Några nutida uppfattningar om församlingssångens betydelse i gudstjänsten

Sammanfattning: Congregational singing goes long back in time and has always been seen as an extra addition to praising the Lord, in addition to praying. The purpose of this essay is to see how different congregations in the town of Växjö works whit the congregational singing. I studied two congregations from the Church of Sweden and one congregation from the Pentecostal and the Evangelical church. In my study I found that there were more similarities in how they valued and worked whit the congregational singing. I also found that the Swedish hymnbook Den svenska psalmboken had a special position in the work with congregational singing in the Church of Sweden than the hymnbook Sånger and psalmer had in the Pentecostal and Evangelical church. I also found that it was not certain that a choir was used to encourage the congregational singing. Only one congregation used a choir, the other two used praisal teams, a way they found very effective in their work with congregational singing. When the question was raised on why we sing in church, I found that the members of the congregations thought that the singing gave another dimension on praise to Gods glory, but it also created an important sense of fellowship which stretched outside the church. The church musicians I interviewed also thought that singing in church has an important educational purpose. They thought that singing is a great way to learn biblical messages and that singing brings another dimension to the praise of God when words aren´t enough.