Principles for choosing new songs

Principles for choosing new songs part 3 Principles for choosing new songs 2 New song - Mighty to save New Song - My soul finds rest (Ps 62) New song - Mystery by Charlie Hall New Song - O precious sight New songs - Keith & Kristyn Getty leading in Glenabbey

15th January 2009

Last time I shared some of the reasons why I'd chosen to introduce the song Might to save. Over the next couple of blogs, we'll broaden our perspective and I'll share some principles that can help guide us as we're choosing a healthy song diet for our church. First, let's look at a few quotations on the subject.

A few quotations
‘Worship is pure or base, as the worshipper entertains high or low thoughts of God. For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like.’ (AW Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy)

‘The worship of God is evoked, informed and inspired by the vision of God … True knowledge of God will always lead us to worship.’ (John Stott, Authentic Christianity)

‘The words of worship songs matter. They convey truth – the truth to which we are supposed to respond. They aren’t just sounds to enable us to join in the melody. They are the means by which the mind understands what God has done for us … Banal, meaningless lyrics, badly crafted and expressed in confusing language, will not lead us into the deep worship that our world and church need to see.’ (Nick Page, And now let’s move into a time of nonsense)

‘Worship of God should always involve the emotions; how can we praise a holy God who has redeemed us without getting emotional about it? But what should move our emotions is not the sonorous tones of the organ or the insistent beat of the drums, but the mind’s apprehension of truth about God.’ (Douglas Moo, Informed Worship)

The … worship leaders of today play an enormous part in shaping the faith and life of the church tomorrow. This is an awesome responsibility. Those who shape worship are the de facto theologians of the church, whether they want to be or not … The songs you choose, the Scriptures that you read, the prayers that you pray and the way you connect them all together make a vast difference.’ (Robin Parry, Worshipping Trinity)

‘Let the word of God dwell in you richly as you sing.’ (Paul, Colossians, 3:16)

Questions to consider
What do you think of the views expressed in these quotations? How important are the songs we, as worship leaders, choose to sing? If they matter, why do they matter? What effect can they have on those who sing (or listen to) them? How important is it for us to make informed and considered choices when picking songs for congregational worship? Is this being overly analytical?

Does any of this sound familiar…?
No less a figure than Graham Kendrick has facetiously suggested the following list of reasons why some people might choose certain songs.
1. I'm really into Sonic Boom’s latest CD and these are my favourite tracks.
2. This song seemed to really click with people last time.
3. These are the only ones the band can do and we can’t practice this week.
4. I’m bored with that song – we’ve played it too much recently.
5. I know song this song has great theology in it, but it has too many words, and I’m into
simple right now.
6. I really like the way my voice sounds on this song.
7. This is the latest song that God gave me. Hope you like it. He does.

Next time we'll look some underlying principles that help us choose songs wisely.

Al Hamill