I have been involved in the so called “worship wars” my entire life. I mean that. My life has centered around church music, and little else. I have been in 100′s of churches, possibly thousands of bible belt churches, and because of this I have seen just about any version of church you can imagine. I can say, however, I am glad to be in California where really and truly this battle is long gone, and is now just a memory to a generation of those who feel they lost and have now gone to reminisce about those bygone yesteryears when life was simpler and electric guitars where only seen on the Ed Sullivan Show. I don’t want to sound callous to those who tried to hold on to their tradition. I see myself there one day as church music evolves past me. I am resigned to be a thorn in the side of some young thirty-five year old worship leader who thinks he knows it all.
I have put lots of time in study, thought, prayer, and even writing and teaching on this issue of church music, but interestingly enough I recently realize there is an entire battle in this fight that I failed to put any real time into. Recently I have had the opportunity to converse with and hang out with the “truly reformed”, and by “truly reformed” I mean Presbyterians and a few staunch Reformed Baptist who usually look at me with a perplexed yet sympathetic expression that could be loosely translated to, “We pity you, but have faith that one day you will see the light”. They are glad I am Covenental and Calvinistic, but these two do not a TR make. These TR’s , God bless them, have heated discussion about which hymnal is the best, and which hymnal should be burned along with Kiss records and Elvis eight track tapes. The Trinity Hymnal usually wins out. I have a copy of this and its a good hymnal but it is not the hymnal I would choose if choosing a hymnal for our church.
Over the years I have heard reason for hymnals verses anything else. Some very passionately speak of tradition, and the sense of reverence that comes from singing from hymnals. Some head to the practical and speak of the notes in a hymnal and how its is easier to read harmonies. As a side note I will respond to this argument. 90% percent of you congregation cannot site read. They may think they are, but trust me if they sing harmony they are doing it by ear unless trained otherwise. The other 10% is either playing or leading and if they are not then they also can sing harmony by ear or else they wouldn’t have taken the time to learn music.
One guy who I would place into the Hyper-hymnist camp summed it up like this.
A hymnal says: pews with hymnal racks, long musical tradition, musically literate congregation, constrained liturgy, and piano or organ. A choir is optional. An overhead projector says: metal folding chairs, post-1975 charismatic lyrics, two-stanza theology, five repetitions, tunes suitable for children, worshippers raised on rock & roll, lots of newcomers, guitars, and a 500-watt PA system. Neck ties are optional.A hymnal says: wide age distribution, mature leadership, liturgical complacency, a sense of place, “been there, tried that, didn’t work,” humanist-accredited seminary, public schools vs. Christian schools, printed Sunday school curriculum (bland), shaking hands, Rotary Club, remarried divorcees, and silence on abortion. An overhead projector says: young families, untested leadership, liturgical experimentation, a sense of discovery, “Spirit-led, new thing, works at Willow Creek,” no seminary, Christian schools vs. home schools, “let’s all share” Sunday schools, hugging, 700 Club, marriage counselling, and whispers on abortion.
A hymnal says stable membership. An overhead projector says church growth.
A hymnal says “baptisms = funerals.” An overhead projector says “baptisms > funerals.”
A hymnal says past, present, and predictable future. An overhead projector says present and open-ended future.
We do not use hymnals at our church, but I do have 3000 amps of power for my PA system — if you don’t count the guitar amps. I for one am not against hymnals. I grew up with them and song sheets (which has potential legal issues by the way). It doesn’t bother me to use hymnals, but it is rare for me to use hymnals or look at an overhead when I sing. Hymnals are fine. I just find them impractical for the average 2007 church. I have numerous reason for projecting words onto a screen — nothing greatly philosophical, just practical.
It was a recent comment by a visitor at our church that spurned my thinking about this topic. In our conversation about the service he commented that he was pleased to see we used a screen for our words. He said he didn’t realize he missed it until sitting at a church for 2 years that used hymnals. His comment was that it was freeing to not have to hold the hymnal and he felt, for him at least, having to use the hymnal left him with a sense of foreboding. I thought his comments were interesting and did get me to thinking. Just how important is this issue? Does it really matter if we use hymnals or song sheets or projectors? Have we equated hymnals on some level with bibles? Does it matter if its a book or not? Is it even worth having the discussion?
I believe it does matter. Hymnals are only great because they have hymns in them. I have hymns on my projector too.
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Jason Robertson is a husband and a father and a pastor. He is dedicated to leading and equipping his the Church with God’s word and biblical theology for life ministry, using a combination of pastoral, church planting and evangelism experience. He holds a Master of Divinity from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He is experienced in church planting, evangelism, missions, and the training of pastors and Bible teachers.
Jason has been preaching the gospel since 1985, serving the first ten years of ministry as a Southern Baptist itinerant evangelist out of Milldale Baptist Church in Zachary, LA which ordained him in 1993. He has preached in hundreds of churches in over 30 States and 4 countries. He planted churches in Siberia, Russia in the summers of 1993 and 1994. He founded Murrieta Valley Church in California, which he planted in cooperation with the SBC NAMB in 2001. He also teaches ministry students at California Baptist University.
You can hear his sermons and read his manuscripts on sermonaudio.com. Just follow the link to "sermons" at the top of this page.
I have a hard time understanding why anyone would give you a hard time about this. One of my platoon commanders used to say that fussing about that sort of thing indicated excessive free time.
