Dr Paul Allen

Martin Luther once said, “God doesn’t need your good works, but your neighbour does.” The same is true of congregational singing. Although God commands Christians to sing, he doesn’t need our singing in order to be God. He has an eternal choir of living creatures that never cease to sing his praise (Rev. 4:8). And yet he’s designed us to experience joy—and encouragement—when we lift our voices in praise. Though we often conceive of corporate worship vertically, there’s a rich horizontal dimension too. Your neighbours need your church’s singing. Which neighbours? Consider four. 1. Your Doubting Neighbor Some believers barely make it to church each week. They have doubts about God’s goodness, about whether he loves them, about whether showing up to the church is still worth it. Singing may be the last thing on their minds. But in congregational singing, we teach and admonish one another (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16). In his excellent book Corporate Worship: How the Church Gathers as God’s Peopl...

And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” (Revelation 5:9–12) Songs come and go in our culture — new releases to billboard lists to classic hits to oldies. Musicians rise and fade; genres come in and out of style; instruments, mediums, and technology are all evolving all the time. There are few, if any, songs or artists that really connect with people in every generation with the same power. There are great songs,...