No Room in the ACNA for Anglican Traditionalists

By Robin G. Jordan

What is noteworthy about Archbishop Foley Beach’s State of the Province Address to the Provincial Council is what it does not mention.

First, it contains no mention of the need for the amendment of the ACNA canons permitting the continued use of the 1662 English, 1928 American, and 1962 Canadian Prayer Books and liturgical books based on them such as the Reformed Episcopal Church’s The Book of Common Prayer (2003) and the Anglican Mission in America-Prayer Book Society USA’s An Anglican Prayer Book (2008) after the finalization of the new ACNA Prayer Book. The canonical provision that all ACNA churches must use the new ACNA Prayer Book once the book is finalized is still in force.

Second, it contains no mention of the need to revise the draft ACNA Prayer Book, to eliminate a number of its undesirable features, and to incorporate alternative rites and wording for the use of clergy and congregations that adhere to the doctrinal and worship principles of the classical Anglican formularies—The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion of 1571 and The Book of Common Prayer of 1662 and the Ordinal of 1662.

Third, it contains no mention of any plan to incorporate the Anglican Network in Canada’s modern language version of the 1552 Holy Communion Service into the draft ACNA Prayer Book.

Fourth, it contains no mention of the need to revise the ACNA Catechism to bring its doctrine into line with the teaching of the Bible and the doctrine of the classical Anglican formularies.

Fifth, it contains no mention of the need to revisit the question of women’s ordination particularly in the light of the recent abandonment of women’s ordination by the Latvian Lutheran Church.

While flirting with Russian Orthodoxy and High Church Lutheranism, the ACNA leadership seems all too eager to turn its back on classical Anglicanism. 

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Small Church Worship That Makes a Difference

By Robin G. Jordan

Now there are two kinds of church music: in one the congregation is the artist; in the other, the congregation is the audience.

The art of congregational singing is a noble one. Stirring in its massive effect, and interesting to practise, it is hardly ever attempted, because choirmasters have not realized that it is an art, and like all arts has its limitations — far less intractable, after all, than those of the sculptor — and that it triumphs by and through its limitations. It has also certain excellent and peculiar virtues, chief of which is that a congregation cannot sing out of tune, since the minorities above and below the tone correct one another. The art of choral singing is a different one; and the mistake of the last century was that the distinction was not recognized, whence comes the practice — almost Tibetan in its quaintness — of the congregation standing up to listen to a choir inadequately chanting psalms to inappropriate music. When the congregation sing, it is their business to sing for all they are worth; when the choir sing, it is the duty of the congregation to listen, and not to interrupt by making noises of their own, any more than they would interrupt a sermon — though indeed there is something to be said for this latter display of private judgement.

It is clear, then, that in the average small church the business of the choirmaster is to teach the congregation to sing. That is his art, and it is a delightful one. The choir, if it exists, will work merely to support the congregation, and will of course contain women as well as men and boys, since a musician does not select people for their sex any more than for the colour of their hair, but for their musical capacity.

Percy Dearmer made these observations in The Art of Public Worship almost a century ago. Dearmer was a lecturer in ecclesiastical art at King’s College, London from 1919 to his death in 1936. He was active in the formation of the Alcuin Club and the Wareham Guild. He authored a number of works. His best known work is The Parson’s Handbook, a manual on liturgy and worship for Anglican clergy. He championed what is known as the “English Use”— liturgical practices of the pre-Reformation English Church, which conform to the rites and rubrics of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and to the canons governing the Prayer Book’s use.” Dearmer also edited The English Hymnal and Songs of Praise. In The Art of Public Worship he offers this helpful advice

Avoid…the frozen mediocrity of an authorized hymnal. Refuse to use it; and by the measure of your refusal will you have power with the generation rising about you.... Burn your official hymn books then. Refuse to touch the new one. Here is the chance now to break loose. Cut from your hymn-list everything you do not know to be true and believe to be beautiful; and add to them some of the many hymns which abound, hymns as splendid—and as popular too—as the Adeste Fideles, the Easter Hymn, and the Old Hundreth.

