Ephesians 5:19 -- "...speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music with your heart to the Lord..." (CSB)
Colossians 3:16 -- "Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. (CSB)
What is Worship?
Worship is the aspect of ascribing worth to God for who He is.
This is done in many ways:
Romans 12:1 says, "Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship." (CSB)
Here we see that our lives as a whole should be ascribing worth to God by how we live.
Congregational Singing as Worship in our Gathering
What we mean by "congregational" is everyone who is attending our Sunday morning gathering.
During the singing portion of our gathering, "congregational" is that aspect where we all sing.
When the singing is done together at a volume in which the congregants can hear each other we:
1.) give priority to the congregation and go counter culture to the idea that the worship band should be prioritized (some studies stuggest you might actually get more people to sing)
2.) we re-enforce the Biblical picture of the church existing and functioning as a coprporate whole, not giving rise to any individualistic kind of preference which, theoretically, should give rise to upholding the community aspect of singing in the worship service.
Congregational Singing as Building Community
If worship consists of how well rehearsed the music is, the ambiance of a light filled room, and the priority of a music team and/or choir, then our worship experiences can be done at home via the internet. Can we not experience the rock concert style of today's contemporary worship at home on our tv's and computers followed by whatever renowned preacher/pastor we want to listen to/look up?
There is something supernatural about the local church that gathers together weekly to sing together, pray together, read Scripture together, and be together that takes priority to any individualistic worship experience we could conjure up on our own.
What makes our Sunday mornings distinct?
Here at EC, we want our people to take ownership of the singing that we do on a Sunday morning gathering. That being said, our Sunday singing will consist of the following:
1.) Musical accompaniment that serves, not masters, the congregation. The volume will be at a level where the congregation can still hear themselves singing, yet where musical accompaniment can still be heard.
2.) The songs will be orthodox, able to be sung by everyone, and will exemplify the attributes of God the Trinity in a way relevant to our lives as a whole.
3.) The lights will be on for the majority of the service in order to guard against an attitude of "this moment is just me and God." Our singing on a Sunday morning is corporate and not individualistic. This mind-set will re-enforce the Biblical truth that, if one member of our corporate body is hurting, we are all hurting. If one member of our body is rejoicing, we are all rejoicing. Therefore, we will all sing in one corporate voice to the Father.
Now it should be noted that there are avenues for "me and God" moments, but Sunday gathering will function under the "corporate body" mind-set. The lights being on will allow everyone to see everyone around them as we sing together. There are moments in the liturgy where lights will be dimmed such as the corporate prayers time and the invitation/response to message time.
