font-size: 32px;

Choosing the right worship songs is probably 50% of all what good worship leading is all about—if not more!

When we talk about worship inside the church, songs are the primary language of the soul to express worship.

So you see, one of the easiest mistakes we can make is to choose the wrong set of songs.

In this guide, we’ll look at how to choose songs for worship. This guide will serve as a practical blueprint to construct effective worship set-lists that facilitate engaged congregational worship in your church.

Follow this guide and you’ll get it right—consistently.

You can also download this guide for free—trust me, the PDF has lots of valuable bonus content that you'd love to check out!

What is a Worship Set-List?

A worship set-list or set is the planned list of songs in a definite sequence that a worship team intends to use in a worship session. – The Worship Kenbook

Let’s think about that for a moment.

• A set-list is carefully planned before the session (yes, planning on stage is not a smart option, no matter what you think the Holy Spirit is telling you) 
• Based on musical and logical parameters (more on these later), it needs to be in a specific sequence that supports our worship

This means we have to think like an artist bringing together different colors on a canvas to create a beautiful picture; or a story-teller narrating a story in a manner that draws the listener into it and brings it to life.

A good set-list engages the congregation, encourages participation, places appropriate prayers in the hearts of the people, moves them to intimacy with God and invokes a love response towards Him.

How to choose songs for worship that actually engage your congregation 

Developing a Song-Base that provides quick song ideas when you need them

A powerful set-list doesn’t materialize out of thin air just when we sit down to plan for an upcoming worship session.

It requires a regular habit of collecting usable songs whenever we come across them, and storing them in an easy-to-access manner.

My preference is to put them into an Excel spreadsheet cataloguing them with these fields: song title, song theme, key, tempo and rhythm.

Here’s a quick sample for better understanding:

You could also include more fields if you wish like a related scripture verse, name of the songwriter etc.

The habit required it this: whenever a song inspires you and something in your spirit tells you it’s a usable one, add it to the list.

This becomes the song-base: a master list of possible songs for congregational worship.

The hallmark of a good song-base is the variety of songs in it; fast songs, slow songs, medium tempo songs, songs with different time signatures and so on.

Thematically also, an ideal song-base would have something for every occasion with diverse themes like the Cross, redemption, spiritual warfare, repentance, healing, deliverance, evangelism, communion, fellowship, creation, mercy, love, forgiveness, thanksgiving, power,  surrender, faith, hope, resurrection, judgment, second coming, mission, justice etc.

And btw, don't just stick to contemporary songs. Choosing hymns for worship is a great idea too—have something for everyone and serve your entire church—not just a particular age group.

If you haven’t done so, kick-start your song-base today, it’s the first step to building effective worship set-lists. If you already have, read on.

Choosing songs for worship – the best practices to construct anointed set lists

Choosing worship songs by theme

Learning how to choose songs for worship should begin with the question “What is the subject of the session?” This is important because without a theme, we lack direction and without direction we lack focus. A lack of focus is… well… a surefire route to making a mess of the worship!

The point is that a set-list for Good Friday should be different from a set-list for Easter.

So make choosing worship songs by theme a priority.

With the theme in mind, start praying to the Holy Spirit and find out what’s in His heart. A useful question to ask here would be, “Lord, what should our Church be praying during this worship session?”

Now, start writing down what you believe the Lord is placing in your heart. Sometimes, we may come up with a few focus words; other times, titles of songs. This is more of a ‘brainstorming session with the Lord’—so just jot down everything without evaluating it too much—this is just a preliminary draft.

Let’s assume the theme is ‘the Passion of the Lord’. While praying, the Holy Spirit may inspire us with specific themes, which will guide us to choose certain songs. If we get a focus-word like ‘thanksgiving’ for instance, we may want to go with a song like “Thank You for the Cross”.

Here are a few more examples:

This method also prevents us from picking worship songs just because we happen to like them or they happen to be the current favorites with the congregation.