Dearmer’s point is that we should not limit ourselves to a one narrow collection of hymns and tunes. Rather we should draw from the wealth of classic and more recent hymnody hymns and tunes that meet the specific worship needs of our particular congregation.

Among the recommendations that Dearmer makes in The Art of Public Worship is that the congregation should be allowed to sit during the reading or singing of the Psalms at Morning and Evening Prayer instead of being be required to stand. If congregation is allowed to sit, the congregation is less likely to experience the reading or singing of the Psalms as long and tedious.

Much as I prefer plainsong to Anglican chanting, I fear it will be even less popular. I believe the chanting of the psalms (outside community chapels where plainsong can be — or ought to be — heard at its best) is only satisfactory and helpful when performed by a highly-trained choir in that magnificent vehicle for sound, a great cathedral. Even then, the congregation can enjoy the music, and follow the words, far better if they sit. I wish also that English parish churches would revert to the old-fashioned custom, which has been so wisely retained in most American churches, of reading the psalms, and only singing the Glorias.

Dearmer goes on to note:

But this reading should not be a duet between the minister and the congregation; it should be done, verse by verse, alternately by each half of the congregation, from side to side. If you try this, all sitting, you will find that the Psalter takes on a new character, that few parts of the service are more loved: every one enters into the meditative power of the exercise, and few then feel that the psalms are too long.

Dearmer has harsh words for organs and organists.

To this it may be added that the organ exists in the ordinary church merely to support the choir and congregation, and that if its teeth could be drawn by some magician, musical folk would be very much pleased. Probably the silencing of all organs for a period of ten years would make our churches into nests of singing birds. For organs have become like alcohol, though unfortunately we cannot get rid of the craving by going "dry." What we could do would be to revert to the old custom of keeping the organ silent during Lent, and thus throwing the singers for six weeks every year upon their own resources. Then during the rest of the year it would be easier for some parts of the singing to be unaccompanied — Versicles and Responses always, and set-pieces sometimes also, especially at times like the Communion. It would be easier also sometimes for the accompanist to behave modestly — a virtue which can be secured when he is not the same person as the choirmaster. But shall we ever recover church music until we have a music-gallery, and shall we ever recover village fellowship until we have a village band? In any case, all harmoniums everywhere should be burnt: their droning produces just that insufferable tone which makes many bright people hate the very mention of church music, and inferior organists seem to have got it into their very bones. Pianos are far better.

Dearmer recognizes not only the value of the piano but of hymn sings and pre-service congregational rehearsals.

This applies specially to those sing-songs which we learnt to use so much in the Army. It was an excellent thing for the men to sit round a piano and sing hymns for half an hour before service began in the hut, not putting their smokes away till that moment arrived….Will some daring priest arise, now that the War is over, who will have sing-songs in church before Evensong, and not frown at the incense of woodbines, until the last bell begins? In any case sing songs afford an ideal opportunity for learning fine new hymn-tunes, and for much quiet explanation of the reasons why so many of the old hymns should call the blush to the cheek of all true men.

Dearmer also affirms the liturgical principle that less is more. He advocates greater simplicity in worship.

Reform has already begun, and should not be impossible of accomplishment. We have to get rid of the idea that everything in a serviceshould be sung. Why, for instance, should not the Canticles only be sung at Evensong or Mattins ? Any congregation can learn to do that much really well. Again, in very many churches the principal Eucharist should be said and not sung, with four or five good hymns at the proper places, and nothing is easier than to have good hymns, as soon as we give up the old hymnals. In many of these churches, one (or more) congregational part, such as the Creed, can be sung to the one or two good simple settings that exist, the old Plainsong, Merbecke, or Mr. Martin Shaw's new settings. Most of the Masses of the later great composers are too long — for we ought to regard an hour as the utmost time for which attention can be maintained; but it would surely be possible for trained choirs to sing one piece from such a Mass, and to use the simple settings for the rest — after all, the Benedictus and Agnus are anthems in our service — or to say the rest of the service without note. It must always be remembered that the saying of services is an immense saving of time, with consequent prevention of tedium, and concentration of worship, and that this practice forms an excellent monochrome framework for pieces of rich music. On this side there is little else to be said — so exceedingly simple is the remedy.

