Is Your Church Singing? Send a Canary Into the Coal Mine.

Taking a canary into a coal mine served as a warning system in the earlier days of mining. Canaries are especially sensitive to methane gas and carbon monoxide making them ideal for detecting a dangerous build-up of gas in the mines.

The canary would begin to show signs of distress in response to small concentrations of gas before it became detrimental to the miners. The first sign of imminent danger was when the canary stopped singing. The idiom canary in a coal mine has continued as a reference to a person or thing that serves as a warning of a looming crisis.

If certain generations, cultures, or even the majority of your congregation has stopped singing, it may be an early warning sign of danger ahead.

Regularly asking questions not only about the worship singing of your congregation, but also about the way worship leaders are leading that singing could alert your congregation to worship passivity while there is still time for restorative care.

Intentionally adopting an early warning system is a preemptive process of enlisting congregational canaries to ask questions like those below before it is too late. It is vital to enlist questioners who love God and love the church enough to honestly evaluate the worship leadership and assess the level of congregational participation.

The humility necessary for leaders to initiate an evaluative canary in the coal mine process such as this can only occur if those leaders also love God, love the church, and love the people enough to trust their assessment and sacrifice their own egos for the greater good of the church.

Sample Congregational Canary in the Coal Mine Questions:

• Are there idiosyncrasies or characteristics of our leaders that are encouraging or discouraging my participation?

• Is our congregational singing passive or participative?

• Do song selections include a balance of both familiar and new?

• Are the songs both vertical and horizontal, celebrative and contemplative, comforting and challenging?

• Is the song text theologically sound and does it affirm Scripture as foundational?

• Are song texts and tunes trite, archaic, or unnecessarily repetitive?

• Are song selections culturally appropriate for our congregation?

• Do our songs encourage conversational worship that includes God’s words to us as well as our words to God?

• Are leaders incorporating musical elements that distract our attention from that conversation?

• Does our worship space encourage or discourage participation in congregational singing?

• Are transitions smooth and tempos satisfactory?

• Is the volume appropriate and are the song keys singable?

• Are physical actions actively encouraged or discouraged?

• Do the songs give our congregants an opportunity to connect with one another?

• Are guests able to participate in the congregational singing without confusion?

• Is our worship service music an asset or a liability?