I started leading worship for church and for youth gatherings when I was a freshman in high school. So, it’s been a good many years that I’ve had the regular opportunity to sit down and choose songs for some sort of worship gathering. It’s actually kind of crazy to think how long that’s been!
Throughout the years, various people have given me lots of great input on how to go about choosing songs and crafting a set. I’ve also learned a lot from personal experience in what seemed to work well and what didn’t. To supplement that, I’ve also read many books on worship which discussed this topic, and I’ve taken several college classes that had a lot to do with this topic. And now, for the last 5 years, I’ve worked as a worship leader at my church in Whittier, California. So, I continually find myself sitting down to the creative process of choosing songs for Sunday—which I actually enjoy quite a bit!
All that to say, I wanted to take a moment to share with you step by step what my process looks like for choosing songs for a given Sunday in hopes that this can give you some more input into the art of choosing songs. So, let’s get started!
1. Pray
This is the most important step—pray. I totally believe that the Holy Spirit works through the process of choosing songs. So many times after a Sunday morning worship service I’m just blown away by how God worked through the various songs that we sang. I am 100% sure that it wasn’t due to any bit of my skill in putting songs together… because frankly, there is no possible way I could have known the pastor would be speaking about various points that would perfectly tie onto a certain song.
I am convinced that God works through the times of preparation and planning. So, it is extremely important that we pray for Him to help us choose the right songs. We need to pray that He would be most glorified, and that our response to Him in worship would be appropriate and pleasing to Him.
Something my worship pastor told me about his own prayer before choosing songs has stuck with me till now. He said, “I pray that God would allow me to choose the songs that He wants His people to sing to Him on Sunday.” That really resonated with me and I loved what perspective that gave to our times of singing on Sunday. Ever since, this has also become one of my own prayers as I choose songs.
So, I always take a moment before I begin to brainstorm and craft the set, to pray and ask that God would guide the song selections and would allow me to choose the songs that He wants to be sung.
2. Brainstorm
The next thing I do is brainstorm. First, I usually try to correspond with the pastor as early as possible in the week to get an idea what his main points will be, what Scripture passage he will be speaking on, and what his application points will be (essentially any ideas he has that will help give direction to the topic of the worship service).
Then, I write down as many songs that come to my mind as possible which have to do with the given Scripture passage and sermon direction that the pastor gave me. There often are between 1-10 songs that come to mind right away.
Then I’ll start sifting through various databases of songs to jog my memory on other songs I may not have remembered (while always keeping in mind what the pastor said about the sermon direction). I used to always just go through my own personal list of familiar songs, but later I started using other databases as well.
My favorite databases are:
- Planning Center. Our church uses Planning Center to organize everything. Looking through here is nice because I know the songs that are here were added by someone from our church, and we have played the song before (even if I didn’t lead it). I can also use planning center to search various themes and key words within our songs… this can be super helpful as well.
- Song Select has practically any worship song imaginable, and there is a “themes” feature which is really handy for getting an idea on which songs might work well within a given topic. In order to view the actual songs, you will need a paid account, but you can still use the theme feature without a subscription.
- Praise Charts is also a great resource. This site also has a very useful “Themes” tab which can be helpful in jogging your memory on various songs. Praise Charts will often show more current songs and trending worship music as opposed to Song Select which often gives a more general overview.
Usually after doing this, I’ll have a list of about 10-20 songs that relate to the passage and sermon direction.
However, choosing songs that align with the message is not the only thing to think about when brainstorming. It’s also important to make sure the church is getting a healthy diet of songs. I try to make sure that we have some element of hymns or more content driven songs as well as songs that have more space and time to reflect and worship in simplicity (perhaps with more repetition). Thinking about songs that fit within the Eph. 5:19 “Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” can be helpful.
I also want to make sure that we are not only doing new songs or only singing old songs. It’s good if there is some blend of familiarity with freshness. Also, I will often look back within the last few weeks/months of songs we have sung at our church to see if there are some new songs we might have sung recently that are worth repeating—I have found that it takes 3-4 times singing a new song for our people to fully own a song. So, sometimes looking back will help to jog my memory on any songs that might be worth repeating.
As you may see, brainstorming can often take a pretty long time… and it can sometimes involve a few “tangent” youtube searches for various cool new songs… which can honestly take as long as you want it to! But, I always try to pull myself back to the task and, if needed, re-read what the pastor told me his message was going to be on.
3. Craft the Set
When crafting the set, I have several grids through which to consider things. I may apply each one simultaneously on a given week or one more heavily than the other depending on the given week. I consider the emotional flow of the songs, the thematic flow, and the gospel flow.
Emotional Flow
Essentially this is trying to gauge what each person will be sensing emotionally at each given point in the service and making sure that the service flows in an emotionally cohesive way. The goal is 1) to not make abrupt emotional changes throughout the service and 2) to intentionally shepherd the congregation in a rightful emotional response to God.
It’s really easy to sense when something doesn’t flow emotionally well. For example imagine someone sharing a testimony about how God is helping them work through the grief of their wife who just passed away. Then right after that we switch gears and sing an upbeat song like “Happy Day” directly followed by the hymn “Abide with Me”. This would likely cause a bit of an emotional jolt. So, I try to imagine what the emotional climate will be at each point in the service and try to choose songs in such a way that will help guide people to an appropriate worship response toward God.
It’s important to be intentional of the emotional flow even in more subtle ways. It can be as subtle as how one song finishes and the next song starts, or how lyrical content progresses from one song to the next. Key changes, and the way in which songs are rehearsed and played also all have a role in the emotional flow of the service. The emotional flow is just a helpful grid to keep in mind when planning, because if it’s not, unwanted emotional jolts can easily happen. I’ll talk a bit more in step 4 about what I like to do to test the flow.
