That seems like an easy question to answer, doesn't it? You say, "Well of course we should be writing new songs. The Bible says to sing to the Lord a new song." You would be correct. But for me, sometimes the answers to questions like this aren't always black and white. This can be a multi-dimensional question with a multi-dimensional answer. Let me explain...
At the conference I attended back in September, I was sitting in on a music publishing seminar. The speakers were two very well known producers in the Christian Worship music industry that have done publishing work for Gateway, Vertical Church Band, New Life Worship and even some Christian radio artists. Going into it, I thought it would basically be them just giving info on how to handle things if you or your church ever decided to release original songs on a large scale. However, before introducing themselves or the class, they asked one question: "Should you be writing new songs?". I thought this would be an easier question to answer than it was, but honestly, I was torn. I don't know that anyone else put a great deal of thought into it since it was asked rhetorically, but I couldn't get away from trying to answer the question in my own mind. Part of me said "Well duh. The Bible says to sing a new song." But then, the other part of me said, "Wait, there are already a ton of great songs out there that we can use. Why go through the trouble of writing something that's probably going to be mediocre at best?" When it comes to writing a song, there are a lot of things involved that most people won't see but that are extremely important. For example, once you have words that work well together and a good song structure, you then have to come up with a melody, then arranging music. For most, this will involve consulting with many people who can guide you in the right direction. So again, why all this effort for something that probably won't be another "Revelation Song"? For MPBC, the answer is because we are worship leaders and we write songs for our church.
Last year, I saw Vertical Church Band in concert just after they released their newest album, "Church Songs". Just the name of that album says a lot. Is VCB saying that their newest record is so awesome that churches everywhere are going to be doing the songs and that they're to be dubbed the new standard for "church music"? The VCB front-man, Andi Rozier actually brought this up while he was speaking and what he said was what I believe to be the perfect answer to the question. He said that since he and his band are worship leaders in their church, they wanted to write music that suited their church and brought glory to the name of Jesus. He made it clear that these aren't to be the new standard for church music, but rather they are literally songs for his church and what they enjoy.
Our church is geared much like that of what Vertical Church Band offers, so their songs relate. For your church, it may be a rendition of a hymn or even music with more space for open worship. I believe the answer to the question is yes. If Jesus is at the center, then write new songs. If that means you are a worship leader and it's you and an acoustic guitar or piano, then write something that works in your church. If it means that you're a church with a large music ministry and can consult with a few people to write a song that works in your church, then do it.
Don't begin writing something with the sole intent of it being some sort of hit. Write something that points people to Jesus and that makes it easy for your congregation to worship. The only outline you need to begin writing is simply Jesus. That's what you will need to write your own "church songs".
Peace,
Justin
No comments:
Post a Comment