John and Charles Wesley in their founding of the Methodist movement in eighteenth century England understood the power of singing in the church. A modern author has stated it this way: "Singing attracts attention (music, rhythm, rhyme); it turns passive listeners into active participants; it engages members of an assembly in a common constructive activity… Moreover, singing allows people with no or low literary skills to become familiar with key texts; it has a mnemonic function, and may therefore be a more efficient and less tedious medium than, say, preaching: it could be, and has been, used to teach doctrine to the theologically untrained." Or as Paul said in Colossians 3:16, "teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs."
