Congregational singing is a privilege; it’s also sacred duty, a discipline, part of the work of the people. As the so-called worship industry has tightened it’s choke-hold on church music over the past decades, there has been an explosion of new, commercially marketable music that has infiltrated and taken over. While we should always be looking for good new songs for our congregations to sing, we have to be increasingly careful, as well, since we’re now more apt to get our hymnody from generic commercial sources than denominationally vetted collections.
Here are a few songs, of which all but one (number 9) are on the CCLI Top 100 list, that I think we should reconsider. Most of them (excepting numbers 9 and 2) have found widespread, almost universal use in the evangelical church, and have begun to infiltrate desperate mainline denominations, as well.
See what you think, and which songs you would add to or subtract from my list. Keep in mind that I’m simply making a case for my opinion. Disagreement is fine, as long as it’s a disagreement of meaning, not preference.
