Award-winning hymn writers Keith and Kristyn Getty are gearing up to take their annual Sing! Conference global this year in light of the coronavirus pandemic. The event will begin Sunday, August 30 and end Wednesday, September 2. They’re calling it Sing! Global 2020.

Sing! Global 2020

In an interview with The Stream, Keith Getty said, “It’s called global because it involves musicians and pastors from all over the world that are registrants in over 60 countries.” Sing! Global 2020 will be translated into Spanish, Portuguese, French, Korean and Mandarin and Keith expects over 100 countries to be involved.

The event is immersive in that half of the songs were recorded at the Grand Old Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. Then it was sent out to participants who added their voices to the songs. “So it sounds like this wonderful congregation of singing.” Keith calls it “the first ever worship conference that we know of that has speakers and music being led in … six continents.” 

Some of the pastors and artists include John Lennox, Joni Eareckson Tada, John Piper, H.B. Charles, Andrew Peterson, Conrad Mbewe, David Platt, Bill Gaither, Trillia Newbell, Alistair Begg, and the African Children’s choir, according to a press release.

Perfect Timing

When Keith asked friends and colleagues about doing the Sing! conference this year with the coronavirus pandemic, they all told him no. They said, “‘Don’t even think about it Keith, because singing isn’t even legal right now.’ And then I thought about it and kind of liked it. … [T]he more we thought about it, the more we realized that … it was actually crucial at this point.” He added that singing is the most common command in Scripture. “Praise. Proclaim. Extol. Exalt. Because that is the ultimate goal of humanity. And thus, for us to be at our healthiest, we have to be singing and it’s a lot more than just 25 minutes on a Sunday morning. So, right now we need this more than we’ve ever needed this.”

The church needs to learn that worshiping God is about the greatness of God. “It’s called ‘sing the Scriptures’ because you don’t just worship or sing. You actually tell people ‘I agree with God and it’s now time to respond.’ I think that’s the cool thing. That’s why we’re so excited.”

The Gettys knew they’d have to adjust this year’s conference a bit because of the pandemic. Kristyn said in a statement that “As we have shared in the same global crisis of 2020 we are more mindful of one another. As God’s Church all over the world, we want to embrace this particular moment, using every facility of technology and innovation available to us to more greatly illuminate the gospel hope we sing and share in, the hope we proclaim to every corner of the world.”

The Message

Keith said the theme of this year’s conference is “the centrality of God’s Word and the singing of God’s people.” We live in the “most exciting generation in history to be Christians,” said Keith. While there’s a lot of nervousness with some Western Christians, in other countries, Christianity is growing. “There are more Christians in the world today than has ever been in human history [and] there’s Bibles in more languages.”

He added, “So, we have so much to be excited about, but there are also such extraordinary challenges ahead of us and so we want to go deeply.” The next challenge is building deep believers. “We do that by studying the Word, we do that by singing the Word, we do that by reading the Word, and we do that by praying the Word.”

“The times we live in have again reminded us that time is short and life is fragile — there is an urgent need to build deep believers. We want to connect families, pastors and churches to encourage that deeper congregational worship around the world. In times like these, people need beautiful artistry that reflects the truths of God more than ever before.”

For more information, or to register, go to GettyMusicWorshipConference.com. 

Nancy Flory is an associate editor at The Stream. You can follow her @NancyFlory3, and follow The Stream @Streamdotorg.