Have you ever wondered how modern worship leaders select songs for congregational worship? Are there parameters in place for worship leaders to use?
This post is geared toward worship leaders themselves, but if you are a lay church member, I encourage you to keep reading. You will find points to discuss with the leadership at your church if you are concerned about a lack of discernment in your worship practices. This is the first of two posts on this topic. I will set up the argument this week, and unpack how to put it into practice next week.
A few years ago I presented a paper at Oxford University titled, “In Quest of ‘The Acceptable Way of Worshipping the True God’: Applying T. David Gordon’s Liturgical Song Criteria to Today’s Worship Practices.” In it I interact with Gordon’s six criteria which he issues for modern worship leaders when selecting songs for congregational singing. The following paragraphs are an excerpt from that paper.
How do modern ecclesiastical leaders determine which hymns or songs to include in their liturgical practices? In years past, hymnal committees assessed the theological, doctrinal, and musical criteria, through which the committee members placed their collective “stamp of approval” on all songs chosen for publication. Through this venture, liturgical leaders selected songs that were sanctioned by church advisors in the edification of churches through congregational song. T. David Gordon issues six criteria committees used in their liturgical song assessment:
Theologically orthodox lyrics
Theologically significant lyrics
Literarily apt and thoughtful lyrics
Lyrics and music appropriate to a meeting between God and his visible people
Well-written music with regard to melody, harmony, rhythm, and form
Musical setting appropriate to the lyrical content (1)
On a broad scale, evangelical churches today do not employ the use of hymnals as in previous generations, thus disseminating the advisory role of congregational song selection to individual leaders. If churches are to “sing to the Lord as he is revealed in Scripture,” and we are to “sing of his name . . . of his person . . . of his works,” ultimately culminating in our charge to “magnify him and him alone,” then church leadership must look to Scripture for benchmarks in congregational song (2). If our meeting with God “is such a momentous event that it takes careful and sincere preparation,” then our liturgies must be “rooted in God’s story of redemption, simultaneously forming within us a desire for the true good life and conforming us to attain it”(3).
When approaching the topic of theology and doctrine in congregational song, we must remember that worship “does not exist for the sake of the worshiper, but for the glory of the God who is worshiped”(4). The Old Testament is full of references to purification in worship practices, and the drama unfolds with God’s chosen people vacillating between obedience and disobedience. God sends prophets to remind His people that their worship is supposed to follow sacred standards set forth by God himself, but the Israelites continue syncretistic worship practices, which defile their worship of God. Then in the New Testament Christ declares that believers will worship in spirit and truth, creating a new pattern of worship, but still centered on the design of God-ordained worship (5). Worshiping according to God’s specifications “helps God’s people steer clear of the ambiguity of using worship as a tool to fulfill their own desires”(6).
We see here that worship should be focused on God, not man. Songs selected for congregational singing should emphasize God and his mighty acts, not me and how I feel about them. There is a difference when a worship leader views the entirety of worship – from the Call to Worship to the Benediction – as being formative to the believer. When this shift in thinking occurs, the worship leader selects songs that fill believers’ mouths with truths of Scripture, knowing that these songs are helping to form the believer’s heart toward God. Without this formative view of worship, the tendency becomes to choose music that is “entertaining” or “feel-good,” which leads to selecting songs that emphasize self over God.
Worship leaders have the responsibility to lead congregations in right worship of God. This responsibility should be of utmost importance because the worship leader will ultimately be held accountable before our Holy God. If worship leaders choose songs for congregational singing that emphasize God’s holiness rather than individual opinion, then these songs reverberate in the heart of the believer, so that when difficulties arrive, the believer recalls God’s action rather than a song-writer’s opinion of God’s action.
“
Douglas O’Donnell notes, “there are a lot of silly churches which have a lot of silly pastors who allow a lot of silly worship leaders to select a lot of silly songs from a lot of silly songwriters. And the result of singing songs that ‘water down the faith’ and spare us ‘all difficulties’ is the undermining of ‘many a soul’s Christianity”(7). This quote serves as a good reminder to pastors, so they place musically and theologically trained worship leaders over their congregation. It also reminds worship pastors to utilize criteria to helps them select all songs for congregational singing.
Gordon’s purpose of mentioning these standards emphasizes the need for continual review of worship repertoire because “worship song, like preaching, is regulated by apostolic authority, and corrected when it needs to be corrected”(8). This important aspect of evaluation and correction cannot happen if there is not a theological, doctrinal, or musical standard to which we hold our songs. Our question should always be centered on a corrective and a call, “a corrective to sing lyrics that will not only make us ‘wise for salvation,’ but will also be profitable for ‘training in righteousness’ (2 Timothy 3:14-16), as well as a call to return to the Word of God . . . in our worship of him”(9).