Among the books that have shaped my thinking on church and worship music is Bishop Michel Marshall’s Renewal in Worship (1982). Marshall champions the importance of small churches tailoring their worship to their resources and their circumstances.  The main thesis of his work is that small churches give themselves an inferiority complex, comparing their worship to the worship of larger churches and attempting to imitate large church worship. They judge the worship of their church by what are unrealistic standards for a church of their size and set themselves up for failure. They attempt types of music that cannot do well, reinforcing their sense of inferiority.

Marshall advocates the use of forms of music that smaller churches can do well with their particular resources and under their particular circumstances. Like Dearmer he sees a place for the piano and other musical instruments beside the organ in the music of the church.

Lionel Daker was the organist and master of choristers at Rippon Cathedral for 3 years and Exeter Cathedral for 15 years. He was the director of the Royal School of Church Music from1972 to 1989. He was also a director of Hymns Ancient and Modern from 1976 to his death in 2003. He held a number of other important posts related to church music. Daker also wrote a number of books on church music including Choosing – and Using – Hymns (1985). This book is full of helpful advice from which I benefited when I was involved in the planning of worship at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in the 1980s and 1990s.

As The Telegraph points out in his obituary, Daker “recognised that what might be possible in a cathedral was hardly likely to be achieved, or even desirable, in a parish church, and he urged organists and choirmasters not to attempt more than local resources would permit.”

In regard to the selection of hymns and tunes Betty Pulkingham makes a similar point to Dearmer’s in Sing God a Simple Song: Exploring Music in the Worship for the Eighties sixty seven years later. Pulkingham writes:

The music of the church belongs to the people; they are the celebrants. The believing people as a whole come in many different shapes and sizes, represent at least three generations and in many cases today (the urban church being a good example) a poly-ethnic background. How shall we meet the needs of very young children, teenagers, young couples, the middle-aged, and octogenarians in the same service? Certainly where music is concerned we must purpose to be eclectic, choosing music from many and varied sources, old and new. We must not get stuck in a tiny framework, using one style or type of music.

In regard to the reading of the Psalms, Pulkingham also strongly recommends that they should be read antiphonally, that is, from side to side.

In the introduction toThe Hymns of Michael Forster: A Resource for Worship (2004) hymn writer Michael Forster draws attention to a principle he learned from his father who was the choirmaster of a small Church of England parish. The choir his father directed was small and did not have enough voices to do part-singing. Rather than attempt musical works that required two or more voice types, his father picked hymns, anthems, and service music that a small unison choir could not only sing but sing well. He then worked at getting the best from his choir at what they could do. By choosing types of music that the choir could pull off, he reinforced the choir’s confidence in their singing.

In his article, “How to Grow a Traditional Church,” written four years before his untimely death in 2009, the late Peter Toon noted that the pendulum as he put it appeared to be swinging in a direction favorable to the traditional church. Toon identified what he believed would be the characteristics of the traditional church that caught the pendulum’s movement. They included “simple, dignified worship, using the classic text of the BCP as is, without additions from other books (e.g. Missals);” good music, the use of “minimal but well executed ceremonial and ritual to accompany the words;” openness to “the use and development of modern (dignified) forms of music to accompany traditional psalms and canticles, alongside the creative use of traditional music;” “being simple but not simplistic;” and majoring on majors not on minors (e.g., not majoring on “the minutiae of ceremonial, of clergy dress or of specialized music”).

For small traditionalist Anglican churches wishing to improve the quality of their worship and to reap the benefits of such improvement, good advice has been available since early in the last century and even earlier for those willing to heed it.

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How to Pray the Daily Offices

By Robin G. Jordan

For those who are considering adopting the spiritual discipline of praying the Daily Offices privately, here is some advice on how to pray the Offices with no one else present. This advice is mainly for those who wish to use the 1928 Prayer Book in their private devotions but it is also applicable to a large extent to those desiring to use the 1979 Prayer Book.

Praying the Daily Offices by oneself differs from praying the Office with others. Certain parts of the Offices used when two or more people are praying the Offices together are omitted. The Offices themselves become a springboard for extemporaneous prayer offered to God in silence or aloud.

