This sponsored post was provided by Lifeway and written by Keith Getty.
Do you avoid joining in with congregational worship in church because you think you can’t sing?
Perhaps you can recall an awkward conversation as a child when you were asked to mouth the words, rather than sing them; or when it was suggested that being a member of your school or church choir might not be the best fit for your gifts.
But if you can speak, you can physically sing. The truth is that God designed you to sing and gave you everything you need to sing. Moreover, He wants you to! He’s far less concerned with your skillfulness than your integrity. Christian singing begins with the heart, not on the lips (Eph. 5:19).
For example, when our daughters sing together, the older is more confident than the middle one, who is in turn more fluent than the youngest, because they are all at different stages of learning to sing. This may change as they all get older, but the point is this—to our ears as their parents, each voice is not only as important as the others but is also as treasured as the others. In the same way, our heavenly Father cares whether and what you sing, but He does not mind how well you sing. While we may have choirs within our churches made up of voices who have expertise and ability, the congregation of a church is the ultimate choir, and it is without auditions—everyone can be in it and should be in it.
Your voice matters because the true beauty of such a congregational choir comes from all of our voices and our hearts being knit together in praise. It is exhilarating to be part of a body of believers singing truth together. Your voice may not be of professional standard, but it is of confessional standard.
And remember, the more we practice something, the better we become at it. “As with almost everything worthwhile in life, there is rarely just one day to do it.”₁ To learn to walk takes time, and we first must learn to press down on our feet. To learn to speak takes time, and we must first open our mouths and make sounds. To praise God in tuneful song takes time, and we grow better at singing by singing. And once we’ve reached our peak, if it is still some way short of the tuneful heights, a sense of humor is a useful ally. Since we sing to encourage and praise, not to impress and earn praise, we can smile about that and sing anyway.
REFLECTION
As you think through your own journey as a congregational singer and member of the universal choir, recall your earliest memory of singing. How did it make you feel? Compare that to what you experience today during congregational singing. Perhaps it’s feelings of joy and freedom or maybe fear and self-consciousness. Considering those feelings, think about what kind of “practice” your church could do to help you and other members feel more confident, less self-aware, and more engaged in hymn singing.
If you want more tips and information on the beauty and practicality of congregational worship, check out Sing! How Worship Transforms Your Life, Family, and Church. Because singing really can transform your personal life, your family, and your church.
Available now in bulk purchase for your church. Learn more at TheSingBook.com.
- OsGuinness, Fool’s Talk: Recovering the Art of Christian Persuasion (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2015), 32.
