Maybe its just me, but choosing new songs to introduce to my congregation seems like a monstrous task. And rightfully so. The songs we choose (and how we do them) can establish the style, feel, demographic, theology (sometimes) and mission of your church. Because this is so instrumental in the life of a church, it is vital that we submit all new songs to our senior pastors for approval. I could go on for a few paragraphs about why the senior pastor is essential in the process, but I figure its just easier if you trust me on this so I can stay on subject: new songs.

For me, I have three weekend teams that rotate. I can’t just introduce a new song whenever I feel like it and hope the three teams catch on (I can, but its not very pretty). I have to approach it more organizationally than would be natural for most teams, so keep that in mind as I share my process.

Step One: Examine Your Motive

To a persistent degree, this is important. Way too often churches do new songs because they’re trying to become something they are not. If you want to be “cool” – be yourself, don’t try to be something different. Nobody likes that, and we can all tell you’re faking it. Good worship songs are ones that resonate with your church. So if you see some multicultural church go nuts with a hip-hop/urban worship song and you think its “cool” – keep in mind its cool for them. You need to do what’s cool for you. Most importantly – be sure you’re doing new songs in order to make Jesus happy — this is his gig anyhow.

Do do new worship songs if you want a new expression of worship. Do them if you feel like other songs seem stagnate. Introduce new songs if you want to reignite a congregation’s attention to the words they’re singing (I’ve found that a new song will engage the congregation’s minds to the lyrics, even in the older song before and after the new one). Don’t do them if you’re trying to be cool – that’s not how it works.

Step Two: Find Some Songs

So you’ve  got the right attitude. Great. Now for the source of new songs!

Write one! Keep in mind, however, that many worship songs are meant for you or for a small group. Just because you wrote it doesn’t mean your church should sing it. If you write your own, submit it to 2 different types of people – 1) Someone to critique the music, 2) Your senior pastor to critique the theological soundness.

See What’s Working for Others. This morning I sent out a text message to several of my worship leading friends asking them, “Hey what new songs have been resonating with your church?” I also like to check the CCLI Top Ten List to see what songs are resonating the most with churches internationally. The goal in this shouldn’t be to “hop on a bandwagon” and play chameleon but rather to give yourself a jump-start. If such and such song works for so many other churches, it might be a good match for your church as well – its at least worth looking at.

Resources! Buy CDs. Get stuff on iTunes. Worship Leader Magazine has a resource called “Song Discovery” where they send a CD of peer-reviewed new songs every month (or so). Integrity Direct is a service provided by Integrity Worship where they send you all their new CDs and chart books before they’re even available in stores – at a discounted price. Personally, I’m a huge fan of Integrity Worship.

Step Three: Narrow It Down

Currently, I am in this stage of the process. I have 109 songs lined up for me to review. I’m going to get it down to 6-8. This is how I’m going to do it.

First, I do a basic look at the songs. Do they have initial appeal? (Can I dig it or is it kinda “bleh”). I’ll look at the lyrics. I’ll listen for a “hook” in the song. I like to close my eyes and say, “Can I imagine my church singing along with this?” If the answer is no – I CUT IT!

Second, I’ll look at the remaining songs more closely. Is the melody line’s vocal range too extreme? (Generally, an octave range is the sweet spot, but I never go wider than a “Perfect Tenth”) Can my band even play it, or could they play a simplified arrangement of it? Many more songs get cut in this stage.

Third, I’ll look closely at the melody line and chords and choose a better key for the songs for the congregation to sing. I will play through the remaining songs on my own.

Fourth, I’ll take the songs to my worship leadership team, and together, we’ll make the final decisions.

Step Four: Introduce it to the Congregation

First of all, don’t even think about introducing a song to the congregation if the whole team doesn’t already know it inside and out. This requires going over the song together BEFORE Sunday morning sound check, and probably even BEFORE the week’s rehearsal. The team needs time for it to “sink in.” This goes for everyone – but especially the projector/lyric display person. If they bomb, you’re going to have a hard time teaching the congregation a new song. I like to help my projector person help me by giving them a road map of how I’ll go through the song – this is especially important if its a new song, as they’ll have no idea how to anticipate your arrangement.

When I introduce a new song, I always try to start with a simplified version of the song (maybe just my voice and a piano), and then add the band. I feel it just gives the congregation a chance to hear it without all the bells and whistles so they can join in faster. Many modern songs have SIMPLE choruses (the hook), but more complicated verses. I sometimes like to teach the congregation the chorus first, and then bring in the band and go through the “regular” song starting with a verse.

I think the bottom line is not to leave the congregation high and dry when introducing a new song. Remember – we’re here to take them on a worship journey. So don’t leave them hanging. Invite them to come along with you, “Hey I’d like to teach you a new song this morning. The chorus goes like this . . .” . . . “Now try singing it with me . . .” I’ve had much more success introducing new songs with this “come with me” approach.

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Hopefully this helps you introduce a new song in your church. If you have a follow up question about this or something else, please leave a comment or send and email to question@cmiworship.com