We will instead consider what our Church needs to be singing as opposed to what we want to sing. Too often, we simply pick a song because it’s known, popular, and people like to sing it. While it’s okay to consider the congregation’s comfort, need outweighs want any day.

The best songs are songs that speak directly to what your congregation is experiencing. – David Santistevan

If the theme happens to be something like, “the armor of God”, it would be difficult to fill an entire set-list with songs around it. In such cases, we could pick at least one song that highlights the theme. For example, for a theme like “the armor of God” we could look at something like “O Church Arise” (Stuart Townend, Keith Getty) as the highlight-song in the set.

We are called to be enablers of truth-filled worship. Constructing a session only filled with people’s favorite Christian tunes is entertainment, and not worship. So start with the theme, consider what we should be praying and build the habit of picking worship songs, which are lyrically close matches to it.

Coming back to the theme of ‘the Passion of the Lord’, the list of possible songs could look something like this (song title, key, tempo, rhythm):

Let’s say we’ll be leading worship for about 30 minutes. It’s a no brainer that 16 songs are way too many; choosing 4-5 praise and worship songs would be more apt.

The process of pruning this draft list down to 4 or 5 songs requires us to consider these two important concepts:

1. Worship progressions
2. Song keys

Speed up your set-list creation using worship progressions

A progression can be defined as the sequence or order of songs in a worship set list based on their tempo. – The Worship Kenbook

Knowing progressions is the key to decide which songs can be used at the beginning, middle or at the end of a worship session.

In his wonderful book “To Know You More”, veteran Vineyard worship leader, Andy Park illustrates progressions or curves or shapes using line charts. I am going to do something similar here.

Bear in mind that the Y-Axis (vertical side) measures tempo and the X-Axis (horizontal side) measures time in minutes.

The Standard Progression

We’ll continue with the theme “the passion of the Lord” and plot sample set-lists using the standard progression.

In this progression, we start with up-tempo songs, move to medium-tempo songs and then close with slower, more intimate songs.

This is the most common worship progression out there and works in most situations such as regular prayer meetings, Sunday worship, morning sessions in a retreat etc.

Standard Progression: Fast – Medium – Slow.

• The Same Love
• You Alone Can Rescue
• Oh to See the Dawn
• Once Again
• Amazing Love (You Are My King)

When choosing praise and worship songs using the Standard progression, what works well for me is a 3-stage approach:

Stage-1: Invitation
Stage-2: Story
Stage-3: Response

When we say ‘Invitational’, we only tend to think of songs like “Come Now is The Time to Worship”. But check out these lyrics from “The Same Love” by Paul Baloche:

The same love that set the captives free
The same love that opened eyes to see
Is calling us all by name
You are calling us all by name
The same God that spread the heavens wide
The same God that was crucified
Is calling us all by name
You are calling us all by name
You're calling You're calling
You're calling us to the cross

See how it’s got ‘invitation’ written all over it? Moreover, it also serves as a great launch pad to worship around the theme of “the passion of the Christ”.

The second song “You Alone Can Rescue” starts telling the story of saving grace and leads us to reflect on our own helplessness and how much we need Jesus.

“Oh to See the Dawn” completes the story with precise details of what Christ accomplished on the Cross.

“Once Again” calls for a personal, grateful reflection of the Passion and the set ends with another personal response, “You are my King.”

While this only completes the Standard Progression, it’s not the only progression available for worship. The Standard Shape itself has 3 variations and there are two more extremely important progressions that you need to know. All of these are covered in detail with examples in the PDF guide. Download it for free!

Produce continuity and flow by considering song keys when choosing praise and worship Songs

Once you’ve chosen the appropriate  progression for your session and zoned in on the songs, another very useful practice in choosing praise and worship songs is to group the songs by their keys.

