There’s no hiding that I’m a fan of worship leaders writing original worship songs.
I wouldn’t say it’s a distinguishing, necessary skill for all worship leaders. You can still be an incredible worship leader in your church without ever writing a song.
However, I encourage everyone to try. You never know if there may be a gift inside that you’ve never allowed to grow.
With that being said, leading your own songs can be a sticky situation. So many doubts rush through our minds:
- What if no one likes it?
- What if another writer has written a better song on this theme?
- How do I even introduce it?
- If I start leading my songs, should I do an album?
- I’m the worst songwriter ever.
- I’m the best songwriter ever.
While I encourage everyone to try writing, just because you wrote a song doesn’t make it great, ready, or even a good congregational worship song. This is an important step. You have to be willing to step and back and approach it objectively.
Writing songs begins with a heart of humility and service – wanting to equip your church with songs for certain seasons. As soon as it becomes about making a name for yourself, you’ve lost your effectiveness. The songs lose their punch.
For some tips on making your songs ready for congregational use, check out this post.
In this post I want to outline a process I use before I introduce an original song to my church. This will help you think strategically about the song, your people, your church’s mission, and keeping it congregational.
5 Steps for Introducing Your Worship Songs
Provided your song is “done” to the best of your knowledge, here are some next steps:
Here we go:
1. Get Some Trusted Feedback – Before you start leading your song, I would get some trusted feedback from a couple people. First, share your song with a trusted pastor or theologian. This is helpful for making sure your song is theologically correct. It’s easy to write worship songs that sound cool and feel good, but if there’s not substantial truth in the song, it’s just not worth it. Have this pastor/theologian friend analyze the song and see if there might be better, truer ways of expression. Also, I’d get some feedback from a trusted singer/musician to make sure the song is catchy and singable for average folks.
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