How to select music

Forty-some odd years ago, I strapped a guitar my back, took a deep breath, and became one of the first guitarists to ever offer special music as part of the Sunday morning worship service at First Baptist Church of Glenwood, Iowa.

I’m pretty sure that none of the guitar players at First Baptist in those years ever intended to become history-makers. In my case, I had heard a few folksongs, and written a few others, that I thought would fit the church setting. I ran my first selection by my own private music committee: my mom (who was also the church organist), and my grandmother (who was, of course, quite biased in my favor). Mom agreed that the guitar was the best instrument to accompany that particular song. The fact that she felt she had to run it by the church music committee first, as well as the pastor and deacons, indicates just how much of a watershed moment that simple church solo could have been for my hometown congregation.

I’m in my fifth decade of working with music and worship. I probably should be more astute on the subject than I am. But at the end of the day, I’m just a farm boy from Iowa who loves Jesus and thanks God every day that I can still pick up a guitar and play for church every now and then. I can chat for hours about my adventures in church music. Thankfully for you, I’m only going to take just a few minutes on a few topics in this series for those of us who have to deal with developing music, and more specifically music teams, for smaller churches.

Let’s start with how to pick music in the first place. For our purposes today, I just want to say these three things about selecting music for worship.

First, whatever you choose to play or sing in a worship service needs to honor God in the intent, content and the execution. Don’t think for a moment that means perfection in every heart or every note. That’s not the point. The point is making God the focus your thoughts, feelings and presentation. Very frankly, the issue should not revolve around what pleases your resident church music critic in style or performance. “The Audience of One” idea that is so popular to mention these days in worship discussions means that God is indeed the audience of primary consideration in selecting music for worship.

In comparison, the second and third points here are almost mechanical.

Second, make sure the song lyrics accurately communicate what you actually want to say in worship. Don’t pimp lousy theology for the sake of a great groove, whether that groove is heard through a pipe organ or a Fender amp. Think about what the lyrics are saying. Think about their God-focus, or lack thereof. Always keep in mind your “Audience of One.” Some of our most popular hymns that have secured a place in our hymnals and songbooks for generations have no biblical backbone. The same goes for some of our most popular praise choruses. The point here is not to set up an inquisition committee to review the music you select, but rather to take an honest look at what it says.

Third, make sure the song’s melody is singable by the majority of people in your congregation if congregational singing is your goal. And let me be clear that congregational singing should be the goal in congregational worship through music. I say this not to devalue choirs, ensembles or soloists. Instead, let us learn how to applaud the variety of music we may apply to worship services through careful selection of music that is suited for the musician. Octave-plus vocal jumps, changing time signatures and the like should be reserved for musicians who can handle them, and not become an additional challenge for people who are already challenged to simply make it to the service.

Of course, a song’s style matters. There are all kinds of musical styles that fulfill the points above. Choose styles that are relevant to your congregation, but don’t limit yourself to styles that are congregational favorites. The problem with the latter is that congregations can become so at ease with a single style of music that their familiarity breeds nonchalance about what they’re singing.

More next week!

–Steve Wamberg