When praying the Daily Offices by oneself, it is desirable to find a place where one can pray undisturbed—preferably a place conducive to prayer.  I have often prayed the Offices, seated under a shady tree on a park bench or at some other quiet spot in a local park.

The Daily Offices should be prayed at an unhurried pace. Rushing through the Offices is not conducive to heartfelt prayer. Praying the Offices is an opportunity to step out of time and to meet with God. It should never be treated as an obligation that we must fulfill or as a work that will gain us merit.

Morning Prayer

When reading Morning Prayer privately, the Exhortation, the short Bidding to confession, and the penitential section are omitted. The initial Lord’s Prayer is also omitted.

At the words “Lord, open my lips” the sign of the cross may be made on one’s lips with the one’s right thumb.

The versicle and response at the conclusion of the Opening Preces, “Praise ye the Lord: The Lord’s Name be praised,” is omitted.

The Antiphon before the Venite is omitted. The Venite and the Psalms that follow the Venite are invitations to Christian prayer. After the recitation of each Psalm (including the Venite) prayer rising out of the Psalm may be offered. This is an ancient practice going back to the early centuries of Christianity. At the end of the whole Portion, or selection from the Psalter, the Gloria Patri is said. At Evening Prayer the Gloria in Excelsis Deo may be said in its place. While the 1928 Prayer Book makes no provision for its use at Morning Prayer, the dawn office is where it was sung anciently and where it is sung to this day in the Eastern Church. The 1789 and 1892 Prayer Books also authorized its use in place of the Gloria Patri at Morning Prayer. Those who choose to include its recitation in their morning devotions are not breaking with ancient precedent.

The first Lesson is read without introduction or conclusion after the Gloria Patri or Gloria in Excelsis Deo. It is followed by a pause for reflection and prayer.

The Te Deum laudamus, Benedictus es Domine, or Benedicite, omnia opera Domini, is then read. The third part of the Te Deum, verses 22-29, which do not belong to the original hymn, may be omitted. The Gloria Patri is never recited after the Te Deum, which contains within itself its own form of the Gloria (verses 11-13). The Gloria Patri is omitted after the Benedictus es Domine. The Benedicite, omni opera Domini may be shortened by reciting the refrain only after the first, eighteenth, twenty-seventh, and final verses as in the Western Breviaries or after any group of verses as in the 1962 Canadian Prayer Book.

The second Lesson is read without introduction or conclusion after the canticle. It is followed by a pause for reflection and prayer.

After the second Lesson a passage from a suitable devotional book may be read.

After a period of reflection and prayer the Benedictus Dominus Deus is read. At the beginning of the canticle, the sign of the cross may be made. The Gloria Patri is omitted at the conclusion of the canticle.  

The Apostles’ Creed is then read.

The Salutation is omitted.

The Lord’s Prayer is said, followed by the Suffrages, the Collect of the Day, the Collect for Peace, and the Collect for Grace. The Prayers may be concluded with a selection of prayers from the Prayer Book and/or one or more prayer manuals, and/or extemporaneous prayer.

A good way to end Morning Prayer is with a prayer dedicating the day and oneself to God.

Prayers at Mid-Day

The 1928 Prayer Book has no noon office. The 1962 Canadian Prayer Book has a short office for use at midday. It uses traditional language. Suitable additional prayers are found in the Prayers and Thanksgivings section of the Canadian book.

Evening Prayer

As Massey H. Shepherd, Jr., observes in The Oxford American Prayer Book Commentary, the use of the penitential section at Evening Prayer is more spiritual advantageous than its use at Morning Prayer.

To confess one’s sins and seek God’s pardon at the close of the day’s work is perhaps more natural than to do so when one has just arisen from refreshing sleep. There is always in us the disposition to sin, but at the end of the day we could more readily make up a lengthy list of the times we have given in to this disposition during our waking hours.

When Evening Prayer is read privately, the Exhortation and the short Bidding to Confession are omitted. 

Before the General Confession is read, time should be devoted to self-examination and acknowledgment of one’s sins to God. The General Confession should then be read from the heart. 

