I have always had this ideal that, as worship leaders, we ought to be writing our own songs as an expression of our own priesthood for our own context.  Think about it… if our church pastor was always and only preaching other pastor’s sermons, the people of the church would stand up and have something to say about it!   Sure there is room for learning from, drawing from and even citing other people’s ideas.  Even the great hero of the faith, Charles Spurgeon said, “He who will not use the thoughts of other men’s brains proves he has no brains of His own.”  We would be a little presumptuous and pompous to say that the only songs that we will use to lead the church in worship are songs that we write.  But I do think there is a balance of original and already written material that we should be working toward as we lead our churches in worship.

As we are writing, I think we can take a really good lesson from the hymns.

Some “creative artist types” bust on hymns because hymns are old or outdated and artists want to create and not take from something that’s already been done. Or they feel hymns are too wordy, or they all sound alike. Whatever the reason is, some people just don’t connect with hymns.

At the same time, “hymn elitist people” bust on modern pop worship music because it’s so generic and everything sounds the same - failing to see that the same generalization could be made about the hymns. Or that often it’s not saying anything but shallow non-doctrine, or it’s too repetitive.  Whatever the reason is, some people just don’t connect with modern worship music.

Both camps totally skew to the direction that fits their personality and preference, which is both incredibly lazy and irresponsible as a worship leader.

Hymns are incredible.  They have been a foundation and heritage of the modern church, and for great reason! They teach thick theology and connect with people at a deep level.  But if you forsake all popular worship music that is connecting with the church all over the world for the sake of hymn-driven ideology, you are depriving your church of some gems.

While it does often seem like there is a drought of theologically and doctrinally deep modern worship, it is there if you look hard.  Whether you like it or not, there are some modern worship songs that are still being written to this day that are quite incredible and thick in theology, and if you default only to the hymns because you don’t want to do the hard work of finding them, your church is missing out.  At the same time, if you disdain the hymns because they’re outdated, you also deprive your church of its heritage, for all the reasons I’ve already mentioned.

But here is an interesting observation I’ve had.  I have found that hymns and good pop music (the musical foundation of a good modern worship song) share very similar attributes (they are a lot less different than you’d think) because hymns were basically the pop songs of their day, and well-written pop hasn’t changed a lot over time.

1.  A well-written hymn is melodically singable and repetitive as well as incredibly memorable and catchy, making its intense lyrical structure seem less burdensome. In the same way, a well-written pop songs is melodically memorable, repetitive and catchy.

2.  A well-written hymn focuses on one subject, is incredibly well thought through lyrically, and has vivid story telling imagery.  One can feel what the writer was feeling when he or she wrote it.  In the same way, a well-written pop song is well thought through and lyrically consistent.  The listener (and in our case singer) will not only internalize information, but also feel what the writer is feeling, often identifying with them.

3.  A well-written hymn focuses in on a very real human condition and its solution, creating a tension, and resolution.  It is not about something people don’t care about.  It is about something that is on people’s minds often… Sin, salvation, loss, hope, and love are common themes.  If you really think about it, a good pop song is very similar, just without the gospel.  So instead of sin being the problem, the problem focuses in on an effect of sin.  Both are very common issues that are on people’s minds and hearts.  Well thought through songs will address issues that people are dealing with, so that they connect in a tangible way.

So as we set out as worship artists to write music for the church, we should think about these things:

• Write with the church in mind.  As you consider melody lines, ask yourself, “Is this melody singable, memorable and catchy?  Will I be essentially re-teaching it to the congregation every time we sing it, or will they automatically recognize it next time?” **A good test for this is if you catch yourself humming it all the time, while doing random tasks.**

• As you consider lyrical content, ask, “Is this lyrically consistent about one topic, or is it jumping around too much from topic to topic?  What life tension is this addressing and how do I present the Gospel as its answer? Is it theologically and doctrinally accurate and weighty, or is it shallow?” **Some accountability in this area is always helpful.**

When you get these elements right, they are translatable across all musical genres.  You can strip a great song down to acoustic, or piano and organ, or full orchestra with choir, or a 4 piece rock band; heck it can be a banjo, sitar and a didgeridoo for all I care (though I wouldn’t recommend it).  The key is molding and shaping the skeletal structure of your modern worship music to be strong and accessible, both melodically and lyrically. The musical and contextual flesh that goes on that structure is up to you.

This is no easy task.  If it were, everyone would be writing #1 hit songs all the time; there would really be no sacrifice involved.  But there is sacrifice involved.  It takes practice and hard work.  No matter how much talent a pitcher is born with, he isn’t going to be the starting pitcher in the World Series without practicing.  Michael Phelps hasn’t won gold medal after gold medal by just pure genetics and raw talent.  It took work and practice.  Song writing is no different, so don’t get discouraged and quit if your first song isn’t incredible…or your three thousandth song isn’t amazing!  I still write a song a day and at least 355 of them in a given year will never be heard by a single person because frankly, they suck.

The key is, no matter how hard of work it is, we must write.  I want to encourage you to get alone with God and let the Creative Genius create something new in you that He wants His bride thinking on, dwelling on, and singing.  One cannot manufacture intimacy with God, and songs that are written apart from that fellowship will reek of selfish kingdom building.  But if we write from the overflow of our intimacy with Him, He will flood forth new songs for our generation and many to come… And friends, I really hope that happens.