Featured When it comes to singing the old songs, is the hymnal still necessary?

By projecting the words to a hymn on a screen it forces disinterested people to read the words.

 

We do a blended service, with the words on the screen even on the old hymns. HOWEVER, we still have the hymnals and the worship pastor does announce the hymn number.

You see lots of folks scrambling for hymnals because, as our leader says, apparently lots of people DO still read music.

Which makes it easier to sing on key. Which might be why the songs for which the congregation have music are sung noticeably more loudly than those without music.

Enough difference there is talk of projecting music also.

 

We're completely "traditional" in our music, though we plan to add projection (equipment is on order), but will leave the hymnals in place. Some of us enjoy taking harmony parts, which means having the music unless one is skilled in free harmonization. Maybe I don't get it, but the no-hymnal time saving seems minimal. Our song leader announces the number and title (it's in the bulletin but not everybody takes one), the accompanist plays a few measures of intro, and by then nearly everyone is on the page. It takes more time for folks to turn to a Bible passage than to find a hymn number, and we certainly won't ask that people not do that.

 

This is just our experience. Yours may vary.

We didn't save any time when the hymnals were in the back room. And the simple fact that repeating a verse or chorus, using the screen, means confusing flapping back and forth with the leader doing one thing and another on the screen means screens are different, not better, than hymnals.

What we found was that when we dispensed with so many singers on the praise team, lowered the volume considerably, and as much as possible provided the people in the pew with the music, people actually sing. Before most folks just stood or sat and listened. Now with these changes we SING.

Last week 4 part harmony "just happened" as we sang songs, with the music, with the harmonies available to read, and people could actually hear if they were on key or not.

Your church may not be as much in favor of congregational participation as ours is. Yours may prefer to come and just listen to the musicians and praise team have a good time.

Or it may be just the praise team, worship leader, and band enjoying that part of the service.

It is something to consider. We often gripe that people are not as prone to attend church anymore. Maybe it is that we have built in some traps that prevent the average attender from actually participating in worship.

 

I don't see a problem with using both. Personal preferences shouldn't be taken away for the sake of "progress". Most churches already have hymnals, so why not let people who want to use them, use them? We have both in our church, (I'm actually the audio/video tech), and everybody's happy. We put the hymn number on the screen at the start of each song, so people can look it up in the hymnal if they want. People use electronic Bibles in our church too, but most, me included, hate those things, and just prefer a paper copy of the Bible. Just boils down to what each person likes, why take that away from either side?

 

What's the deal b4l? You're making good sense in the above.

 

When it comes to singing the lod songs, is the hymnal still necessary?

No; I've never heard a hymnal sing.

 

Exactly right! We practice several times a week with the praise team. They like to see the words BEFORE they sing them. I usually go to the next slide right before they sing the last word on the previous one.

 

Could you come to my church and give some lessons?? :tongue3::tongue3:

 

We got rid of the hymnals. They didn't matter enough to keep when we renovated our worship center, and nobody was using them anyways. So we just got rid of them.

We use a progressive worship style that will redo hymns so they fit alongisde our other music. We enjoy hymns and integrate them often. We project all of our words onto screens with a clear, sans-serif typeface that is highly visible to all people in the worship center.

Occassionally we get folks that come through and ask about hymns, organ, and traditional music. We just let them know that isn't our approach and we don't offer that kind of service. We've made our decision about who we are and how we are going to approach worship and such. There are wonderful churches all over they offer these kinds of services. It just isn't our approach.

 

Very few people in our churches either of old or today can actually read music. It is just not a common ability in the church. Hymnals by and large are merely to have the words in from of people.

 

Hymnals are what taught me to read music.


And of course, holding a hymnal keeps you from raising your hands and swaying back & forth as if in a group trance. Always a good thing.