Have you ever thought that singing together could be a significant means through which God shapes your life?
When the church gathers together and sings, we remind each other of the gospel and respond together to God’s grace. And it’s as we sing the truth of the gospel in Bible-saturated songs that the Holy Spirit is powerfully at work, transforming us to be more like Jesus. In 2 Corinthians 3:18, the apostle Paul tells us…
And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
As we behold God’s glory, revealed in Christ and through the gospel of His incarnation, life, death, resurrection and ascension (4:6), we’re transformed to be more like Jesus. Gospel living flows from gospel beholding. So, as we sing about all that Jesus has done for us in the gospel, we behold His glory and we’re changed into His likeness.
Realising that can turn how we think about congregational singing on its head! It’s so much more than just ‘something we do’ or ‘the warm-up’ before the sermon! Provided that we’re singing Bible-saturated, gospel-centred songs, our times of singing can be a significant means of grace to our churches. We can freshly encounter the age-old truth of the gospel; we can see that gospel dwelling richly in our hearts and minds (Col. 3:16), and we’ll see lives changed to be more like Jesus as we seek to live in devoted worship to Him.
At Christ Church Mayfair, and throughout Co-Mission, this vision is at the heart of our music ministry. We long to see our church family being reminded of the gospel, and beginning to respond in lives of worship as we sing. We long to see struggling saints strengthened, Christ’s body called to radical discipleship, lost sheep returning to the Good Shepherd. And we believe that our singing the gospel has a significant role to play in that. The structure of our services and the songs we sing all serve this aim of helping us to behold Jesus in His glory.
A group of us at Christ Church Mayfair want to serve the churches in Co-Mission and beyond by writing and recording songs that have this vision at their core. Songs that remind us of all that God has done for us, especially in sending Jesus to wash away sin on the cross. Songs that help us respond with thankfulness in our hearts to God. Songs that are well-crafted, memorable and are designed for congregations to know, love and sing!
We’ve got a long way to go and much to learn. But in God’s kindness, we believe He has given us a small collection of songs that could help the gospel dwell richly in churches. We had the privilege of leading one of them, Creator God, at Revive 2017 (Co-Mission’s annual bible festival). We’d love to share the rest with you!
Throughout the month of October, we are gathering support for this project. We’d love it if you could pray for us during this time. You can find out more about the project and how you can get involved here.
We hope and pray that these songs will serve your congregations by helping the truth of the gospel dwell freshly and richly in the hearts and minds of your church family. And we trust the Holy Spirit of God to make us more like Jesus as we do.