Congregational Songs – New Songs for Corporate Worship

Process for Choosing New Songs

June 29, 2011

Over the past year or so, I’ve developed a system for how I listen to new songs and choose which songs to introduce to the congregation at Grace. Here it is:

1) Gather songs. I do this with my subscription to Song DISCovery, through word of mouth from other worship leaders, by searching online, by hearing songs at other places of worship or conferences, and by purchasing albums from trusted writers/artists. I put all these songs in iTunes and label the genre “prospect” for each song.

2) Make a playlist. I hook my iPod up and put all the “prospect” genre songs in a playlist called, for simplicity’s sake, “prospects.”

3) Listen. Much of my drive time is spent listening through prospective songs. I listen to the playlist over and over. I decided to add this step to my process after Paul Clark said that’s what he does in order to make sure he isn’t choosing a song based only on liking the melody or a hook-line. “Candy” songs will wear out quickly. Quality songs will not.

4) Evaluate. Pretty soon, it’s obvious to me which songs I look forward to and those I’d rather just skip past. It also becomes obvious to me which songs will serve the congregation by focusing on a specific theme that may be lacking in our worship repertoire and that match the culture of our church.

5) On deck. I then take those songs and keep them in an informal “songs to introduce” list. Then, when the timing is right to introduce a new song AND when the new song fits the flow of a specific service with its theme and placement, I put it in the order.

6) Repeat. Finally, I put the song in the following week’s order if at all possible. I do this so that everyone can learn it well enough for me to wait a few weeks, sing it again, and not have it feel like a brand new song to the majority of folks.

The latest song that I put through this process and had it come out as a “must introduce” was “We Lift You Up” by Brenton Brown. Every time it came on my iPod, it made me smile. Many times, I would skip directly to it and start listening to the playlist from there. Then, when the theme of the sermon was Jesus’ power over evil from Luke 11, it was the perfect time to put it in the order right after the classic spiritual warfare hymn “A Mighty Fortress.”

Filed under: Leading Worship,Outside Songs You Need to Hear,Practical,Resources