To understand this better, let’s refer couple of set lists by Alastair Vance, worship leader at Story Church, Durham, NC—the keys are mentioned in parenthesis:

Set-list for 21-Feb-2016

• Fierce – Jesus Culture (B)
• Your Promises – Elevation Worship (B)
• Grace On Top Of Grace – Fellowship Creative (B)
• Beautiful Things – Gungor (D)

Set-list for 21-Sep-2014

• Never Gonna Let Me Go – Kristian Stanfill (B)
• This Is Amazing Grace – Jeremy Riddle (B)
• I Am – Crowder (B)
• Hope’s Anthem – Bethel (B)
• My Guardian – Ben Cantelon (F#)

See what he’s done? You can visit his blog for more set-lists and you’ll keep noticing this: the songs are always grouped by key.

A song in the key of ‘B’ is almost always followed by another song in the same key. This makes it easier to move from one song to another seamlessly without distracting the congregation.

Think about and plan what songs fit together based on key transitions. Try not to be all over the alphabet by singing in multiple keys that do not compliment one another. - Jeremy Armstrong

So next time you put choose songs for worship, try to group the songs by same or related keys—it’s a vital element in creating a sense of flow in your set-list.

Having seen how to pray through the process of choosing songs for worship while integrating useful best practices, let’s also look at the characteristics of a powerful worship set-list.

The 4 C’s of a Powerful Set-List

It’s not about how wonderful we feel, how enjoyable it is, how skillful the music is or how many people compliment us.

Leading worship is about magnifying God, and that’s the core goal of building a set-list.

So once you start applying what you're learning here on how to choose songs for worship leading and your selection of songs is ready to finalise your set list, do a simple check to see if it holds these four qualities, which I believe, are the hallmarks of powerful worship set-lists:

1. Call

At the risk of sounding repetitive, I have to say that effective set-lists are invitational—to the people and to the Lord. They have a ‘welcoming’ feel about them that calls people to offer their praise comfortably.

Think of songs like “Come Now is the Time to worship”, “This is Your House”, “The Same Love”, “Arise” etc. and I am sure you get the picture.

2. Connect

The songs we sing should resonate with the people and move them to participate. It’s not so much about what the worship leader wants to sing as much as it’s about what the church needs to pray.

Great set-lists have this pleasant ability to connect with the congregation and enable them to express their hearts to the Lord.

3. Convey

Powerful set-lists make a point and bring home a message. They are not about aimlessly stringing together a random bunch of songs; rather it’s about placing each song with intent and purpose.

Put together, the chosen songs will teach truths about God, our faith and even ourselves.

4. Convert

Effective set-lists facilitate change in the hearts of the worshipers and evoke a response towards the Lord. The response could be anything from resolving to love the Lord more or forgiving someone to being deeply convicted of a truth or an increase in personal faith.

While being emotive is wonderful, a great set-list will go beyond the emotional and facilitate conversion on the inside.

Okay, it’s time to sum up. Let’s look at 8 tips to construct worship set-lists that actually work in congregational worship.

Choosing songs for worship—8 tips to create the best possible worship set lists

1. Pay attention to the theme of the day

Start with the theme and list down possible songs around it. A useful rule-of-thumb is to have at least one song in the set-list that highlights the theme.

2. Keep the focus on God

Psalm 100:4 teaches us that when we worship God, we are entering His gates, His courts and into His Presence. So ideally, we must give thanks to Him and praise His Name.

If our worship leading is not bringing about a sense of reverence for God, something’s amiss!

Worship must be about God—so fewer songs about ‘us’ and more songs about and to Him are better.

3. Prioritize familiar songs above new songs

Worship leaders/musicians get tired of songs faster than others. While I totally get that, 99% of the times, known songs lead to better participation than new songs.

So a few new songs coupled with more familiar songs would be the way to go.

4. Don’t ignore new songs

It is one thing to take known songs to keep the congregation comfortable, but we shouldn’t stop there!

Learning how to choose songs for worship also requires developing an open ear to discover those fresh prayers in song, and challenge people to move out of their comfort zones. Introducing one or two new songs in a month helps in this regard.

