Corporate Worship in the Youtube Era: A Brief Evaluation

"As a minister of music at a local church it's been interesting (and largely edifying) to watch the rise of the YouTube hymn/worship song culture. There’s so much to be thankful for, as we live in a time of many new songs that are theologically solid and beautifully written. It’s easy to fill an afternoon-long playlist with solid, Christ-exalting new songs. Full stop.

But I suspect that through these music videos of congregational singing, we are perpetuating the idea that physical expression while singing is necessary. I think younger believers who watch these videos, edifying as the songs may be, are establishing "visual emotionalism" as normative, and something they must work up in themselves in order for their worship to be "authentic."

Physical expression norms have changed over the past twenty years, too. It used to be both hands in the air, but this demonstrative posture seems to be slowly replaced with a more introspective one: eyes closed, head tilted slightly back or to one side, maybe a little swaying back and forth.

To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with such a posture, if it is coming from a heart filled with God’s Word and overflowing with gospel thankfulness. I just fear that we are trading one set of cultural norms for another, and in the process, unwittingly implying that this is what believers "ought" to do.

Hymns For Every Congregation

Classic and Modern Hymns of Praise and Worship

Dr. Duncan wrote a helpful post recently titled, "Hymns For Every Congregation."  Below is an abridged copy of this helpful article.  How many of these classic and modern hymns do you know and sing?

"A pastor friend of mine contacted me this week and asked if I had written an article on my “top twenty” hymns. The reason he asked me for this is that he pastors a church that has not been using much in the way of traditional hymnody for a number of years, and they are now trying to introduce more hymns into their congregational singing. He wanted a good list of hymns for them to use as they try to reincorporate hymns into the diet of their Sunday worship services.

His question got me thinking: what hymns would I recommend to any and every pastor and church for regular usage. I jotted down some ideas and sent them off to him, and I’ve been reflecting on a “must know” list of hymns ever since.

Before I offer a preliminary list, let me make just a few qualifications.

I have not aimed here at producing a list of hymns that cover the whole scope of biblical doctrine. I have tried to think of hymn and tune combinations that will help “win over” a congregation to the treasures of the church’s hymnody. Once the congregation comes to know and love some of these great traditional texts and tunes, then the pastor and musicians can began to expand the hymn repertoire of the congregation in order to cover more important biblical themes.

A quick note on resources: there are some outstanding online sources that should be well-known to pastors and others involved in choosing the hymnody and psalmody for Lord’s Day Worship Services. I list a few here. These sites have material on both traditional and contemporary hymnody

Cyber Hymnal http://www.hymntime.com/tch/

Doxology & Theology http://www.doxologyandtheology.com/

Hymnary.org https://hymnary.org/

Indelible Grace Music http://www.igracemusic.com/

Matt Merker Music https://www.mattmerkermusic.com/

Music for the Church of God http://www.cgmusic.org/

Sovereign Grace Music https://sovereigngracemusic.org/

Part of the reason that I’ve chosen these hymns below is that they still “work” in contemporary English-speaking American Protestant congregations, with their traditional tunes (though some of them also have very good contemporary tunes now associated with them, and I recommend a number of these). I have been in multiple church and conference settings, in every part of the country (and all over the English-speaking world), in places where most of the material given to the congregation to sing is drawn from current popular Christian music, and whenever a hymn of the quality of the ones I am going to suggest below is sung, those congregations/conferences have invariably sung the hymn better than whatever else they had been singing. Which fascinates me. At multiple levels.