What I've learned much about writting worship songs so far:
1. Our motive has to be for God's glory. Not our own. Pride gets in the way quite easily. God will bring you down if you're prideful, so it evens out. :)
2. Worship music not only should be sung to God but also serve God's people and be for their good. Truth is lacking in many worship songs. Hymns (those songs of yesteryears) are blessing people to this day because of their reflection of truth and singablity. Which at times comes of as "boring" or "repetitive". But I think the modern day song has too much unpredictability sometimes or, on the opposite end, too much repetition. Hey I love a good trance/techno/dub-step song but I don't think they communite to the church truth. (Sorry David Crowder Band! I still love your music.)
Sure it's fun to write creatively at times (throwing in some twists and turns in the song), but a hymn of praise is ultimately meant to be sung in the congregation. I try to write to serve the church. This is part of the reason why I keep the music simple (I'm a simple guy and I think most of my congregation is not a music major either) so I don't use awkward time signatures or anything that would be considered difficult to sing along(ie: techno is a style of music which is not well suited for lyrics or group singing -- if you can think of an exception, please tell me!). Funny thing is, many drinking songs almost have that singable quality but as you see in 3...
3. I write songs in spirit and truth, since we must worship in spirit and truth. The twin cornerstones of worship music are "spirit and truth".
Although living our lives in the Spirit is truly the best song to God– greater than any song written– we also sing in spirit and truth. Worship, of course, is more than music. Worship is life. Songs are just a portion of that.
Hymns or "worship music" (as it is called commonly) is a response to God's truth. For me this means I write songs that reflect the truth of the Word of God. Not an easy task! So when I write songs, I write worship songs through prayer, meditation, and study of God's word, which is truth. I enjoy reading the blog of Kristen and Bobby Giles, a worship music pastor at Sojourn Church, who wrote the following:
If someone knew nothing about God, our fallen nature, the only way to redemption, the meaning of life and the future of this world, what could they discover about these things through my songs?
Is the God of my songs the God of the Bible? Is the God of my songs distinct from the false gods of this world?
It's convicting. It shows the important of displaying God in your song, not just a generic "you" which could apply to "Allah" or "Buddha" or "your girlfriend." It makes sense that to sing to God, we are not singing something untrue of God. If I were to praise your wife to being a great French cook, when in fact she cooks Chinese divinely, that would be false praise. That's why worship must be truthful. So I study the bible intensely, reading commentaries from Spurgeon and Henry for edification, sound doctrine, and meditation. Understanding who the God Person is of utmost important to worship.
This was just a long introduction for the reason why when I start writing, I write the lyrics first. I don't think of a melody then try to squeeze in the words into some metrical form. The truth of the matter is truth matters, so I write as honestly and truthfully as possible.
Also, I find that praying to be essential when I write songs because "without you, Lord, we are nothing!" We depend on God to feed us, nurture us, bless us. We depend on the Spirit to counsel us, remind us, and guide us. I can't write worship songs on my own anymore having knowing this. Worship cannot happen without "spirit and truth".
3. Paul Baloche has the best idea for when you get stuck writing: "sing your prayers to God." In other words, focus on God, not your pressures of wanting to write a song or focusings on your shortcomings as a songwriter. Just keep it simple and pray to God. Just you and God. This is how the song "Treasure" came about. "Every blessing comes from the Lord / Daily I will walk in your ways." I realized I wanted to walk with God not because He was blessing me but because he himself was the blessing and I was blessed just to know him.
4. Get rid of minor stumbling blocks for the congregation so that they can focus on God. Worship and life is distracting enough. Idols are everywhere. So Christians should not purposely set up stumbling blocks to offend people which does not conflict with our values in Christ. We still do our jobs, pay our taxes, be upstanding citizens, for the sake of the gospel. This is just for non-Christians too! In worship, we don't need more distractions in our devotion to God, let alone in music that is for God. An unsingable melody or awkward phrases can obstruct our focus. It does for me usually. The saints must to sing together– not sing solo. So I would argue that melody and song structure do matter. We were made like a body or city that functions together not as parts.
When my mother sang in church back when I lived in California and was working with the youth group, sometimes I'd bring her some of the "modern contemporary worship" songs from a Worship Together compliation deluxe CD to see if they were "congregation-friendly". She found many of them hard to sing. She found the more melodious ones easier to sing. That was when I realized that the way you compose a song matters. Melody can be a deal-breaker for a song because it makes the song more memorable to sing. Rhyming is another technique which makes a song easier to commit to memory, so that people in the congregation can take their eyes off of the hymnal book or the projector screen– and sing the song to God. Small things sometimes matter.
I know I'm not the best singer or song writer, so I keep it simple. Worship is for God's glory and our good. It's been a great learning experience so far. :)
On that note, I just realized I forgot to post my last song, "Treasure". It's a loose adaptation of Psalm 128.
Those who fear You Lord are blessed
So I treasure You more than bread
Walking daily Lord in your ways
I will trust in you and obey
Happy are those who fear you
Happy are those who obey
Every blessing comes from you, Lord
Daily I will walk in your ways
Yes, we know we are blessed when God is our blessing, when we fear God, when we walk in his ways, when we are happy in him!