5. Look at the song, not the songwriter

No matter how brilliant a songwriter is, not every song written by him/her will be a winner in congregational worship.

When choosing songs for worship, it is necessary to assess a song based on the strength of its lyrics, melody, ‘singability’ etc. and not just by the name/reputation of its songwriter.

6. While songs need to be congregation-friendly, they should also be ‘our’ congregation-friendly

Songs that work in the United States may not work in India and vice versa. While evaluating congregational accessibility of a song, it’s essential to also consider local cultural accessibility.

Consider who is our congregation (teens? young adults? elders?), and pick songs accordingly. Remember to keep it simple—a typical congregation consists mainly of regular folk rather than highly skilled musicians/singers.

7. Consider musical elements

Can the song be sung at a comfortable key? Are the tempo and rhythm blending smoothly into the overall set-list? Is the style/complexity within the range and ability of the musicians and congregation?

If the answer is ‘no’ to these questions, the song should most likely not make it to the set-list.

8. Listen to the Holy Spirit

It does not take a genius to figure this out, but the temptation to finalize a set-list based on our experience and skill always lurks around.

Praying to the Holy Spirit, waiting on Him and obeying His inspiration is probably the most fundamental responsibility of a worship leader while choosing songs for worship.

Another good practice is to run the entire set-list in a time of personal worship, gauge what works and what does not and edit accordingly. This refines the set-list further.

“Those who are most prepared are the most led by the Spirit of God.” – Chris Tomlin

It’s your turn now

Well, it’s time to actually apply these proven practices into your ministry while choosing songs for worship.

To make the process easy for you, I’ve made a free PDF guide, which also contains the following valuable additional content that’s not included in this article:

• 3 variations of the Standard progression
• The Ascending progression
• The Serene progression
• Bonus section: How to use new songs in worship

Download the free PDF guide now!

‘In Christ Alone: The Songs of Stuart Townend and Keith Getty’ is a new release from Integrity featuring the best loved hymns of two of the most prolific hymn writers of our times.

There are 16 gems in this album—most of which should be familiar material if you’re a fan of Stuart Townend and the Gettys—like who isn’t, right?!

I mean, they’ve written hymns that have been covered by a host of Christian artists ranging from Philips, Craig & Dean, Newsboys to Kristian Stanfill and Passion and more! Add to that the fact that their songs have consistently topped Christian charts all over the world and expectations soar when you look at this album.

'In Christ Alone: The Songs of Stuart Townend and Keith Getty' – about the Songs

What can I say—this is a treasure trove of worship hymns penned by Stuart Townend and Keith Getty that are probably already prominent in the set-lists all kinds of churches everywhere!

As if that’s not enough, this project also has guest vocals by Tim Hughes and Joanne Hogg apart from Bluegrass Country music legend Alison Krauss!

The album opens with the title track “In Christ Alone” sung by Alison Krauss and Keith & Kristyn Getty. Even after hearing so many different versions of this timeless song over the years, the minimalistic arrangement featured here still manages to sound fresh with the lyrics and the voices standing out (it’s Alison Krauss after all!).

Depending on your denomination and theological beliefs, you may or may not have trouble singing the line “The wrath of God was satisfied”. Barring that, this is a brilliant song and is sure to be playing on ‘repeat mode’.

Joanne Hogg from the Celtic rock band ‘Iona’ and Margaret Becker join Kristyn Getty to sing a powerful arrangement of “Across the Lands”, an infectious hymn of praise and worship that’s totally God focused and congregational.

Stuart Townend leads another of my favorite hymns “The Power of the Cross”—no new arrangement here, it’s the same live recording from a previous project. If there’s ever an award for best Good Friday song, this song would be at the top of the nomination list—it has this uncanny ability to transport me back in time and almost witness the events at Calvary.

Kristyn Getty will forever be one of my favorite singers—her voice always moves me to worship like no one else’s! And it’s no different here when she sings “Speak O Lord”—it’s emotive, anointed and full of vocal artistry!