While the 1928 Prayer Book makes no provision for a prayer for forgiveness, those reading Evening Prayer in private may wish to read the Collect for the Twenty-First Sunday after Trinity after the General Confession, substituting “I” for “we,” “servant for “people,”  “I” for “they” and “my” for “their.”

Grant, I beseech thee, merciful Lord, to thy faithful servant pardon and peace, that I may be cleansed from all my sins, and serve thee with a quiet mind; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

While the 1928 Prayer Book makes no provision for the omission of the initial Lord’s Prayer when the penitential section is used, its omission is consistent with ancient practice. The initial Lord’s Prayer was a late addition to the Daily Offices.

At the words “Lord, open my lips” the sign of the cross may be made on one’s lips with the one’s right thumb.

The versicle and response at the conclusion of the Opening Preces, “Praise ye the Lord: The Lord’s Name be praised,” is omitted.

As in Morning Prayer, after each Psalm prayer rising out of the Psalm may be offered.

At the end of the whole Portion, or selection from the Psalter, the Gloria Patria or Gloria in Excelsis is said. Since the Gloria in Excelsis Deo was originally a morning canticle, it is preferable to use the Gloria in Excelsis Deo at Morning Prayer and the Gloria Patri at Evening Prayer.

The first Lesson is read without introduction or conclusion after the Gloria Patri or Gloria in Excelsis Deo. It is followed by a pause for reflection and prayer.

The Magnificat is then read. At the beginning of the canticle, the sign of the cross may be made. The Gloria Patri is omitted at the conclusion of the canticle. 

The second Lesson is read without introduction or conclusion after the canticle. It is followed by a pause for reflection and prayer.

After the second Lesson a passage from a suitable devotional book may be read.

After a period of reflection and prayer the Nunc dimittis is read. The Gloria Patri is omitted at the conclusion of the canticle. 

The Apostles’ Creed is then read.

The Salutation is omitted.

The Lord’s Prayer is said, followed by the Suffrages, the Collect of the Day, the Collect for Peace, and the Collect for Aid against Perils. The Prayers may be concluded with prayers from the Prayer Book and/or one or more prayer manuals, and/or extemporaneous prayer.

Compline

The 1928 Prayer Book also makes no provision for late evening prayer. The office of Compline from the 1926 Irish Prayer Book, however, was incorporated into the 2004 Irish Prayer Book. It uses traditional language. 

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Hidden away in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer may be found a small masterpiece of pastoral theology called "A Prayer for Persons Troubled in Mind or in Conscience." The prayer is a kind of exploded collect—longer and more complex than is typical:

O Blessed Lord, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comforts; We beseech thee, look down in pity and compassion upon this thy afflicted servant. Thou writest bitter things against him, and makest him to possess his former iniquities; thy wrath lieth hard upon him, and his soul is full of trouble: But, O merciful God, who hast written thy holy Word for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of thy holy Scriptures, might have hope; give him a right understanding of himself, and of thy threats and promises; that he may neither cast away his confidence in thee, nor place it any where but in thee. Give him strength against all his temptations, and heal all his distempers. Break not the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax. Shut not up thy tender mercies in displeasure; but make him to hear of joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Deliver him from fear of the enemy, and lift up the light of thy countenance upon him, and give him peace, through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

This prayer has not achieved a prominent place in the Anglican tradition, although it contains great wisdom and comfort. Read More

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Six Ways to Improve Your Congregation’s Singing

By Robin G. Jordan

Here are six ways to help your congregation to sing better.

1. Teach the members of the congregation the proper way to hold a hymnal. Most people hold a hymnal at chest-level. Consequently, they look downward at the page when they sing. Instead of singing out, they sing into the hymnal. The position of their head puts pressure on their larynx, or voice box, making it difficult to project their voice. In order to sing out, they should hold the hymnal level with their face with the hymnal tilted at an angle which permits them to read the words and the musical notation on the page but does not block the sound of their voice. Their elbows can rest lightly against the sides of their chest, helping to support the weight of the hymnal.

