The post-modern Church has been blessed with a large repertoire of worship songs. One unintentional barrier we may place before the unchurched who visit our services and Sunday school classes may be the songs we choose to sing.
Unfortunately, our society has lost much of its Christian influence. While expressing our love for God in newer songs is important to keep our faith fresh, many unchurched people have limited knowledge of songs, often knowing only hymns sung at funerals. At the other extreme, while some of the older hymns have great words and meaning to us, the unfamiliar wording and cadence may be confusing to our guests. These observations should be tempered by the recognition people do need to learn new worship songs to broaden their faith.
The point is that public worship, even in the Sunday school hour, should strive to bring people together in unity. This is made difficult if only a few are participating in the singing, due to a barrier of unfamiliar songs.