Stuart Townend returns to sing “Resurrection Hymn (See What a Morning)”—again it’s just an earlier live recording. If “The Power of the Cross” is one of the best Good Friday songs, then surely “See What a Morning” is one of the best Easter songs.

The second verse especially makes me visualize Mary Magdalene peeping into the empty tomb, turning away in tears and then meeting the risen Lord. The art of storytelling in their songwriting is really that good!

The project continues to maintain its lofty standard with Tim Hughes singing “O Church Arise”—another majestic hymn full of the story of God. With his own unique vocal style, Tim manages to make it his own.

Kristyn Getty sings “A Workers Prayer”—a mellow arrangement that captures and brings out the beauty of Kristyn’s voice on this compelling hymn.

“Every Promise” a.k.a. “From the Breaking of the Dawn” features Stuart Townend backed by the same ‘Celtic Country’ arrangement we are already familiar with.

“Holy Spirit Living Breath of God” is sung by Kristyn and continues to sound like gold. This is a wonderfully eloquent prayer to the Holy Spirit that’ll easily belong in the hearts of every Christian worshiper. Learn it now if you haven’t already!

We are reminded of the storytelling skills of Townend and the Gettys once again when Stuart sings “Creation Sings”—a lovely ‘Hallelujah hymn’ with a thanksgiving bent, apart from covering themes like creation, the Cross and the return of Christ.

“Benediction” a.k.a. “May the Peace of God” is the shortest song on this record sung by Kristyn. If your church has the practice of having moments of Benediction, this will probably make more sense to you.

In any case, “Benediction” is a great song of praise and worship with a powerful refrain that can easily fit into a modern worship set list too.

“Gethsemane” is a moving reminder of the horror experienced by our Lord when praying in the Garden before the Passion. It’s certainly another perfect song for Good Friday.

“By Faith” is the song that helped me discover Kristyn a long time ago. And it sounds just as great now as it did then. A unique hymn inspired by Hebrews 11 singing about the assurance and participation we have in our faith journeyed by those who walked in it before us.

Townend’s rendition of “Come People of the Risen King” comes up next. While I personally prefer Kristyn’s version (sorry Stuart!), nothing can take away from the fact that this is a cool, catchy, up-tempo call to worship.

“The Perfect Wisdom of Our God” follows quietly helping us to ponder and meditate on the unmatchable ways of our God. I love these lines especially:

And O the mystery of the Cross
That God should suffer for the lost
So that the fool might shame the wise
And all the glory might go to Christ

The record closes with “Communion Hymn”—another meditative lyric that helps us remain at the Cross with gratitude and worship. It’s such an ideal communion / post-communion song.

Thoughts about the album

After listening to ‘In Christ Alone: The Songs of Stuart Townend and Keith Getty’ a number of times, I do wish they had tried varying the arrangements a lot more—many songs are just re-productions of their existing versions. You end up wondering why buy another record when you have these songs already.

On the other hand, these songs are good enough to stand on their own simply with their lyrical brilliance—so why change the arrangements!

I guess it’s a tough call even though working with a completely different producer might have given this collection a different twist and appeal. 

If by some awful tragedy you haven’t heard these songs before, you’ll discover a magnificent collection of songs that are masterfully written and composed.

If you’re like the rest of us who’ve heard, admired and sung these hymns for years, this project will help you fall in love with them all over again.

So buy it for yourself or gift it to someone—you won’t regret it.

Or you can participate in the giveaway to win a free copy here!

How to enter the giveaway

1. Follow NodeRock on Twitter and retweet this review

2. If you don’t have a Twitter account, you can like Node Rock on Facebook and share this review

Two winners will be picked and given a link to download a digital copy of ‘In Christ Alone: The Songs of Stuart Townend and Keith Getty’ for free!

If the congregation is not involved, it's music, not worship.

We've been there, right?

