{"id":4245,"date":"2014-03-06T13:35:59","date_gmt":"2014-03-06T17:35:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/?p=4245"},"modified":"2014-03-06T13:35:59","modified_gmt":"2014-03-06T17:35:59","slug":"congregational-singing-starts-with-the-pastor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/?p=4245","title":{"rendered":"Congregational Singing Starts with the Pastor"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the most recent issue of the Baptist & Reflector Justin Wainscott<\/a> has a wonderful column<\/a> by this title. Justin rightly notes the importance of congregational singing and the fact that this is too often overlooked by pastors. Justin writes:<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s face it. If our churches don\u2019t value congregational singing, it\u2019s likely because we don\u2019t value it. While everyone else is supposed to be singing together, we\u2019re busy fumbling through our notes or looking around at who\u2019s there or not there. Or worse, we just stand there with our arms folded, waiting on \u2018our\u2019 turn.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This column is a good challenge for pastors to lead the way by example in the importance of congregational singing. Too many of our members think of singing simply as the \u201cset up\u201d for what really matters, preaching. Of course, preaching is important but the scriptures make clear that congregational singing is important as well. Just this morning I read Psalm 96 which opens with,<\/p>\n

Oh sing to the\u00a0Lord<\/b>\u00a0a new song;
\nsing to the\u00a0Lord<\/b>, all the earth!
\nSing to the\u00a0Lord<\/b>, bless his name;
\ntell of his salvation from day to day.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Three times in two verses we are explicitly commanded to sing to the Lord, and the context makes it clear that only hearty singing will do. This is of course only one of the many places where this is commanded in Scripture (commonly in the Psalms and also Col 3:16; Eph 5:19). It simply won\u2019t do to say, \u201cI\u2019m just not into singing,\u201d or \u201cI don\u2019t really like to sing.\u201d It has been commanded by our Lord. When people give these responses, I want to reply, \u201cOh, are you not a Christian?\u201d We may as well say, \u201cI\u2019m just not into obedience,\u201d or \u201cI don\u2019t really like to share the gospel.\u201d And God\u2019s commands are always for our good. We are blessed as we sing the praises of our worthy God.<\/p>\n

So, I encourage you to read Justin Wainscott\u2019s column<\/a> and let\u2019s help our people really engage in congregational singing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the most recent issue of the Baptist & Reflector Justin Wainscott has a wonderful column by this title. Justin rightly notes the importance of congregational singing and the fact that this is too often overlooked by pastors. Justin writes: Let\u2019s face it. If our churches don\u2019t value congregational singing, it\u2019s likely because we don\u2019t …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Congregational Singing Starts with the Pastor’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[309,47],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4245"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4245"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4246,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4245\/revisions\/4246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}