Last week we began a new regular (we hope) Friday post: Songwriting tips. Though it will be primarily geared toward worship songwriting, we hope to include tips that any songwriter would benefit from. Here’s Songwriting Tip #2:
The goal of a worship song is to engage the mind and heart with God through God-centered lyrics and creative, singable melodies.
“The tunes that are being written today are very, very engaging tunes. They have a way of awakening the affections. They’re not excessively complex by and large, or intellectual or demanding. But they catch up the emotions and the spirit in their mood. So two things are happening in the best worship songs…. The mind is being brought with God-centered lyrics in an amazing way into engagement with God and the heart stirred by these contemporary tunes is being engaged with tenderness, devotion and enjoyment.” –Frank Griffith, The Role of Singing in the Life and Worship of the Church, Reformation and Revival
As a worship songwriter, my goal is to engage people with God. First and foremost with theological truth. The great challenge is to deliver that truth with a great melody and creative music. Some write great truth but the music does nothing for it; others write great music but lame lyrics.
Let’s shoot for both solid doctrine and stirring music.
How about you? What would you add to these thoughts?
photo by jsome1
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
I'd add to your comments some write truth but it's chunks of undigested truth almost like they've copied down their pastors sermon verbatim and tried to set it to music. Or tried to shoehorn a passage of scripture into some kind of metre (I'm not talking about scripture memory songs, I think they have their own rules, but corporate worship songs).
BTW I used to have a Piper tape called 'preaching as worship'. Listened to it over and over again. The quote above is from it. Either Griffith is quoting Piper or Piper is quoting him. Weird.
What really bugs me are songs that just recount truth but don't have any depth. For example, "I could sing of your love forever" doesn't really encourage me in loving God.
Hi Kathryn,
I like songs that are squarely rooted in Scripture as well, and even contain Scripture. I also believe that songs that rephrase Scriptural truth in a poetic way without sacrificing the meaning of the Scripture can be very effective as well. When I write a song with a response like "I could sing of your love" I always want to include the truth that I'm responding to. Why can I sing of your love? Because of all you accomplished for me in your life and death, because you have freely forgiven my sins, etc. Thanks for your comments!
Yes Matt, if I'm understanding you correctly, the lyrics need to be creative and "fit" the music, and not sound like something forced. The truth can be rephrased so it's not like it's out of a textbook. Maybe expressing truth poetically would be a good way to think about it. Thanks for adding your comment.
That's it exactly. Preaching, writing a book and writing a song have a lot of overlap, but they're all different disciplines.
First let me say this . . . I love hymns . . . old 1700-1800 hymns. As someone called them "Theology on Fire". With that said, I have led corporate worship in many various denom and non-denom churches as a "musicianary", mainly with church plants. My concern with modern worship is that it lacks much of the theology waxed poetic. Sure it stirs the emotions and sometimes even becomes a 7-11 song. (Same seven verses sung eleven times) But, desire to see is a less emotion and more God (vertically geared) blessing and honoring lyrical content.
Amen, Jason! We need "theology waxed poetic" – I believe that nothing will truly stir our emotions like sound doctrine! Well put! Thanks.
Great topic! My only comment would be to not limit the goal of songwriting to the having of good qualities. That seems like you’re shooting for good songs, and not great ones.
I strongly agree with Jason's last sentence. While our minds and emotions should always be engaged while worshipping in music, we do well to remember that worship is all about exalting God. When I am involved in true worship, with a song that truly honors Christ in more than a superficial way, often my eyes are opened to understand a particular truth more deeply and intimately. And yes, those songs that strive to illuminate the glory of what Christ accomplished on the cross unfailingly lead me on into deeper and truer worship, and always bring me the greatest joy and the most sublime peace. At such times, I am most effectively reminded that I have died, and my life is truly hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3).
I love songs about God's holiness, His majesty, His works in creation, Christian brotherhood, and all the rest. But I will never, ever tire of songs about the cross and the blood. More, please.
I love to sing and write songs that talks about the greatness of God, because He is so great that we can never understand it, that's why He said I AM THAT I AM!
God is awesome, He is beyond description, too marvelous for words. He is just wonderful.