How to Select Worship Songs for “Your” Church
Church song selection has a lot to do with your philosophy on the power of music.
If you merely want songs to be theologically accurate and emotionally powerful, most CCM songs will do.
But, if you believe that music can be more powerful than the sermon – that the words in the songs we sing can be more impactful than the big 3 takeaways on our handout – song selection becomes a greater responsibility.
Then you choose songs with lyrics that match the spiritual reality you want your congregation to embrace.
For a church struggling with humility, sing songs about the depravity of man and the need of repentance.
For a church struggling with faith, sing songs about the sovereignty of God.
For a church struggling with love, sing songs about community and connection.
And if you can’t find songs to match what your congregation needs to cry out, write them.
The Manipulative Power of Worship Music
One common argument I hear from both Christians and not-yet-believers is the idea that worship music can wrongly catch people up into a emotional trance or tizzy in which they too readily accept anything being said from the pulpit.
This is absolutely true.
But, removing music doesn’t solve that problem.
Consider Martin Luther King Jr.’s unique speaking ability. Is it manipulative? Absolutely. The cadence. The repetition. It’s breathtaking. It sounds so good that it immediately sounds right.
But neither does removing rhetoric solve that problem – in the sense that we might disqualify a pastor based on their speaking gifts, which might too easily manipulate the masses.
The problem only rests if truth is not being spoken. If our worship music soars with lyrics that simply aren’t true. If our pastors’ language stirs our hearts with words that are empty.
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