We pick the best of songs, practice and rehearse them like crazy, and then play them flawlessly on stage. Everything goes well, there are no musical shipwrecks, and we're feeling wonderful.

Then, we take a look at the people and... there's... nothing!  No one seems to be singing... and you're left wondering why the congregation is unable to get into the ‘brilliant’ set-list we are delivering.

As a worship leader, nothing used to deflate me faster than an unengaged congregation. Frustration, anger, misery, disappointment... I'd feel all of that and more... I'd also drive myself crazy later analyzing it all, trying to figure out what went wrong.

While this doesn't happen to me so much these days, I can still remember my rookie years when I went through it... often. Experience and time are good teachers, I guess!

Leading worship is more about “engaging” your congregation than it is about “amazing” them with your worship leading brilliance. - David Santistevan

Sometimes the microphone can be a barrier between the congregation and the worship leader. It's not too difficult for the band to get so caught up with the technical and the musical that the people begin to feel disconnected.

Leading worship is more about engaging with people than putting up a great Christian performance, right? It's more about connecting together with the Lord than belting out the latest musical chops.

But how do we get to that special place of going beyond the functional and grasping the relational? These tips will help you:

Essential tips to improve how you engage people in worship

Engaging your congregation before the session

1. Pray

Seriously, many of us pray and worship only when on stage—it’s the swiftest route to spiritual bankruptcy.

Worship leaders should be earnest and intense prayer warriors in private seeking the Lord’s voice every day—frequently and regularly. If we don’t spend time with the Lord, we are setting ourselves up for disaster.

And when we pray, we need to also take time to pray for our community—the congregation which we lead in worship.

Apart from praying individually, it’s also great to pray for our church as a team—during team rehearsals for instance.

The point is engaging your congregation begins when you are preparing for the session itselfs.

2. Tune in

There's a danger in trying to keep up with every new song churned out by the worship music industry every day.

Frankly, it's a losing proposition considering the sheer quantity of new material being made available every day!

We can easily get too busy looking for the next great usable song and lose the voice of the Holy Spirit. The natural next step is losing the congregation.

We need to be striving to keep up with the Holy Spirit instead, listening to His heart and finding out what He wants us to sing.

If we tune into the Holy Spirit, our congregations will tune into the worship.

Engaging your congregation is ultimately dependent on Him, not you and I.

3. Imagine

How about spending some time in some much needed reflection and (re)thinking?

I am talking about visualizing our people’s expectations and experiences by putting ourselves in their shoes.

We have to know the people we're leading. The more we become students of our audience the better we'll be able to lead them. - Worship Rocket

Sometimes, it's not a bad idea to just walk into the place where we lead worship and stand where they stand, sit where they sit and look at the stage from where they are.

Do this to get some fresh perspective on our worship sessions on engaging your church.

4. Listen

How about talking to the people on our worship teams?

Asking them what are potential causes of disengagement and discussing possible solutions to overcome them is a fantastic leadership practice—sadly ignored by many worship leaders.

Each member is different, bringing different skills, gifts and personality type into the mix. But when they work together, they produce something greater than the sum of the parts. - Jon Nicol

As much as we hate to admit it, we don’t have it all together—we need help—and there’s nothing wrong in taking help—especially from the very people we are ministering with.

I strongly believe, the people we are serving with can bring in fantastic ideas on engaging your church in congregational worship.

5. Consider the song mix

Do you also consider the needs of the people when you 're choosing songs for worship? Or is it simply, "I like the song, so I will use it"?

Traditional hymns, familiar classics, a new song, and so on... have a good mix of songs.

Let’s not become one trick ponies that can only pick and play one particular type of songs.

Good set-lists tend to have something for everyone.

Additionally, consider the following questions too:

• Look at the lyrics... are they making sense?
• Are the songs fitting into the overall theme of the day?
• Are the lyrics worth singing together? Worth singing to our Almighty God?
• Are the songs appealing to the culture and tradition of our Church?
• Are the lyrics able to teach Godly truths and explore the Gospel?
• Think about how people of different age groups would feel about the lyrics that we are singing; would they make sense to everyone?

