geddy lee and actor from the testaments movie lds

There are lots of great, new worship songs today, but in the vast pool of new songs, many are not suitable for congregational singing by virtue of their rhythms (too difficult for the average singer) or too wide of a range (consider the average singer-not the vocal superstar on stage). We are singing songs not suitable for congregational singing. People worship best with songs they know, so we need to teach and reinforce the new expressions of worship. I advocate doing no more than one new song in a worship service, and then repeating the song on and off for several weeks until it becomes known by the congregation. Indeed, we should be singing new songs, but too high a rate of new song inclusion in worship can kill our participation rate and turn the congregation into spectators. With the release of new songs weekly and the increased birthing of locally-written songs, worship leaders are providing a steady diet of the latest, greatest worship songs. Worship is moving to its pre-Reformation mess. Simply put, we are breeding a culture of spectators in our churches, changing what should be a participative worship environment to a concert event. What has occurred could be summed up as the re-professionalization of church music and the loss of a key goal of worship leading – enabling the people to sing their praises to God. At first, this advance in technology led to more powerful congregational singing, but soon, a shift in worship leadership began to move the congregation back to pre-Reformation pew potatoes (spectators). With the advent of new video technologies, churches began to project the lyrics of their songs on a screen, and the number of songs at a church’s disposal increased exponentially.

The evolution of the printed hymnal brought with it an explosion of congregational singing and the church’s love for singing increased. The Reformation gave worship back to the people, including congregational singing which employed simple, attainable tunes with solid, scriptural lyrics in the language of the people.

The music was performed by professional musicians and sung in an unfamiliar language (Latin).

Prior to the Reformation, worship was largely done for the people. Worship leaders around the world are sadly changing their church’s worship (often unintentionally) into a spectator event, and people aren’t singing anymore.īefore discussing our present situation, let’s look back into history.

Geddy lee and actor from the testaments movie lds