Just to clarify, I’m not saying that I choose songs based on people’s emotions or even how I may feel at a given point. Instead, I try to consciously guide and shepherd the congregation to a Christ centered emotional response through how I craft the set… while intentionally considering how the placement of each song and other element of the service work together to foster an appropriate worshipful response to our Lord and Savior.
Thematic Flow
Another thing I consider when crafting the set is a progression from a call to worship, preparation for the message, the pastor’s sermon, response to the message, and sending out.
- Call to Worship. The first song or two might function as helping people to prepare their hearts for worship. This may be an upbeat call to worship (maybe think “Hosanna – Praise is Rising” or “Open Up the Heavens”) or it could be a song that lyrically helps to prepare our hearts for the time of worship (“Come Thou Fount”).
- Preparation for the Message. This would usually be the song or two directly after the call to worship and would function to begin to prepare our hearts and minds for the direction of the sermon message. This song could be on the topic of the pastor’s sermon, or it could be a more general prayer that God would prepare our hearts for what He has to say to us through His Word (“Speak O Lord” or “Show Us Christ” by the Getty’s are perfect for this).
- Response to the Message. Right after the sermon, I usually try to place a song that directly connects with the message and functions as an appropriate response to the application within the sermon. Sometimes there are two or three songs that seem to connect well with each other and flow nicely as a response. This can also be effective.
- Send out. For the last song, I will often try to think about how this song can help to catapult us forward into the remainder of the day and upcoming week. It helps if this final song can connect with the essence of the application of the sermon in addition to serving as a final declaration. Songs like “I Will Follow” by Jon Guerra or “Christ is Enough” by Hillsong have been some of my favorite songs that serve this type of “sending out” and “final personal declaration” song.
Gospel Flow
I think this is a very important way to structure the flow of a service, and it centers around the gospel. When I was growing up I remember being taught a helpful acronym for guiding my personal prayers called A.C.T.S.. This stands for Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. As exemplified in this, I’ve always felt that confession appropriately follows after adoration. After basking in the awesomeness of God and His unapproachable Holiness, I am always extremely aware of how broken and sinful I am… and almost have to turn to confession. After confession, I always turn to the cross and how thankful I am for what Christ has done for me.
This similar progression is one I often consider when structuring the worship set. It might look something like this:
- God’s Holiness. I might start with a song such as “God of Wonders” or “Open the Eyes of My Heart” which turns our gaze toward God and His glory and holiness.
- Our sinfulness. After gazing at the glory of God, similar to Isaiah, our response is often “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips… for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” (Is. 6:5). This may lead to songs about our brokenness and need for a Savior. A song like “Lord I Need You” is one that comes to mind.
- Christ’s Atonement. After acknowledging our sin and need for a Savior, we turn to songs about what Christ has done for us through the cross. Songs like “Lead Me to the Cross”, “Love Ran Red”, “Amazing Grace” or “Amazing Love (You are My King)” are just a few of my favorites. There are so many great songs about the cross.
- Our Response. Then, following songs about Christ’s work for us, we may sing songs that serve as our response to what Jesus has done for us. The response could take multiple forms. It could be a response of thankfulness and awe, or a response of submission, or a response of renewed vigor for following after Christ. Songs like “The Stand” by Hillsong or “Once Again” could both represent a different type of response.
Sometimes this gospel arc can be spread out over the whole service, especially depending on where the pastor’s sermon fits within this. If the sermon is about what Jesus did for us on the cross, then I might start with a song about God’s holiness followed by a song about our need for forgiveness. Then let the pastor’s sermon expound on what Christ has done for us, and then after the sermon, sing songs about the cross and our response.
Other times, the sermon doesn’t exactly fit perfectly within this structure, and I might include some extended worship time before the sermon which in some way covers more of this territory.
4. Test the Set
After placing each song in its intentional spot in the service, I will then play through the songs and test if they actually work well together. After gaining more experience crafting sets like this, I usually have a pretty good mental idea whether one song will lead well into another or not. But, I’ve found that it’s still best to actually play through the songs. I will often have a personal worship time through the songs I’ve just laid out to see if these songs actually flow thematically, emotionally, and musically.
At this time, I will often have additional ideas about how to arrange the songs. Sometimes just sitting down to play through the songs will spark creativity and inspire ideas about how to musically arrange the songs.
For example, maybe it makes sense to start a certain song with the bridge before singing the verse. Or maybe, after playing through two of the songs, I realize that the chorus from a completely different song would make a wonderful addition to go between the two songs.
This part of the preparation is usually when I start getting more excited about the songs and feel more ownership of the set. Or maybe I should say, if I’m not feeling excited about the set at this point, it’s not a good sign—although that rarely happens!
5. Solidify Details
Finally, once everything feels right and has fallen into place, I usually make sure all of the details with the arrangements and sheet music are straightened out.
Since my church uses Planning Center, I make sure that the correct arrangements are uploaded into Planning Center in the correct keys. Honestly, this is probably one of my least favorite steps, but it has to be done!
Sometimes I actually write out my own chord chart for a song. Most of the time, though, I use Song Select to download the sheet music. And occasionally I turn to Praise Charts to purchase a specific arrangement (especially when I want specific lead sheets and vocal/instrument parts).
Conclusion
Well, that is it! After I choose the songs, I usually take a bit of a break. The hard part is over (at least for me). Then I’ll prepare for leading the band at rehearsal… which is also it’s own animal! But, that’s for another day.
I hope this has given you some ideas of things to consider when choosing songs. There is honestly so much that could be said on this topic. But, I hope that some of this insight may spark some ideas for you in your song selection. At very least, I hope this post opened your eyes a bit to some of the things that go into choosing songs for a worship service.
