Three Reasons Why Your Church Should Be Writing Its Own Music.
I get it… Not every church has the capacity to do all things; part of the unique journey of each local church is discovering the niche in the larger body of Christ that they will serve. While some may double-down on social justice campaigns others may devote themselves to creative arts. There are essentials and then there are things that I would describe as flavours.
One thing that I think every church would benefit from is exploring writing its own music. Music has always been a gift from God for His people and a beautiful part of the personal and corporate expression of praise and worship. No… This isn’t about becoming the next Hillsong, Bethel or Elevation — although they all started somewhere right? And they’re all still local churches that are birthed in (now) numerous cities and communities.
“The heart of writing music unique to your local church is about finding a way to disciple your creatives, call your musicians to a new level of cultural buy-in and bring a unique expression of worship to your gatherings.”
I should note, I’ve gleaned a lot of these take aways from a good friend named Stephen Brewster who is a creative consultant slash swiss-army knife of the Christian music scene based out of Franklin, TN. Check out his socials for great insights on stuff exactly like this.
Check out these thoughts on the benefits of writing music for your local church.
Your church has a unique story and voice.
Each community of believers has a beautiful purpose, or niche, to share with the world; no two churches are the exact same. I’m pretty sure that’s how God, in His wisdom, designed it. You see through the New Testament evidenced in the way that He’s set up His body (see 1 Cor. 12, Rom. 12) and the governance or leadership of His church (see Eph. 4). Your corporate experience and expression of the Gospel can inspire beautiful art that not only serves to remind you of what God has done but inspire others to a fresh revelation of the Lord.
“I believe that there are songs that only your church can write.”
Your musicians and creatives will buy in to your culture like never before.
Nothing stirs up personal ownership for your musicians like engaging them in the process of writing, arranging, recording and performing songs that come from your house. This is the tension between singing beautiful songs written by writers from half-way across the globe that are full of lyrics and melodies that bless the soul and focus our attention on Jesus AND Christian karaoke where a bunch of average musicians play through your favourite tunes on a Sunday top-to-bottom before the message.
I really hope your worship culture doesn’t look like the latter… But if it even remotely resembles that, try starting to engage your musicians in arranging the music originally. It doesn’t have to start with a full album but watch what happens when you encourage your musicians to start by suggesting alternative chord progressions (that 2m is always waiting for your fifth time through the bridge…).
Oh, by the way, for those of your musicians who aren’t at a place to be a session guitarist or recorded vocalist, let the process serve as inspiration for them to invest more. One of the most powerful tools that we have uniquely at our disposal in the last two decades is recording technology on all of our devices. It’s a lot easier than you think to get the ball rolling. Is Henry Seeley producing your tunes? No… Is Sam Gibson mixing your tracks? No… But you will really start developing a sense of ownership over these songs even if they exist on SoundCloud to start.
You’ll see your congregation connect with it in a really special way.
This is probably the most common thing that I come across the terrifies worship leaders and pastors alike when it comes to writing and performing original music in your church’s corporate gatherings. ‘Hey church! We’ve written this song — laboured over the melody and lyrics, held onto it for a year or so, worked really hard to arrange it in a way where it sounds as good as Way Maker and Great Are You Lord combined — and we hope you like it.’ Church’s response??? Deer caught in head lights. Be fair to yourself… You’re not Brandon Lake, Brooke Ligertwood or Cody Carnes just yet (and if you don’t like one of those writers get over yourself; are you touring the world leading worship right now?? Didn’t think so…).
Here’s what I learned as a youth pastor in local churches… Commonly, people in healthy environments care a lot less about how amazing the performance was and they care way more about who’s up there doing it. I would stand on Wednesday nights and cheer on our student worship team as they would fumble through chords and transitions. From a producer, artist, touring musician’s point-of-view, it was a genuine goat-show. But then I would watch them get off the stage and receive praise, high-fives and hugs, ‘wow-that-was-beautiful-s’ from their friends. Why? Because they were more pumped about their friends being up there and going for it then they were disappointed that they hadn’t been to a perfect rendition of the last Hillsong United concert.
The power of the songs that your local church’s writers will produce is going to be rooted in the relationship that they have with your local church. Music give us new ways of articulating truth that many times is already experienced and internalized. As you introduce these songs to your church, the relationships with your church’s writers and musicians will create a unique expression of worship that I promise will surprise you — in a good way.
