A friend of mine recently asked me, given my 25-plus years of experience as a worship leader, “Why are men less likely to sing, or sing enthusiastically, in corporate worship?” Obviously, this isn’t the case in every church. But the question derives from a real phenomenon, one I’ve seen too often to deny, even in solidly evangelical, gospel-loving churches.
In my experience and observation, answering that question is probably not as simple as we’d like. It’s easy to assume the problem is mainly a man problem — that our men are spiritually indifferent or passive, or that they have immature hang-ups over worship songs and style.
Now, these factors may well contribute to the problem. But it’s also possible that we as leaders inadvertently may be contributing by either missing or underestimating some other important factors that hinder male participation in congregational singing. So, I’d like to briefly provide some historical context to this problem, and then I have five questions for church leaders to consider if a disproportionate number of their men aren’t singing.
Our Pop-Music Revolution
People don’t sing together like they used to. And in saying this, I’m not referring to the so-called “worship wars” of the past fifty years. I’m referring to a time that has passed out of living memory, a time when popular music was very different than it is now.
Up through most of the nineteenth century, communal singing in general (not just in church) was a regular and significant part of most people’s lives. Families sang together, neighbors sang together, workers and guild members sang together, warriors sang together, and tribes, villages, and towns sang together.
Singing was a primary way groups of people rehearsed and celebrated their shared sense of identity — their history, beliefs, traditions, and values — and passed them on to succeeding generations. It was also an important way they lamented their shared experiences of suffering and death together. And singing together was a major part of social entertainment. Of course, there were always popular, exceptionally talented musicians who would perform for audiences. But for the most part, pop music — the songs everyone knew — were composed for people to sing together.
But the twentieth century brought revolutionary changes to how pop music was made and for whom it was composed.
First came the emergence of the music-recording industry. It became possible to record exceptionally talented performance artists at a quality level people enjoyed listening to (keep that phrase in mind). Then it became increasingly affordable for the average person to buy these recorded songs (on records) and the devices required to play them (record players).
These changes were followed quickly by the straight-line winds of broadcasting technologies — first radio, then television, then the Internet — which blew away the folk-level communal singing in which everyone used to participate. In fact, the switch had largely occurred by the onset of World War II: recorded songs by performance artists primarily composed to be listened to had largely replaced songs composed for group singing.
Together, these shifts had a massive effect on how people viewed the purpose of pop music. Once, it was a way for an intergenerational group to celebrate or lament what they shared together; now it was seen primarily as a source of personal entertainment — and, almost simultaneously, as a vehicle for individual expression and generational identity.
Today, churches are among the few places left in our society where a community of people, regardless of musical aptitude, regularly sing together. But the pop music revolution has also significantly influenced how we sing (and don’t sing) in our churches.
Five Questions for Leaders
The above historical overview is admittedly brief and simplistic. But my purpose is to remind church leaders that many of our congregational singing issues, including the intergenerational tensions we experience, have their roots in these significant shifts.
So, with all this in mind, I’d like to suggest five diagnostic questions church leaders can consider regarding male participation in congregational singing.
1. Do we adequately teach men why we sing together?
In centuries past, leaders could assume most men would have experiential understanding of the significance of a verse like this:
Praise the Lord!
Sing to the Lord a new song,
his praise in the assembly of the godly! (Psalm 149:1)
But we can’t assume this anymore. Nowadays, outside of a church, the only other place men are likely to sing together with enthusiasm is at a sporting event.
How well do our men understand why the Bible commands corporate singing? More pointedly, how well are we teaching them? Addressing the topic in an occasional sermon is helpful but not enough. Pastors and worship leaders need to regularly weave teaching about singing into the corporate worship time. I’m not talking about long teaching moments, but regular, brief explanations of what we’re doing and why it’s important.
2. Do we foster an environment that encourages men to participate?
One of the ways popular culture has influenced corporate worship is that our singing is now commonly accompanied by a worship band instead of an organ or piano. Now, in general, I don’t consider this a negative development. I led a worship band in a church for eighteen years, and both men and women in the congregation sang strongly.
But our people are shaped by our pop culture, where bands perform for the entertainment of an audience. Therefore, we need to keep in mind that the more congregational singing resembles a concert (dimmed lights, instrumental virtuosity, stage effects, loud sound levels), the more it signals to the congregation that they are an audience. And generally speaking, men tend to participate less in audience singing.
So, as leaders, how effectively are we fostering an environment that encourages men to sing? The primary instruments of corporate worship are not guitars, keyboards, and drums, but the congregation’s voices — male voices as much as female voices. If our men aren’t singing, perhaps we should seriously consider scaling down the band.
3. Do we sing about things men find inspiring?
Our popular culture has also influenced the content of many modern worship songs, leading to a disproportionate focus on individual spiritual experience. One thing I know is that men are moved by songs that offer communal expressions of strong affections for shared vision, beliefs, and values. So are women, of course. But when I’ve attended churches whose songs are primarily about intimate individual experiences, I’ve noticed a significant reduction in male participation.
So, if the men in our churches aren’t singing enthusiastically, it’s possible our song repertoire has a deficiency of songs that inspire men to sing.
4. Do we sing songs designed for communal singing?
Many modern worship songs have robust theological content and are skillfully crafted for communal singing. But there are also many modern worship songs that make for clunky congregational singing — even though they sound great when performed by well-rehearsed recording artists and church worship bands. The less predictable a song’s meter, and the more idiosyncratic its placement of lyric syllables, the harder it is for a congregation to learn (not to mention its visitors). And again, in general, if men feel tentative in singing, they are more likely not to sing.
On a related note, if worship leaders introduce new songs to a congregation too frequently, eager to incorporate the latest greatest, it also will result in tentative singing and a loss of male voices.
5. Do we sing songs men can sing?
This last question also addresses an issue stemming from the influence of our society: today’s popular music favors male tenor voices. This is why many Christian recording artists and worship leaders are tenors. But approximately 80 percent of men sing in the baritone or bass registers.
So, if there is a dearth of volume in male voices, we might be singing too many songs in keys too high for men to sing comfortably. This point might seem obvious, but I have been in many corporate worship settings where the majority of the songs have been sung in tenor-friendly keys.
Help the Men Sing
I realize that I’ve only scratched the surface here. But my aim has been to help my fellow leaders keep in mind that spiritual indifference, passivity, or immaturity may not be the causal factors — or the only causal factors — discouraging our men from singing.
If we want to cultivate a culture of strong communal singing, we can at least begin by examining whether we’re teaching its importance, fostering a helpful singing environment, choosing our song content well, and singing songs designed for group singing and set in helpful keys. If the men in our churches aren’t singing, let’s make sure we’re doing our part to help them.
Desiring God