The members of the congregation should be able to hear the combined voices of the entire congregation, not just the voices of whoever is close to them.

2. Encourage the members of the congregation to sit close together and not scattered around the room. This will amplify the sound of their combined voices. Hearing their combined voices will reinforce their singing. 

3.Teach the members of the congregation the proper way to breathe. How the members of the congregation breathe when they are singing is important. They should breathe with their “diaphragm”—the lower muscles of their abdomen, and not with the top of their lungs. This increases the volume of air in their lungs and enables them to project their voice and maintain long notes. If they are singing while seated, they should sit on the edge of their seats.

4. Encourage the members of the congregation to sing the hymns and service music from the heart.  Provide them with the texts of the hymns and service music for the upcoming Sunday and encourage them to pray the texts and mediate on them during the week.

5. Practice the hymns and service music before the service. Good choirmasters will have their choirs rehearse the hymns and service music for Sunday as well as any special music. They will not focus solely on the special music. Going over the hymns and service music with congregation even just a few minutes before the service helps the members of the congregation become more confident in singing less familiar tunes and words. It helps the congregation get into the right frame of mind for the service. It conveys to the congregation that their participation in the singing is important.

It is a good idea to start pre-service congregational rehearsals with a short vocal warmup in the same way choir rehearsals are started. This will help the members of the congregation to sing without straining their voices.

See

Vocal Warmup: Put Your Best Voice Forward

How to Warm up Your Voice

When conducting pre-service congregational rehearsals, it is not necessary to sing the entire hymn if the hymn is familiar. One or two stanzas of the hymn will suffice. Less familiar hymns may require more than one or two stanzas.

6. Leave off the amen at the end of the hymns (except when it is part of the text of a hymn.) The practice of singing an amen at the end of every hymn has been discontinued in almost every hymnal published in United States since 1940. At the time of the publication of The Hymnal, 1940, it had already been discontinued in the United Kingdom. The practice originated in the late nineteenth century. It was unknown in the eighteenth century and the early nineteenth century.  By the early twentieth century English hymnists had come to recognize it as a mistake, one of a number of highly questionable musical practices promoted in the nineteenth century.

Most of the amens in Hymnal, 1940 are optional. They are set to a different tune than that of the hymn itself and have the effect of blunting the force of the hymn when they are sung at its conclusion. They are totally unnecessary as the congregation in singing the hymn has assented to its contents. The hymn has become the congregation’s prayer.

The Hymnal 1982, like almost all more recent hymnals, omits the extraneous amens.

Why I Am Not Paedobaptist

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Comparing Hymns and Contemporary Songs

Protestant denominations have been singing people since the days of the reformation. Their hymns represented the mettle and fortitude they displayed in breaking away from the religious establishment and forging ahead in their new faith traditions. The American versions of these faith traditions initially carried on the mantle of hymnody, with much content being shared between denominational lines. In many churches today, hymns and hymnals remain, either as a vital piece of corporate worship practices or as a sentimental nod to the past.

In other churches, including churches in most if not all major denominations, there has been a decided shift. Popular music idioms have become a pervasive, and in many cases, the standard mode of musical expression in the American church. This discussion will compare and contrast the musical and textual characteristics of some of the most enduring hymns with those of today’s most popular contemporary songs. Since hymn texts are often edited and altered in various ways, all hymn examples and quotations will be from The United Methodist Hymnal. Read More

Also see
Modernized hymns: Hymns, or contemporary songs with old words?

While I agree to a large extent with Jonathan Aigner's analysis, I am concerned that it may lead some churches to reject all more recent compositions out of the mistaken belief that they suffer from the same defects. Repetitive phrases and refrains in hymns and worship songs are not necessarily a bad thing. They are evident in traditional hymnody in both the Western and Eastern Churches and are characteristic of the indigenous worship music of the global South. Responsorial singing with a choir or cantor singing the verses of a Psalm and the congregation a refrain has a long history in the Christian Church. The Psalms themselves incorporate repetitive phrases. They are also songs with an irregular meter as are a number of early Christians hymns--Gloria in excelsis, Phos hilaron, and Ted Deum laudamus.

