Music/Song

Short Songs: Deepening Our Participation in Worship

Read this viewing guide to find out how you might benefit from watching a one-hour session by Alison Adam, “Short Songs: Deepening Our Participation in Worship.”

March 7, 2017 | 65 min video
Singing Bilingually in Spanish and English: A Vision and Resources for Singing Together on the Journey of Faith

In North America, we have a splendid opportunity in the years and decades ahead to learn to sing bilingually, transcending a language divide in ways that help us all learn and grow together as we discover scripturally inspired songs from a variety of contexts and cultures.

March 2, 2017 | 107 min video
Wendell Kimbrough on Singing Creation Psalms

A regular discipline of writing psalm refrains helped one musician notice psalms in which creation and God’s people call each other to worship the Creator.

February 21, 2017 | 7 min read

A Mosaic of Faith and Hope: A Festival of Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs

Alumni of the James Abbington Church Music Academy of the Hampton Ministers' Conference lead a festival of congregation songs.

February 21, 2017 | 47 min video
Celtic Psalms: Finding Light in the Darkness

In this vesper service, the congregation worships God by singing and listening to psalm settings with soulful Irish and Scottish melodies, exploring how God’s light shines even in the midst of the darkest nights, guiding his people into places of joy, forgiveness, and peace.

February 20, 2017 | 52 min video
Music, Congregational Identity, and the Relationships that Spark Effective Ministry

How does music express and form a congregation’s identity? How can that identity be defined and shaped by the relationships it seeks to nurture and the mission it seeks to promote?

February 17, 2017 | 61 min listen

Music from African-American Traditions for Use in Any Congregation

One of the remarkable stories about music that has emerged out of African-American communities is its reception in communities of diverse cultural backgrounds all over the world.

February 15, 2017 | 62 min listen
What J.S. Bach's Music Means for Worship Today

What is it like to be a church musician today in the same place that J.S. Bach once worked? In what ways can Bach's music be a model for us?

February 15, 2017 | 61 min listen
Christiane Bräutigam on Why Bach Still Matters

Christiane Bräutigam leads music in a church founded in 1702 by refugees in a city famous for its Bach heritage. She explains why J.S. Bach’s music and example are relevant for churches today.

February 2, 2017 | 6 min read

Learning New Worship Songs through YouTube

YouTube makes it easier to learn worship music, but it could also lead to cookie-cutter worship and unreasonable expectations for musicians.

January 10, 2017 | 8 min read
Benjamín Alicea-Lugo on Praise y Adoración Bilingual Hymnal

Praise y Adoración is a new private-market bilingual hymnal and worship resource by Benjamín Alicea-Lugo and Irma Cuevas Alicea. It has 950 song texts in English and Spanish and comes in three editions.

December 14, 2016 | 7 min read
Wendell Kimbrough on the Psalms

Wendell Kimbrough is a songwriter and worship leader in southern Alabama who believes church music should simply be good music that forms us as we sing it together. Drawing on the sounds of American folk and soul music, Wendell writes scripturally-rich songs with singable, memorable melodies. His music has been embraced by a growing number of churches, young and old, large groups and small, contemporary praise bands and traditional choirs.

December 8, 2016 | 3 min video