CREATIVE IDEAS IN HYMN SINGING

BY Revd ‘BOLAJI OLANIYI – 08142261507

Minister of Music & Worship, Gloryland Baptist Church Lugbe FHA. Abuja

Hymn singing is supposed to be a form of congregational singing but unfortunately so many

congregations are no more participating in the singing again. There must have been some problems that
led to this withdrawal. The choir is now left to do the singing of hymns while the congregation watched.
This is not the plan of God for the church. God commanded the church to sing in Ephesians 5:19 –
“...speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from
your heart to the Lord,” As a matter of fact the first choir in the church is the entire congregation while
the facilitating music group in the church is the church choir. Let us look at certain creative ideas that can
be enhance congregational singing in our church.

1. USE VARIETIES OF TUNES FOR A PARTICULAR HYMN: Hymn singing becomes boring when it is
only one tune you have being using over the years. ‘Amazing Grace’ (BH 188) can be sung in
several tunes. One of the most uncommon tune for it is the tune – ANTIOCH which we only use
at Christmas to sing ‘ Joy to the World .‘ Merely hearing this tune being used to sing ‘Amazing
Grace’ will bring in some liveliness into the singing. The same with a hymn like ‘Higher Ground’
which has a very popular tune but there are other tunes that could be applied to it. One of those
alternative tunes is ‘SAGINA’.

2. USE VARIETIES OF RHYTHMS: A change of rhythm could bring a hymn and the congregation alive
again. ‘ Higher Ground ‘ could be sung with a swing rhythm and also responsorial or echo kind of
singing. Each of the lines will be will be called by the leader or a group while that same line is
echoed again as a response in swing rhythm.

3. RECOGNIZE EVERY ROW DURING SINGING BY MAKING THEM SING ONE ROW AFTER THE
OTHER: Before the singing begins , choose a choir leader for each row and instruct them that they
will bring up their row to sing an assigned stanza. You will see that every row with its leader will
be attentive and ready for their turn. All those who play with their phones during worship will
even drop them in order to participate.

4. MAKE SOME GOOD VOICES IN THE CONGREGATION SING THE STANZAS AS SOLO WHILE THE
CONGREGATION JOINS AT THE REFRAIN: This is good once in a while for songs that have refrains.

5. AS LONG AS YOUR CHURCH PROJECTS HYMNS ON THE SCREEN, BRING IN SOME BEAUTIFUL
AND HIGHLY INSPIRING HYMNS THAT ARE NOT IN YOUR CHURCH’S HYMNAL: For instance,
there are some hymns that we may not have in the Baptist hymnal that the congregation would
like to sing and that could also be very appropriate for some particular themes. We should not
limit ourselves to the singing from just one type of hymnal. Examples of these hymns not in
Baptist Hymnal are : “ Conquerors and Overcomers now are We” (CAC), “ God is Working His
Purpose Out” ( BENSON).
 6. MAKE USE OF LATEST EDITIONS OF HYMNALS: There are new songs in them, and especially the
inclusion of contemporary hymns. Baptist Hymnal 2008 edition has songs like : Days of Elijah, The
Heart of Worship, Be Strong, etc in them.

7. APPRECIATE GOOD SINGING OF YOUR CONGREGATION: It gets them ready for another Sunday.

8. DRAMATIZE A HYMN AS THE SINGING GOES ON: This may have stronger impact on the hearts
of people if the drama is well presented.

9. LET THE CHURCH PASTOR LEAD A STANZA OCCASSIONALLY

10. ALTERNATE STANZAS BETWEEN THE TWO GENDERS OR BETWEEN AGE GROUPS.

11. USE THE SOFT AND LOUD DYNAMICS

CONCLUSION: The creative ideas to enhance good congregational singing are inexhaustible. God is
creative and for us to reflect His image in us, we too must be creative. Prepare ahead prayerfully and
musically to add flavor to your congregational singing.