Refrains and repetitive phrases enable younger children to participate in the congregational singing.

I believe that it is a mistake to idealize and in turn idolize any particular form of worship music.

A major consideration in the selection of a hymn or worship song for use in church services is singability. In other words, the typical unmusical singer in the congregation is able to sing it. Chris Tomlin's "How great is our God," whatever else we may think of it, meets that criterion. The song was written in 2004 and may have retained its popularity for the past 12 years for that very reason. The song is also God-focused.

The broad category of "contemporary Christian music" went through a number of changes in the last decade of the twentieth century and the first decade of the twenty-first century. Songs were increasingly written for what was becoming ubiquitous in some churches--the praise band and the praise team. Now and then, however, a song has been written that the congregation not only can sing but also is God-focused, Scriptural, and theologically sound. I believe that it is a mistake to write off the genre entirely.

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A Vision of the Small Church as a Singing Church

By Robin G. Jordan

May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The 1970s and 1980s saw an explosion of new hymns. The same period also saw the emergence of a genre of simple hymns and songs which were known as “celebration songs”—at least in Anglican circles.  Some were of recent composition; others had a long history. A number of them were inspired by indigenous melodies from the global South. The hymns and songs in the hymnal supplements, Songs for Celebration and Come Celebrate, exemplify this genre.

A number of songs from Roman Catholic music collections also gained popularity. Among these songs were “Gift of Finest Wheat,” “Here I am Lord,” and “I Am the Bread of Life.”

They were followed by what were described as “global songs,” music from the world Church. The hymns and songs in World Praise 2: Songs and Hymns for a New Millennium are a good example of this genre. What they had in common was that they were musically appealing and accessible to the average congregational singer.

In the 1990s, however, the music used in church services began to undergo a noticeable change. It started to lose its folk song qualities and its suitability as music for unmusical people. It increasingly became music for a solo voice or a small ensemble, for individuals with semi-professional if not professional musical abilities, in other words, performance music.

At the church with which I have been sojourning for the past nine odd years the music has moved further in that direction every year. The music used in worship was much more congregational and participatory in the early years than it is now. A number of the songs are repeated with enough frequency that those who wish to sing can learn them. But many people do not sing along with the vocalists in the praise team. They just listen. The church cannot be described as a singing church. Since the music and the preaching draw large crowds every Sunday, the church’s leadership team is convinced it is making the right decisions.

A number of factors account for the growing dominance of this type of worship music. Its strong resemblance to secular pop rock music is one of them.

Its ascendancy has added to the problems of the small church with limited musical resources. Small churches have always been tempted to imitate the worship of larger churches. Small church choirs have struggled with anthems arranged for larger choirs. They have attempted to sing in the acoustical environment of a small church sanctuary works intended for the cavernous spaces of a cathedral.

In 1982 in Renewal in Worship Michael Marshall pointed out the need for small churches to tailor their worship to their circumstances. He also encouraged the use of “celebration songs” in their worship.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Mandeville, Louisiana we heeded Marshall’s advice. While we had a small choir, its main purpose was to lead and support the congregational singing. Its performance of special music was secondary.

We focused upon building up the congregation’s repertoire of hymns and songs, recognizing that in a small church the congregation is the church’s primary musical instrument. We used an eclectic blend of the older hymns and the newer hymns and songs.

We selected music that could be sung with little or no practice by “congregation of musical amateurs.” The music that we used then would be classified as the “New Traditional” today.

The result was pleasing and engaging as well as God-focused and worshipful. We became a singing church.

While small churches can assemble a praise team and use worship track accompaniments if they have no professional quality musicians, their music will always fall short when compared the rock concert type musical productions of larger churches.

Or they can decide to become singing churches. This means using music that exhibits the folk song qualities of a good hymn tune.

Small churches can provide an invaluable service to the Church by not only championing congregational singing but also exemplifying congregational singing at its best. They can also pass on the Church’s rich heritage of song to the next generation. That heritage is not found in one hymnal or songbook. It is not limited to one period in Church history or to one part of the world. Every generation has produced hymns and songs that witness to its faith. Wherever the gospel has spread, voices have been raised in praise of God.

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