More Thoughts On Worship

 I recently finished reading a book called Why I Don't Sing In Your Church. The author is right on some things and wrong on other things. But he touched on issues that have bothered me for a while now. I have recently written on some of those issues and today I want to finish up my series on worship in the local church.

Why do some men not sing during church? Maybe they do not want to be there at all. Maybe they are ashamed of their voice and do not want anyone to hear how badly they think they sing.  Maybe they just don't like to sing at all. There are many reasons why men in particular do not feel comfortable singing in church. I love to sing in church. Not everyone does.

Why do song leaders seem to ignore the audience? When someone in the spotlight keeps his eyes closed and doesn't smile or make eye contact at all it makes me feel uncomfortable. I have sat under preachers who do this. I stop caring about what they are saying since they don't seem to care about me.

Most of us are not professional singers like the performers who record the songs you want us to learn. We cannot sing in their key and we do not have their range and we will never sing like they do. We only sing a few minutes a week. They sing for a living. Don't expect us to sing their songs like they do. If men are not singing then the key is too high. 

Not every worship song will translate into our song service. They may be emotional and they may be stirring but they are not suitable for our style of church. Most popular Christian music songs are terrible church worship songs no matter how much you may like the songs. No one 100 years from now will be singing Yes Lord, yes Lord, yes yes Lord over and over again.

Finally, new songs are great but don't forget to sings the songs that this church grew up on. Old faithful songs are the ones that I sing in my head during the week. Sing them in the regular mix of songs every service. When you sing the old songs people will trust you that you care about them. Even though our outreach is focused outward our worship is ours, not theirs. Sing songs that make us glad to be saved and let new converts learn what is important to us.