“Hymnals are only great because they have hymns in them. I have hymns on my projector too.”
Amen!
I have heard many of the same arguments for hymnals and agree with you 100% that most people who think having a hymnal will help them sing parts are sadly mistaken. Also I agree that having a hymnal doesn’t help the untrained sing new songs. The fact is that the only reason they can sing the songs in the hymnal is because there are never any new songs. Just try teaching a new hymn to a congregation using a hymnal and the response will be no better than teaching a new chorus with a projector.
Personally, I think either one is legitimate. If we wanted to do it truly by Biblical example, we’d memorize them
But I would not say “hymnals are impractical for most churches in 2007″:
1. Computers crash. Maybe you could have paper copies as some sort of back-up.
2. There are some who can’t read the overhead for various reasons (vision, tall people in front of short people).
3. Even if a person can’t read music properly, they can at least see if the notes go up or down on the scale, or if they are quarter or full notes. But I think this may be one of the lesser issues, since the more you sing a song the more you know the notes by heart.
So I have a feeling you’d probably feel the same about those churches that espouse the use of the Psalter only.
I guess those would be the Truly Reformed TRs.
Let me be clear. I don’t take issue with those who espouse the hymnal only stances at their churches. I just find it odd that many, not all, but many view it as a source of superiority. If you want to use hymnals great. I just don’t want to be viewed as ‘lessen than’ because I chose not to.
Psalter only churches, that is an entirely different discussion.
As far as impractical, in some churches probably not, but if you are going to use songs written since the last time a hymnal was printed or revised (1970) then it is impractical. And I am not talking about songs from the newest WoW worship CD. What about new hymns such as “In Christ Alone, Power of the Cross, Here Is Love, Resurrection Hymn. All fantastic songs that should be sung be every church.
Great post Scott. Do I happen to know the guy mentioned at the end of your post? Sounds familiar.
You do Bret. I joked with you about him before, and believe me I didn’t put you guys in this category. You have plenty of other reasons to feel superior. The number one reason being your smarter than I am.
When this guy said what he said it just struck me as interesting, culturally speaking.
I do here you guys will break out the projector for special occasions .
I agree with all MarieP’s points. The church we are in uses both hymnals and overheads. BTW most churches in England do not have music, only the words. I miss the music but realize it is a lot more expensive which is why churches here don’t have the music versions.
To illustrate MarieP’s #2 point, I’m tall, 5’8″, and some Sundays I spend most of the song period if we are using overheads, trying to manuever to see the words. The screen is quite well-placed, but it is still a problem. Heaven help my children or anyone short.
Another point, which I don’t see in the comments so far, is that having the book in hand, allows you to contemplate the words more. I love being able to think about the words – either the praise to God, or the exhortation to myself as a believer. On the overhead, I’m busy trying to see the words, sing them, and sometimes can’t give proper thought to them. Then, after the verse is over, it’s gone!! there is no opportunity to have another look at a verse and think about it, even very briefly. With a hymnal I seem to be able to think about it all more, and appreciate being able to think over the words at an appropriate time (not during the sermon, although at my old church the song book, before they got rid of them, would have fed me a lot more than the sermon!).
I’m all for using new songs and overheads are good for that, saving paper and all. You still have copyright issues with overheads though. I notice that papers are printed with the words on them for the overhead songs, for the older members. They just can’t see the screen, either because they can’t rise, or because of vision issues. I wonder how they feel about it.
You can use hymnals or more simply said, “song books” in a variety of situations (taking them to a home group, etc.).
I prefer hymnals but don’t think it’s a moral issue. I’m just relieved when I see the song will be from a hymnal and know I won’t have to constantly move around to see the words and can just look at the page and think about what I’m seeing and singing. YMMV.
Funny thing is, Scott, that I’m looking for a pretty good sized stack of hymnals (old), if anyone’s church has some they’d like to get rid of. I want to teach my worship team and choir (and church, for that matter) to harmonize better, and really, a hymnal’s the only way to go.
Power corrupts, but PowerPoint corrupts absolutely. :p
Dave I might have a resource for you. I will make a few calls and see what come up. That is if you don’t mind Baptist hymnals.
Not at all, Scott. Some of the neatest inmates I met while I was involved in prison ministry were Baptists. Boy, could they sing!
Something “One guy” missed:
Hymnal says: solid theology and doctrine
Overhead projector says: emotions, feelings, the feminization of the worship service. (Emphasis on worshiping with the “spirit”)
The Bible says to worship in spirit and in truth. Why can’t there be a mix of both? That is what my church does. There are times when we need to sing a “new song” to the Lord and there are time we need to reflect some of his atributes that get neglected by praise songs. And as a side note, Ps 150 covers every instrument used in the modern church service, including cymbals and tamborine.
Oh, and if this is a “boys only” club sorry for intruding!
(I also don’t think ALL praise songs are shallow and girly)
We welcome women readers and commenter’s here are Fide-O. For some reason however, they don’t stay around very long. I think my wife has some insight as to why.
Good post Scott. We left a church that used an overhead for its music. Not because it used an overhead but because they incorporated secular music in their worship among other things. The church we attend now we use a hymnal, handouts and a Psalter occasionally. We are not tied to anyone and its fits nicely. We are discussing putting together our own song book.
Thanks for the post.
Bill