Evaluating Worship Songs - Start here.
Possibly the most common request I get when it comes to worship is for a consistent way to evaluate worship songs. To answer that request I adapted a worship song rubric written by Constance Cherry, et.al. so that worship leaders and particularly those in leadership roles within churches would have a system to evaluate the songs their congregations are singing. You can access that download here.
Before we get to the rubric, it is critical for us to understand why we need a tool like this in the first place. So here are a few factors that have led us to needing this resource:
The move away from hymnbooks. The move away from hymnbooks wasn’t entirely a stylistic decision - it was a practical one. Hymnals take a long time to develop. First a committee put together by the publisher (often by a denomination) go through a vast repertoire of songs. This committee would include composers, song writers, theologians, and pastors. Together they would evaluate the available songs and determine which ones should be included often taking months to years to make complete this phase. Next the hymnbook would get layout and printed taking more time. Finally, congregations would need to purchase enough books to outfit their congregation. Being a niche printing project, the cost of these hymnals were substantial meaning that congregations were not very quick to abandon hymnals for a new version.
The rise of the praise song. Next was the rise in praise choruses which eventually led to the modern worship music and an entire industry built around the publishing of new songs. The 70s saw the increased use of praise choruses followed by a wide use across several denominations. Now major music labels control the majority of the industry, producing music that appeals to a market where value is measured in the $$ a song/artist can generate.
The change in visual technology. Around the same time, projectors, both slide-based, as well as digital projectors started being introduced allowing congregations to move away from the printed music in a hymnal or chorus book, and now having song lyrics projected onto screens.
All of these changes allowed for a rather quick adoption of new songs. Out were the selected gatekeepers to congregational music, and now every congregation and usually individual worship leaders were the people deciding which songs were going to be sung on a weekly basis as part of worship.
Take all of these changes together and now add in the fact that most of the people choosing the music for a congregation to sing each week have minimal, if any formal training in theology and music, there is a need for a way for those concerned to evaluate the songs that we sing.
Next Time…
The need for evaluating as a worshiping community.
