“Sing to one another” is the clearest musical command that the church has been given. It is also profoundly simple. It compels us to make our song choices and musical techniques expertly crafted to serve that end: congregations singing well together. 

At the forefront of a creation that praises its Creator (Psalm 148) stands a people purchased from every tribe and tongue and nation, filled with the Word of Christ, singing songs with thankfulness in their hearts to their God for what He has done. That call of worship is no small command or privilege. It is worth every ounce of practicing, protecting, preserving, and passing on faithfully to the next generation.

To discourage in any way that mandate of praise would be akin to placing a stumbling block in the way of our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, a barrier to participating fully in the communion of the saints as they fellowship and worship together.

Worship through song is a gift of the present and a promise of the future, from God Himself.

There have been plenty of disagreements regarding the usefulness or appropriateness of musical style, instrumentation, and lyrical content in corporate worship over the course of church history. Every church will have its own musical preferences or convictions. That God’s people should sing, however, is a non-negotiable essential of Christian practice and a near universal area of ecclesiological agreement.

With that I mind, how can every church best prepare its people for that day when we all stand together in one heavenly choir?

We can begin now by asking ourselves, “Is it well with our singing?”

This question isn’t about theology or musical composition; it’s about how we’re encouraging (or discouraging) God’s people from giving their whole selves – body, soul, mind, strength – to their Lord in worship song. This assessment is concerned with participation, not perfection. And this hard look at the practical basics of our singing might reveal some profoundly simple solutions. For those who desire a church that sings well, the following suggestions are worth serious consideration.

1. Sing singable songs

Trade secret: Not all great worship songs are the most singable songs. Many church leaders who believe every song they choose is a “hit,” live with an ongoing frustration that their people sing some songs noticeably well but not others. This is because choosing a song that is singable for the masses requires taking inventory of melody, key, rhythm, tempo, diction, and more. Certain tunes are intuitive to the musically untrained, and others are not. Some songs sound easy on the radio but clumsy on Sunday morning. For a church to sing well, they ought to be given every opportunity to succeed. For that to happen, those persons with the high responsibility of curating song selection ought to be observant students of singing, not simply of performance.

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