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Writing Worship Songs: 3 Tips To Get Started

how to write a worship song

The Lord tells us to sing new songs to Him, and it is a good thing to write new worship songs, especially if the church is new or going through a season of change. Worship is our response to the Lord, and writing songs relevant to the season and to the congregation is extremely powerful. This is not a “how to” on songwriting, but rather on how to write a worship song. Obviously, basic songwriting talent is required to write a good worship song, and musical ability does not hurt either. Know your audience, play your instrument well, these are good pointers, but out of the scope of this article. The focus here will be on how to writing worship songs people want to sing.

Any how to article about art is difficult. How to write a book, how to paint a masterpiece – these are not as straightforward as how to change your oil or how to put together a boy band. By definition, art is not formulaic, so take this not as a recipe for song craftsmanship, but as a set of filters that I use to determine whether a song I have written meets the quality bar. These are my opinions, and therefore, may not prove relevant, but hopefully, they will be of some assistance to aspiring worship leaders about how to write a worship song.

Writing Worship Songs: 3 Tips To Get Started

1. A good worship song is singable.

If no one sings, it’s not worship. Worship songs are different then other songs in one distinct category; there are way more singers than musicians. Everyone in the congregation should be able to (and want to)  sing along to the song.

How do you know if a song is singable? The “yeah, duh” answer is if people sing to it. Though this doesn’t always tell, you should see some songs that people consistently sing along with, and others that they consistently don’t. Ask yourself the difference between these two songs, and I think you’ll see some of the things in this article.

Why does a song have to be singable? The congregation is not the audience, and the leaders are not performers. When worshipping, we are all one body lifting up our voices to the Lord. As singers and instrument players, our whole job as worship leaders is to encourage as many people as possible to worship, and this is usually manifested through singing.