Where are the lyrics to your congregational music? It used to be that the music director simply announced the page number, and everyone turned in their hymnals to the matching hymn. Everyone read the lyrics at their own reading pace, looking down at their hymn book. Today, in most worship in large Churches, the lyrics are projected onto one or more screens. Everyone looks up to read the words and sing. But how do you decide on the timing of those screens?

A number of presentation programs are geared to congregational singing. Some allow you to set the pacing by recording the sequence. Some will even match the transitions up to a “click track” or metronome beat. Most require that an operator press the “go forward” key at just the right time as the congregation is singing. How do you know the right time to change screens? That is often a matter of style.

IMHO, you should change to the next screen at the point where people are singing the last word on the last line in a slow song, or the first word of the last line in a fast song. The objective should be to give people enough time to read the next line before they have to sing it. When I have been running the lyrics, I have always sought to meet that objective precisely. It just makes it easier for people to follow along and sing.

Of course, some would argue that the congregation probably knows the lyrics anyway, so what difference does it make when you put them up? There will always be someone in the congregation that either doesn’t know the song, or is a little intimidated by singing. For those people, the lyrics are the best way to help them sing out. So the timing of the transitions does matter. For example, it would be ludicrous to switch to the next screen of words after everyone has sung them. And you want to match what the lead singer is singing, so that it reinforces their leadership.

You often have volunteers running the presentation software, so it may be difficult to be consistent. But you should strive to all be following the same rule for timing transitions. That way, people know when to expect the words to change. It will help the whole congregation sing out loud and strong!