What To Consider When Curating The Church Song List?
[00:20] Why Have a Church Song List?
Not every church works from a defined song list.
Some worship leaders simply choose from a much broader catalogue each week. But having an intentional list of perhaps 30–50 songs can be helpful for both the musicians and the congregation.
For musicians, it means there is a manageable collection of songs they can learn well rather than constantly having to prepare unfamiliar music at short notice.
That's particularly important when a team includes volunteers with different levels of musicianship, experience and confidence.
But familiarity also matters for the congregation.
If we're constantly introducing new songs—or rarely repeating them—people don't have an opportunity to really learn and use those songs.
There's a difference between listening to a song and allowing it to wash over you, and actually knowing a song well enough to use it to worship, pray or honour God.
[02:30] Songs Are Tools
One helpful way to think about church songs is as tools.
Singing is one of the significant opportunities during a church service for the congregation to actively participate rather than simply receive.
And songs can help people engage their minds, bodies and emotions.
They can be tools for:
prayer
declaring truth
remembering what God has done
aligning our emotions with truth
responding to God
listening to what God might be saying
If we think about songs this way, then curating a song list becomes about more than simply asking whether we like a particular song.
We need to think about the range of things we're asking our songs to help the congregation do.
[03:40] 1. Consider the Theological Content
Theological content is obviously important when choosing songs for a church.
But how rigid should we be when assessing whether a song is theologically sound?
Mel shares an example of a song that was rejected at one of her churches because it never explicitly mentioned God.
But does a worship song necessarily need to use the word "God" for people to understand who they're singing to?
Context matters.
In ordinary conversation, we don't continually use the name of the person we're speaking to. We know who we're talking to.
In the same way, the context of a church service can shape how particular words and images within a song are understood.
[05:30] Context Can Change the Meaning of a Song
The same song can also land very differently in different church contexts.
Melinda shares an experience of feeling deeply uncomfortable with a particular song in one congregation because of the baggage its language carried in that setting.
When she later encountered the same song in a different denomination and church context, she had no issue with it.
So rather than simply declaring that a particular song is universally "good" or "bad", it's worth considering what its language communicates within your particular church community.
Music is a powerful carrier of culture, emotion and passion.
That makes thoughtful discernment important—but it can also mean being a little slower to simply axe a song.
[07:00] Allow Imagery to Be Imagery
Songs are also works of art.
That means they use imagery, metaphor and poetic language.
Sometimes Christians can become so concerned with determining whether every individual line is theologically precise that we don't allow imagery to do what imagery is intended to do.
Mel gives the example of a contemporary worship song that refers to having a "lion inside of those lungs".
Someone had criticised the line for not being theologically accurate.
But perhaps that's asking the imagery to do something it was never intended to do.
The line is encouraging people to stir themselves, draw upon the strength of the Holy Spirit within them and declare what is true.
Emotion and passion aren't inherently problematic.
God gave us emotions.
The goal isn't to mute them, but to learn to align our emotions and passions with truth and express them appropriately.
[09:00] Can a Secular Song Ever Be Used in Worship?
Context can even make room for music that wasn't originally written as Christian worship music.
Mel recalls hearing a story about an Alpha worship leader using U2's One during an Alpha Holy Spirit weekend and seeing it become a significant moment.
Melinda goes one step further.
She once used Norah Jones' Come Away With Me as the introduction to a worship night.
It felt risky, but in that particular context the song communicated something she felt God wanted to say: an invitation to come away with him.
It wasn't something she would use every week.
But in that particular moment, it worked.
The question isn't necessarily whether a song carries the label "Christian". It's also about what the song is communicating and whether it serves the purpose of that particular moment.
[10:30] 2. Does the Music Match the Words?
Another consideration is whether the feel of the music matches the intention of the lyrics.
A song might be talking about joy while the music itself feels ominous or sombre.
That creates a disconnect.
When we're curating songs, we're not only considering what the lyrics say. Music itself communicates.
Does the musical experience reinforce what the words are trying to express?
[11:30] 3. Look for a Range of Themes
A church song list can easily become heavily weighted towards one particular type of song.
For example, we might have plenty of songs that narrate or describe what God has done.
But what about songs that help us pray?
What about songs that allow us to ask God for something?
Or songs of declaration, honour, remembrance and response?
There should also be songs that help us express how we want to live as a result of the gospel.
Looking across the whole song list, it's worth asking whether we're giving people a broad enough language for worship.
[12:20] Where Are the Songs of Lament?
One area where contemporary church song lists can be particularly light is lament.
We're often uncomfortable with it.
And yet lament occupies a significant place in Scripture.
People come into our churches carrying grief, disappointment, pain and circumstances that are genuinely difficult.
Do we have songs that allow someone to say:
"This is hard."
A healthy song list doesn't only provide language for celebration.
It should also create space for people who are walking through difficult seasons to bring those experiences honestly before God.
[13:00] Think About the Direction of the Songs
It's also helpful to consider the different directions represented within a church's song list.
Some songs are directed towards God and function almost like prayer.
Others describe what God has done and help us remember.
Some declare truth.
Others focus on our response—how we want to live or what needs to change because of what God has done.
A thoughtful song list includes a mixture.
We're not trying to make every song achieve the same thing.
We're building a collection of different tools that can help the congregation engage with God in different ways.
[14:00] 4. Can Your Musicians Actually Play It?
A song might be brilliant—but can the musicians in your church actually play it?
Different songs require different levels of musicianship and instrumentation.
Traditional hymns, for example, can sometimes be difficult for guitarists because of the frequency of chord changes.
Other contemporary songs rely heavily on percussion or particular instrumentation to create the sound that makes them work.
The recorded version might sound fantastic.
But will it translate to the musicians you actually have available?
Curating a church song list means considering the people who will need to deliver it—not simply the quality of the original recording.
[15:20] 5. Can the Congregation Actually Sing It?
There's another group whose musical ability matters even more:
the congregation.
Some brilliant songs aren't particularly good congregational songs because their vocal range is simply too large.
A trained vocalist may comfortably move between the high and low notes, while the average person in the congregation struggles to follow.
The worship leader also needs to be able to sing the song comfortably.
There's little value in choosing a song that the person responsible for leading it can't actually sing well.
Singability needs to be part of the decision.
[17:00] What Did We Lose When We Lost Harmony?
One thing we've potentially lost as hymns have become less common is the tradition of congregational harmony.
Hymns were often written in four-part harmony, and congregations became accustomed to singing different parts.
Much contemporary worship music, by contrast, is built around a single melody line.
That can leave a large proportion of the congregation struggling to sing comfortably.
Even contemporary songs recorded with both male and female vocalists can create difficulties when sections move between vocal ranges.
In Melinda's ideal world, churches would begin intentionally creating harmonies for their songs so that people with different vocal ranges have a part they can comfortably sing.
If singing is supposed to be congregational participation, then we need to make it possible for the congregation to participate.
[18:20] Give People Time to Embody the Songs
These aren't questions only for worship leaders, musicians and singers.
Pastors and church leaders should also take an interest in how the church's song list is being developed.
Sometimes pastors want to introduce a particular song because it perfectly matches what they're preaching that week.
Sometimes that works.
But there's also value in thinking about the church's songs well in advance.
Give musicians enough time to prepare.
Give the congregation enough time to become familiar with the songs.
And rather than continually introducing something new, allow people to know the songs deeply enough that they can embody them when they worship together.
The goal isn't simply to have a great collection of songs.
It's to curate a collection of tools that genuinely helps the church pray, remember, declare, respond and worship together.