We’re a Modern Church, So Why Do We Need a Hymnal?

A Hymnal in a World of Screens

True confession — I have never attended a church that uses hymnals during their services. This includes the church where I currently serve.

To some that might be unusual, but I imagine my experience is shared by many. We live in a world of projection screens, band arrangements, Planning Center, and chord charts. Why should we care about a new hymnal?

Here are a few reasons why.

1. Substance

With our instant access to pretty much anything, we have been conditioned to crave the new and novel. But our souls need stability. Things that last longer than a moment.

Think of the places you go when you are feeling unsettled. I tend to sneak away to listen to music from my childhood and revisit books that have shaped my faith over the years. Most importantly, I go to God’s word to remind me of an unchanging God in the midst of chaos and uncertainty (Ps. 46; 27:1–2).

Much like the psalms, the songs we sing can serve as anchors in a world of fleeting images, passing fads, and superficial spectacle. They can provide constancy and enduring security.

The Sing! Hymnal

Keith Getty, Kristyn Getty, John Martin, Dan Kreider, Douglas Sean O'Donnell

Curated by award-winning hymn writers Keith and Kristyn Getty, The Sing! Hymnal features timeless hymns to deepen corporate worship and unity among believers. With liturgical readings and a durable cover, this edition is ideal for regular church use.

A thoughtfully curated hymnal provides an opportunity for substantive lyrics, poetry, and theology to function in our communities and services. The hymns in The Sing! Hymnal have been carefully selected not just for their popularity, but for their substance. They tether us to the great truths of the Christian faith that have been sung for hundreds of years. They have been written to teach and deepen a Christian’s faith. They can be quoted in sermons and posted in bulletins and social media posts. They can help define our song catalogues, even if we never use them in our services.

A hymnal can also give us songs for the breadth of human emotion and theology. Our churches need songs of lament, confession, and devotion. We need to be able to sing about prayer, missions, and heaven. We need songs for children and families. But songs like this are often not known or easily accessible.

The Sing! Hymnal can help us towards both these ends.

2. Beauty

Every Christian should cultivate an appreciation for the beautiful gifts God has given to us. He has created a world of exploding colors, soaring melodies, and profound words that deeply move us. As image bearers, we reflect God by creating. We also glorify God when we let these things fill our hearts with wonder and worship.

Hymnals and hymns supply us with the best efforts of believers who have stretched and strained their creative capacities to reveal something of the majesty, greatness, and beauty of God. A Christian who consistently reads, meditates on, and sings these songs will deepen their walk with the Lord. That’s because when the great truths of the faith are set to melody and expressed through poetry and lyrics, they help us more fully experience them.

Along with the beauty of the hymns themselves, I love that the team at Crossway has crafted every detail of the physical book. From the font cover to the layout to the colors, they have tried to adorn the hymns and texts with beauty and intentionality.

Visit SingHymnal.com for Worship Resources

A broad set of resources, including piano scores, chord charts, and powerful search tools, is available on SingHymnal.com to help music leaders, pastors, and musicians lead worship in a variety of contexts. Learn More.

3. Unity

While people in your church may never share the same stylistic preferences in music, we can certainly unite around the glorious riches of the gospel. Hymnals through history have provided a common language for the church to sing. In these times of division and polarization, churches can push against the spirit of the age by providing songs that both young and old are able to sing together.

This doesn’t mean we should only sing these songs. As a songwriter, I certainly subscribe to the idea that the back of the hymnal should be open! But it does highlight the great benefit in defining the songs and texts the church will use.

Just because we have access to every new song that is being promoted doesn’t mean we need to use them. Hymnals provide a set of songs that we can thoughtfully use and build on.

There is a unique blessing when voices join in harmony, and there is a similar blessing when multiple generations can confidently sing songs together.

God invites us to sing the glories of the gospel with substance, beauty, and in unity.

Exalt His Name

Currently, our church doesn’t plan to switch to hymnals in our Sunday service. But we still anticipate the benefits of incorporating it into our life together.

In our church lobby, we have a baby grand piano that was donated to us. I plan to keep a spiral bound copy of The Sing! Hymnal on it. Our resource area will be stocked with hymnals to encourage households and families to use them in their homes. We periodically hold hymn sings that will now utilize physical hymnals instead of projection. We’re going to use different readings from the hymnal in our Sunday services and encourage our preachers to quote from it.

Whether every member in your church sings from a physical hymnal or you continue to make use of technology and screens, I hope you will consider how this resource might serve your church.

God invites us to sing the glories of the gospel with substance, beauty, and in unity. The Sing! Hymnal will help us do just that as we “exalt his name together” (Ps. 34:3).

Jordan Kauflin is a contributor to The Sing! Hymnal created by Keith Getty and Kristyn Getty.

Jordan Kauflin is a pastor, worship leader, and songwriter. He has written or cowritten many beloved hymns for the church, including “I Will Wait for You (Psalm 130)”; “Christ Our Hope in Life and Death”; and “All I Have Is Christ.” He currently serves as worship pastor at Christ Covenant Church in Atlanta, Georgia. He is married to Tali, and they have five kids.

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