I was recently searching back through old class notes from my time at The Master's College, and I found my notes from a class I took on hymnology and the music of the church. At the end of my notes was this "Checklist for Church Music" that my professor (Dr. Plew, head of the Music Department) had given us. This list is meant as a litmus test for a church's musical worship, both for the layperson to better understand the music in which they are being led, as well as for leaders as they seek to remain faithful in their areas of ministry. I would like to take these checkpoints and elaborate on them, from what I learned from Dr. Plew and from my own experiences as a worship leader. There are 10 questions; I will discuss the first two today and will continue with the others later. I hope this series will be a benefit to you learning more about church music.
1. Is your church music God-focused?
This is the first question we must ask ourselves. If we cannot answer "yes" to this question, then there is something seriously wrong and grossly inadequate in our musical worship. The word worship itself means to ascribe worth to something or some individual. If the music in our churches is not focused on God, then we are wasting our time ascribing worth to something else.
This is the first question we must ask ourselves. If we cannot answer "yes" to this question, then there is something seriously wrong and grossly inadequate in our musical worship. The word worship itself means to ascribe worth to something or some individual. If the music in our churches is not focused on God, then we are wasting our time ascribing worth to something else.
This becomes a major issue primarily in the music that is being written today. There was a stretch of time where it almost became fashionable to write and sing songs that were about worship, not about worshiping the Creator. My dad likes to use the phrase that these are songs "that are worshiping worship." They focus more on what we will do in our worship than why we are worshiping in the first place. Now, I have no issue singing songs that reference how we can express our worship; the Psalms are full of that sort of imagery. The main difference is that many modern songs talk only of those actions, whereas the Psalms reference such actions as a response to the goodness and glory of the Lord.
The first thing that a worship leader ought to do when wanting to choose new music for the church, is to sit down and read the lyrics without listening to the music. I have done this multiple times, and there have been a few times where I have chosen not to do songs with the junior high ministry I used to lead. I want to clarify, though, that some of the songs I wanted to do were good, God-honoring songs, but they would not have fit in with the current state of the junior high ministry. The good thing about reading the lyrics divorced from the music is that you get to the meat of the song. You aren't drawn away by a catchy melody that causes you to sing flimsy lyrics of no real value.
(Of course, the music is an important factor in choosing any song. You can have great lyrics, but they will go nowhere if not combined with a singable melody that fits those lyrics.)
(Of course, the music is an important factor in choosing any song. You can have great lyrics, but they will go nowhere if not combined with a singable melody that fits those lyrics.)
2. Does your church music promote a high view of God?
Sound familiar? These first two questions are very complementary. In the first question, we discussed worship music focusing on God and not on us. We now take another step beyond that first thought: our musical worship must focus on God, but it must also present a high view of God.
Sound familiar? These first two questions are very complementary. In the first question, we discussed worship music focusing on God and not on us. We now take another step beyond that first thought: our musical worship must focus on God, but it must also present a high view of God.
We see throughout Scripture that its writers understood and held to a high view of God in their lives. In the middle of the Apostle Paul's great theological treatise that is the book of Romans, he exclaims as if he can hold it in no longer, "Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways.... For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen" (Romans 11:33-36). Our music also ought to declare and promote theological truths. We learn more about God and how to lift Him high if we are singing it in our congregational music.
In his book Rhythms of Grace, Mike Cosper suggests to worship leaders,
Take an inventory of the adoration and praise songs you sing in your church. Compare what they say to a list of the attributes of God (like those in Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology or A.W. Pink's Attributes of God). What's missing? Are you leaning heavily on certain attributes over others? (129)
I would encourage members of the congregation to do this as well. I have taken to writing down the songs that our church sings each week in my sermon notes. For me it's nice to look back on the weeks and see how the songs we sang connected to the sermon. You could do this as well. I would suggest that you try to encourage your worship leader/pastor in what you see from the songs he is picking. Don't use this as an opportunity to tell him what he is doing wrong, what sorts of songs he ought to incorporate. This can be helpful, but the Lord needs to lay that on his heart and lead him to the songs that will facilitate that. (The Lord might be using you to guide the pastor down that path, but it is a high risk to take, and might end up only discouraging him.)
[Side note to worship leaders reading this: make sure you do have some friends you can confide in and who will share their thoughts on the music the church is singing. Always take constructive criticism and pray about it. Otherwise you might be going down a path of choosing only songs that you want, not those that will most serve the church.]