framework of the song in the hands of the singer, only giving rough guidelines to follow. Simply look to the Psalms and you will find songs ranging from jubilant to sorrowful to pleading with God to crush His enemies which are hounding us. Instead of the song playing to our emotions, we as the singers are required to follow the general theme of the song and regulate our attitudes accordingly. Whereas in a contemporary worship song, the congregant is expected to sit still and let the waves of sound immerse his soul into a comparative trance. But this is not honoring to God. Men lead their emotions, whereas poorly disciplined boys are led by their emotions.
Singing Psalms and hymns to the way we used to sing them 100 years ago is not easy. It requires work and dedication and practice. Once we understand that we are offering our praise to the Lord of Hosts and not simply tickling our own ears, this makes perfect sense. Why would we not want to strive for excellence in our singing? Unfortunately, the church-as-business model has muddied our perspective to the point that now we have things all mixed up—the supplemental instrument group practices and drills throughout the week while the congregation shows up on Sunday morning relatively clueless as to what parts they need to be singing. Not that our modern style has any established parts to sing in the first place, but the effect remains.
These are a few of the main ways in which our modern style has been proven inadequate to produce true congregational worship, while the style we have so hastily cast off continues to provide a way to do this. Since this has always been available to us, it is my opinion that somewhere along the line, our claim to pursuing congregational singing was not valued nearly to the extent most people vocalize today. Except now that we have grown fat and sullen, we have even less desire to work through a difficult harmony—after all, the band takes care of all that nowadays.
Do not be deceived by words—whether a church has achieved its claimed goal of producing congregational singing is easily verified through the use of our own two ears. What do you hear while in church? Do you hear a resounding, overpowering crowd of voices, accompanied by instruments to enhance the effect? Or do you hear one or two guys singing over a microphone accompanied by a field of instruments, with the people sitting around you barely participating? Judge for yourself.