Biblical Songwriting Tips

As the Worship Academy has been progressing through the summer, we have studied many different roles of the worship leader.

One of those roles is that of a biblical songwriter. I made a lot of mistakes when I first started writing songs. I’m still learning so much with each attempt, but I’ve found some things to watch out for when you write a worship song.

Here’s a list of biblical songwriting tips that I shared with the group a couple of weeks ago:

1. Don’t attach God’s Word, attach to God’s Word. Don’t come up with a good idea and find a verse. Be so immersed in God’s Word that music accompanies it.
2. Never sacrifice theology for creativity. Don’t minimize God for the sake of a rhyme.
3. Remember that one song cannot tell all of God’s attributes. Just like a preacher not preaching everything in one sermon, pick a particular facet of who God is or what God has done and write from there.
4. Strive to make theology portable. The goal is to take the deep truths of God and have people leaving the church house humming theology. Make it stick.
5. Just because you can sing it doesn’t mean everyone else can. So you have a great voice with a high range. You are in the minority in your church. Don’t write to make you sound good. Write to make them sound good.
6. A quality song doesn’t demand overproduction. A simple melody and instrument chording out a song should be enough to convey the song. Don’t play rhythm, lead, percussion, bass and everything else on your guitar.
7. Agonize over the details. Make sure you know how you begin, how you transition, and how you end. Is that really the chord you want to use? Is there an inversion you want to play?
8. Write for the whole Body of Christ. Don’t write sappy songs that men won’t sing in your church. Don’t write words that only the educated can understand. Write so the whole church can worship to it.