Compare and Contrast
With evaluation and correction in view, let’s see how to select songs based on Gordon’s criteria. I am only choosing two criteria to highlight here, which will help you see how to apply them in practice. (Note: all songs chosen for evaluation have been sung in worship services where I have been present.)
Beginning with Theologically Orthodox Lyrics, we must remember that shallow words and a negligent understanding of worship creates shallow theology. If we analyze the lyrics of “Come Thou Almighty King” (1760, anonymous), we immediately notice the Trinitarian references to God. Trinitarian references to God in song have been around since the Early Church, so we continue to sing about God’s sovereignty, Jesus’s Incarnation, and the work of the Holy Spirit today. This three-fold focus helps us to remember that Christian worship is “our participation through the Spirit in the Son’s communion with the Father, in his vicarious life of worship and intercession”(10).
However, when we compare “Come Thou Almighty King” with the lyrics of “Ever Be” (2015, Bethel), there are no direct references to God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit. Instead, the author uses an ambiguous “you” in place of direct references, leaving the singers wondering exactly to whom they are singing. Without direct references to God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit, it is further difficult to mention direct acts performed by any member of the Trinity. And since there are no mighty acts of God referenced, the shallowness of the lyrics becomes apparent. Thus, this hymn does not help aid in the disciple-making process, which is one of the purposes of Christian worship.
I will combine Gordon’s final two points to focus on music, and more specifically, the text-tune marriage. Not only should our congregational songs be full of rich theological truths, but they should be set to beautiful tunes. Theologian Kevin Vanhoozer discusses the idea of “fittingness” and how it applies to Christian worship practices. He, and I, advocate for an appropriate marriage, or fittingness, because both text and tune work together to form the entire being of the believer.
When we review the lyrics of William Cowper’s “O for a Closer Walk with God” (1769), and notice that his text is most often used with the tune CAITHNESS, we see the tune compliment the text through its walking tempo and gentle ambulatory rhythm. This tune spans an entire octave, utilizing dedication and intentional participation from the singer. These musical points aid the text, providing a fittingness between the text and tune, which helps the singer meditate upon biblical truths appropriately and accurately.
For comparison, if we evaluate “Good Good Father” (2015, Brown & Barrett), we see that it consists only of three chords throughout the entire song, and the primary use of only three tones in the melody. The rhythm is monotonous, requiring little to no effort from the singer. Because of this, the music ceases to be a vehicle of instructing us into “greater affection for God”(11). Instead, because of its superficiality, this “repetition of praise wedded with emotional music and void of concrete reasons for the praise produces shallow sentimentality”(12). Shallow sentimentality is the antithetic goal of a mature believer, thus rendering “Good Good Father” incapable of adequately expressing right lyrics and music in gathered worship.
I have tried to provide a few examples of how you can evaluate worship songs for appropriateness in corporate worship settings. As I have mentioned in multiple posts, God weighs our worship carefully and heavily. It is our duty to respond in the manner that he has set forth. This responsibility is heightened for worship leaders, so it is vitally important that they lead us in right worship music that aids us in an accurate disciple-making process. Also, I state earlier that this post was taken from a paper I presented at a conference. If you would like to read more, please let me know!
Discussions on worship are often full of emotional language because music is personal to us. But as we read in Scripture, worship is about God, not us. If you would like to read more on the topic of worship, here are some books I recommend:
Allen P. Ross: Recalling the Hope of Glory: Biblical Worship from the Garden to the New Creation
Scott Aniol: Changed from Glory into Glory: The Liturgical Story of the Christian Faith
Jonathan Landry Cruse: What Happens When We Worship
Scott Aniol: Biblical Foundations of Corporate Worship
References:
T. David Gordon, Why Johnny Can’t Sing Hymns: How Pop Culture Rewrote the Hymnal (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2010), 47.
Douglas O’Donnell, God’s Lyrics: Rediscovering Worship Through Old Testament Songs (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2010), 132.
Jonathan Landry Cruse, What Happens When We Worship (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 2020), 173.
Scott Aniol, Worship in Song: A Biblical Approach to Music and Worship (Winona Lake, IN: BMH Books, 2009), ii.
John 4:21-24.
Robbie F. Castleman, Story Shaped Worship: Following Patterns from the Bible and History (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2013), 97.
O’Donnell, God’s Lyrics, 174.
Gordon, Why Johnny Can’t Sing Hymns, 34
O’Donnell, God’s Lyrics, xxiii.
James B. Torrance, Worship, Community, and the Triune God of Grace (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 1996), 15.
Aniol, Worship in Song, 170.
Aniol, Worship in Song, 174.
Kim has been married to her college sweetheart, Jason, for 24 years and they have one son who is a high school senior. Most recently, Kim completed her Ph.D in Church Music and Worship from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. She has presented at Evangelical Theological Society and The Society of Christian Scholarship in Music, and her works have appeared in The Hymn, Artistic Theologian, and Baptist History and Heritage Journal.
Comments