There’s no hiding that I’m a fan of worship leaders writing original worship songs.
I wouldn’t say it’s a distinguishing, necessary skill for all worship leaders. You can still be an incredible worship leader in your church without ever writing a song.
However, I encourage everyone to try. You never know if there may be a gift inside that you’ve never allowed to grow.
With that being said, leading your own songs can be a sticky situation. So many doubts rush through our minds:
What if no one likes it?
What if another writer has written a better song on this theme?
How do I even introduce it?
If I start leading my songs, should I do an album?
I’m the worst songwriter ever.
I’m the best songwriter ever.
While I encourage everyone to try writing, just because you wrote a song doesn’t make it great, ready, or even a good congregational worship song. This is an important step. You have to be willing to step and back and approach it objectively.
Writing songs begins with a heart of humility and service—wanting to equip your church with songs for certain seasons. As soon as it becomes about making a name for yourself, you’ve lost your effectiveness. The songs lose their punch.
In this post, I want to outline a process I use before I introduce an original song to my church. This will help you think strategically about the song, your people, your church’s mission and keeping it congregational.
Five Steps for Introducing Your Worship Songs
Provided your song is “done” to the best of your knowledge, here are some next steps:
Here we go:
1. Get Some Trusted Feedback—Before you start leading your song, I would get some trusted feedback from a couple of people. First, share your song with a trusted pastor or theologian. This is helpful for making sure your song is theologically correct. It’s easy to write worship songs that sound cool and feel good, but if there’s not substantial truth in the song, it’s just not worth it. Have this pastor/theologian friend analyze the song and see if there might be better, truer ways of expression. Also, I’d get some feedback from a trusted singer/musician to make sure the song is catchy and singable for average folks.
2. Test It—Before you place the song as a full, official song in your worship set, test the chorus of the song at different flow moments when you lead worship. Try it at the end of the service, in a small group or medley it with another song. This is a great way to gauge if the main part of your song is connecting with people and engaging them.
3. Tweak It—I believe many of us songwriters settle on our original, first ideas too quickly. Songs need space to develop and evolve. Take some time to try new ideas. Experiment with harmonic and melodic changes. Speed up or slow down the tempo. Spend more time pruning the song rather than adding to it. The strength of great songs is their simplicity. It’s not what you add, it’s what you take away that makes all the difference. Prune away so the essential elements can speak loud and clear.
4. Compare It—I want you to be careful here. By “compare” I don’t mean that you should plagiarize another writer or lose all sense of originality. I’m referring to how your song can be made stronger by learning from other writers. For example, I love the songwriting of Matt Redman. Oftentimes, I’ll mimic his song structure and writing style because I know his songs work really well in a corporate singing environment. Even the most “original” art has its influences. Don’t focus on being original, focus on being accessible.
5. Introduce It Intentionally—I find songs have the greatest impact when they are introduced intentionally. When you’ve received feedback, made tweaks and tested it, don’t just randomly throw it into a set. Introduce it as a closer to a sermon. Play it as a “special” song during the offering. Medley the chorus with a familiar hymn. Share the story behind it before you sing it. These type of factors prepare people to receive it.
Do you lead original worship songs? What has helped you in getting your songs ready to lead? If not, what is holding you back?
