How do I get my church to sing?
How do I get my church to sing? That’s such a common question among worship leaders. Sometimes it’s phrased differently, “how do I get men to sing?” or “how to do I get students to sing?” But the point is the same… people aren’t singing and worship leaders are frustrated!
I’ve been there too. I’ve looked down from the stage and seen blank stares. I’ve watched people talking and laughing in the back of the sanctuary. I’ve wondered if I was just bad at picking songs.
At first, I was frustrated by it. As if people weren’t singing just to get on my nerves. (because that makes sense…) Later, I just accepted it because I didn’t know how to change it. (Because saying “Whatever!” is always a good solution…) Finally, I realized it’s my job to lead people.
Pastor Craig Groeschel says, “A great leader never says ‘our people won’t.’ A great leader says,‘we haven’t led our people to.’” I tend to agree.
I’m not sure if there’s a particular formula for making people sing, but today I want to share some ways to lead your church in that direction.
1.Explain it.
So often in church we expect something to happen that people don’t even know is supposed to happen. Sometimes singing is one of those things. Sometimes you’re getting blank stares because people don’t know what they’re supposed to do. So, explain it. It can be as simple as saying, “We sing because…” Often, once people understand, they’re more willing to participate.
2.Sing a song people are familiar with.
After you explain yourself, be sure to sing a song your church is familiar with. If you’re singing brand new songs every week, that might be the problem! (IN THIS POST I talk about how create a song bank, which will help you balance old songs and new ones!)
3.Sing a song with lots of “Oh’s”
This one might seem a little silly, but it works. Anytime I lead a song with lots of “Oh’s,” I get lots of engagement. People will sing because it’s simple! Is there any spiritual significance to “Oh” being a lyric? Nope. But it helps people get started. When you’re leading people somewhere, sometimes you need a good starting point. Later, you can get people singing more significant lyrics. But start simply.
4.Invite your church to sing
This is a big one. Similar to the first point I made, sometimes people don’t know what they’re supposed to do. Invite them to participate! Make statements like, “let’s sing this together” or “declare this” or “sing this out.” I know, I know, I know. Those are cliché worship leader statements, but they invite people to sing. And when paired with the other ideas on this list, they can be very effective.
5.Teach the church the song
On occasion, if I want a church to engage with a new song, I’ll teach them the chorus first. I’ll say something like, “I want to teach you a new song this morning. The chorus goes like this…” and I’ll sing the chorus with just my voice and an acoustic guitar. I might sing through it a couple times so people can get the hang of it. Then I’ll go into the full song with the full band. Doing so helps the church learn the song and gives them kind of a practice round to begin singing. (IN THIS POST I share some other ways to teach new songs)
This week, I encourage you to give one or two of these ideas a shot. Next week do the same thing! You might be surprised at how people begin to engage in singing! Of course, singing is not the pinnacle of worship, but if it is one of the primary ways we’re engaging our churches in worship, we should work to involve people in it!