Dear brother Jeffrey,<\/p>\n
Here in Singapore, due to COVID-19, we have not been able to assemble for worship on Sunday since April this year, and members could log in through Zoom to worship “virtually”.<\/p>\n
The government has allowed worship for a maximum of 50 members per congregation since July but members must adhere to social distancing, wearing face masks, and there can be no “audible” singing. These measures are to prevent the spread of the virus.<\/p>\n
As a result of the announcement, one local congregation started to assemble but instead of a song leader, the chosen hymns are displayed through a projector for members to sing silently to themselves but together, collectively as a church. Of course, they have prayers (opening and closing), reading of scriptures, preaching (sermon), a song of invitation (silent singing with face masks on), and partaking of the Lord’s supper.<\/p>\n
The government will be opening up 100 members to assemble for worship in October. But because of those measures, many congregations in Singapore have decided not to assemble because the leaders believe that “silent” or inaudible singing does not constitute true worship, despite being carried in spirit and in truth.<\/p>\n
I searched the bible, including Colossians 3:16 and Ephesians 5:19, I could not find verses that say singing must <\/b>be audible, (otherwise it is not considered singing), in order to be acceptable to God. To me, Colossians 3:16 is teaching us to allow the word of Christ to dwell in our hearts, praising God and building one another up in God’s word. It would be good to be audible, but it does not mean inaudible singing with enthusiasm and understanding is not acceptable to God.\u00a0 We come together on Sunday to worship God, not only through our singing (audible or inaudible) but also through His word, teaching, and preaching, prayers, and partaking of the Lord’s supper.<\/p>\n
I like to know, dear brother, your thoughts and understanding<\/p>\n
This matter weighs heavily in the hearts of my family and we want to learn the truth so that we can do His will and remain steadfast in our faith.<\/p>\n
I look forward to hearing from you, dear brother.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n\t
“Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord<\/em>” (Ephesians 5:19).<\/p>\n
“Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God<\/em>” (Colossians 3:16).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Singing is directed both to the Lord and to one another. Silent singing does not fulfill the command to speak, teach, and admonish one another.<\/p>\n
This is a case where the government is in the wrong and God’s laws come first. However, you may be able to find ways around the government’s restrictions. You can meet to do everything else, that is allowed and then either meet outdoors where you can stand far enough apart to sing some songs without violating the government’s rules or do some virtual singings.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, technology does not allow simultaneous singing together. But if you have someone skilled at sound editing, you send out a video file of the song leader directing a few songs. The members then watch the video with headphones and record themselves singing with the song leader. They send their recordings in. The sound editor aligns the singing to start together and builds a layered sound file of everyone singing together. This is then distributed to the members to listen to.<\/p>\n\t
Response:<\/h2>\n
Dear brother Jeffrey,<\/p>\n
I thank you for your prompt response and grateful to God for sending brethren like yourself to assist in understanding God’s word as we sojourn life journey.<\/p>\n
Appreciate your suggestion and may God keep you in His loving care as you continue to abound in good works in His kingdom.<\/p>\n
God bless.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Dear brother Jeffrey, Here in Singapore, due to COVID-19, we have not been able to assemble for worship on Sunday since April this year, and members could log in through Zoom to worship “virtually”. The government has allowed worship for a maximum of 50 members per congregation since July but members must adhere to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[310,573],"class_list":["post-26178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-government","tag-singing"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15946,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-group-choir-sing-if-it-is-after-the-worship-service\/","url_meta":{"origin":26178,"position":0},"title":"Can a group (choir) sing if it is after the worship service?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 31, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am a member of the church of Christ and I want to know is group singing OK during a fellowship? Of course, the fellowship service is dismissed and then the group singing begins. Can you please help me with this? Answer: Your terminology is confusing to me because\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2872,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-young-boys-lead-singing-in-worship\/","url_meta":{"origin":26178,"position":1},"title":"Should young boys lead singing in worship?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 23, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: The congregation I am meeting at has, on the last Wednesday night of the month, a singing night. We don\u2019t have classes that night. We come together in the auditorium and sing songs, pray and someone gives a short ten-minute lesson. We let the boys get up in front\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":94303,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/fallacies-about-singing\/","url_meta":{"origin":26178,"position":2},"title":"Fallacies About Singing","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 3, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Roger D. Campbell When it comes to singing songs of praise to the Lord God, our concepts of such need to be based on the teaching of the New Testament. Sometimes, though, when it comes to singing spiritual songs, Christians accept ideas that simply are not true. Since such\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37380,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-do-you-think-about-a-congregation-using-a-praise-team-to-lead-singing\/","url_meta":{"origin":26178,"position":3},"title":"What do you think about a congregation using a “praise team” to lead singing?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 26, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good morning!! I recently visited a congregation that had a \"Praise Team\".\u00a0 There were 8 adults in front of the congregation (4 males and 4 females). Each one facing the congregation holding a microphone.\u00a0 They were singing a song (acapella), with the words appearing on a giant screen up\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":90257,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/im-uncomfortable-with-changes-made-to-the-order-of-worship\/","url_meta":{"origin":26178,"position":4},"title":"I’m uncomfortable with changes made to the order of worship","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 8, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello! I attend a church where some changes have occurred recently. Although several in the congregation are unhappy about it, I still am not sure whether these are scriptural matters or personal preferences. Our order of worship since I have been there is two songs, prayer, scripture reading, song,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15104,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-should-be-done-when-everyone-doesnt-follow-the-song-leader\/","url_meta":{"origin":26178,"position":5},"title":"What should be done when everyone doesn’t follow the song leader?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 17, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I've been reading several of your comments with interest and ran across one that I myself have seen. I am a member of the church of Christ and have been baptized for 22 years. I have been leading songs for around that same time. I have a background in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26178\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}