More blogs »Posted on Sep 20 2012

At a recent meeting of pastors and laymen affiliated with The Glory of God on Cape Cod we discussed our burden for evangelism on the Cape, our desire that more people would get to know and love Jesus. We discussed different ideas to reach out to our region, reputedly the second least-churched area in our nation, and agreed that we would fast and pray on Wednesdays toward this end. In the discussion somewhere I was reminded of times in my youth when some friends of mine and I would hop in someone’s car on some Friday nights and go out to a Church Singing. You pronounce that, by the way, ‘Church Sayngin’… On these nights, small churches out in rural Alabama would choose one to hold their Singing, and then go there with quartets, or small bands, or similar musical groups and sing popular old hymns or gospel songs. Sometimes the rest of us would listen, but most of the time we all sang along. I remember being fascinated that I wasn’t likely to choose any of these churches to attend on Sundays long term… Even then I wanted more liturgy, more ceremony, thought-provoking sermon and the Lord’s Supper done with a sense of holiness. But on those nights those things weren’t the issue. On those nights we gathered together simply to lift our hearts to the Lord with music that came from the heart, lyrics that praised Jesus, challenged us, and fully shared the Gospel message. The memory of those nights, from driving to the Singings in the rural Alabama night to the drive home afterwards, lodged firmly in my soul, and testifies to the power of music done well, and done from the heart. Perhaps something like this could be a part of our outreach.