“HOW DO WE DECIDE WHAT SONG TO SING?” – a worship leader’s biggest question…
Besides, maybe, “How do we get people to show up on time?”
If you’ve been doing this for any amount of time, you’ve probably heard things like:
“I just wish we didn’t sing so many old songs..” “I just wish we didn’t sing so many modern songs..” “I just wish we didn’t sing so many fast songs..” “I just wish we didn’t sing so many slow songs..” And if you’re REALLY good, you’ll get some of these on the same day.
Deciding what songs to sing can be one of the most taxing parts of planning a Sunday service. But don’t give up. It is also one of the most important.
Here are three helpful standards for how to choose what songs your church sings:
1.) IS THIS DOCTRINAL AND THEOLOGICAL?
Matt Boswell said, “The songs of the church determine the theology of the church.”
Paul tells the church at Collosae to, “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly… teaching and admonish one another in Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.”
This means the song service is one of the primary things God uses to impact the doctrine of the church.
THE SONG SERVICE NOT ONLY REFLECTS THE THEOLOGY OF THE CHURCH, BUT IT ALSO DICTATES THE THEOLOGY OF THE CHURCH.
This is why it is so important to not just choose songs that are “not untrue,” but to choose songs that are intentional, thoughtful, and Jesus-centered. If Jesus is not at the center of your worship, your church will never worship the way it was designed to.
Until musical worship is about praising Jesus in Spirit and truth, it will continue to be about location, tradition, and personal preference.
It was upon the declaration of Who Jesus was that He declared He would build His church. He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. It is our theology that unites us. It is our belief in Who God is that brings us together. Our faith in the finished work of Christ is the foundation for all that we call worship; therefore, it should be the foundation of our song service.
Music alone is subjective, and it’s not enough to keep people spiritually engaged.
Only the Gospel will do that.
2.) IS THIS SINGABLE?
Not every song that is good is good for corporate worship. In fact, most songs aren’t.
The goal in the Sunday morning song service is for us to come together and sing songs that bring glory to God. It is for us to join together in one voice and declare to God the truth of Who He is and what He has done. We isolate and alienate some of our people from making a joyful noise when we sing songs that are in difficult keys, that are difficult to follow, or that are simply disengaging or confusing.
By singing simple, singable songs, we give our people a chance to focus into what truly matters: the truth.
We want to do songs that are as simple as possible for as many people as possible- always making the emphasis on the lyrical truth that is being sung. We are not shunning beautiful melodies, intentional musicianship, or skilled artistry. We are simply contextualizing those things and using them as tools to point to the higher prize: glorifying Jesus together in song. In his book Worship Matters, Bob Kauflin calls this subtle excellence.
3.) IS THIS RIGHT FOR OUR PEOPLE?
Not every song that is good is good for your people to sing.
One of the most beautiful things about worship is that it unites people of every culture, creed, tribe, tongue, nation, background, wealth, and age bracket, and it points them all to the person of Jesus. Each one telling a different story in a different way, yet each one telling the same story… “We were enemies of God, yet now He has reconciled us together with Him.”
Diversity is actually a GOOD and NECESSARY thing. God doesn’t want us to all look the same and sound the same. He wants us to celebrate the same message and the same Savior. This means that what we sing in central Illinois may sometimes look or sound different than what is done in southern California or in Africa or in Europe. That’s a good thing.
We believe God is inexhaustible. We believe we could never fully articulate all that He is or all that He does. We could never fully intellectualize the person of God. If we believe this is true, how arrogant and foolish of us to believe that we could box Him into only a few certain songs sung a few certain ways by a few certain people.
Our call is not to find the right songs for every person. Our calling as song leaders is to find songs that are doctrinally and theologically rich, that are singable, and that are right for our people. Ultimately, JESUS is our worship leader. And He’ll do just fine leading the other worship leaders toward what songs to pick, too.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Worship is still, at its core, about spirit and truth.
“We need songs that both stir our affections and inform our minds.”
– Matt Boswell, Doxology and Theology.
The title of this book is so fitting. Doxology AND Theology.
Doxology – A formula of praise to God.
Theology – The study of God.
As we choose songs, let’s remember:
Our church’s doxology will only ever be as strong as our church’s theology.