The right mix of songs has a lot to do with effectively engaging your congregation.

Engaging your congregation during the session

6. Smile

Sounds too simple? Maybe it is.

But a major turn-off for people is to see a stiff worship leader going through the motions.

You may possess fine technical / musical / vocal skill, but it’s of no use without a sense of connection.

Please smile, express happiness to be there worshiping with your people and ask them to smile at each other too—after all, we are supposed to be a community of brothers and sisters worshipping together.

And while you’re at it, please open your eyes and look at your people. The more you keep those eyes tightly closed, the more aloof you appear to be, preventing you from engaging your congregation well.

7. Focus on engaging

It's critical to work on connecting with our congregations over and above just musical excellence.

Our musical artistry and pastoring of people need to work together to create an environment that welcomes participation instead of causing disengagement.

So don't just stand there and go through your set-list like a robot. Do you have moments to pray, read scripture, be in silence during your worship session? Or it is just song after song after song?

It's darn easy to go through a set like a musician playing a paid gig. We on the other hand, need to be thinking more about drawing people into worship.

Learn to speak to your church, open your heart to them, tell them a scripture verse, your struggle, your aim for that session etc. Remember we are in this together; it's never 'us and them', but always 'we'.

Take a video of one of your sessions and watch it later with your team; you will easily figure out most of your areas of improvement—including how to better engage your church!

8. Use familiar songs

This is probably the no. 1 hurdle that comes in the way of congregational engagement: they don't know the song!

It’s no big secret that worship leaders and musicians learn songs faster than the average congregation, right. Unfortunately, we also tire of songs quicker, and so we keep choosing more new songs, thereby successfully compounding the problem!

Meet them where they are and then take them to newer songs. If your people are elderly, throw in a hymn too now and then. To repeat an earlier point—let there be something for everyone in your set-list.

If you must use new songs, take time to teach the new song, repeat each section many times when playing it for the first time.

Be patient with people and don't have more than one new song in a set-list. Maybe two at the most if the songs are simple enough.

As a rule of thumb, more familiar songs and the least number of new songs is the better way to go to improve how you engage your people.

9. Let them sing

Extend some sections of the songs—maybe the chorus or the bridge or a few key lines in the verse by repeating them one or two times more than usual—stop playing / singing and invite your people to sing instead, thereby creating what we can call congregational solo moments.

Not only does your congregation get to hear themselves, it can be nice to give everyone's ears a break from hearing your band's wall of sound... This puts a healthy sense of pressure on them to sing. - Tommy Walker

You'll enjoy this as much as them, trust me!

Another alternative is using responsorial songs where the worship leader sings a line, and the people sing something in response to it. Songs like "You are worthy of my praise", "Hallelujah glory", "He is the Lord (show Your power)" and so on.

10. Balance your sound

• Check your volume level, is it too high or too low?
• Are the vocals heard well above the musical instruments
• Is the drummer pounding away too much?
• Is the electric guitarist overplaying all over the song?

If people are unable to hear themselves, they won't feel like singing, it's as simple as that.

Work on setting a comfortable and balanced sound.

11. Infuse dynamics

Is everyone playing together at the same time from the start to the finish of every song? Is yes, then, there's a problem.

Stop thinking like a musician and put on the attitude of an arranger.

A good worship session needs to have some quiet intimate moments as much as those high anthemic moments. Too much of both is bad.

Figure out which instruments need to be playing in which sections.

More importantly, figure out when they don't need to be playing! If there are no valleys, there would be no mountains, right?

Engaging your congregation after the session

12. Invite feedback

Hang around after the gathering, walk around and get a feel of their experience during worship.

Being an introvert myself, this doesn't come naturally to me, but I've worked on it over the years and it's a lot easier today!

Talk to people in the hallways, in the seats, etc. Leave your green room and engage. Be a culture shaper. - Jeremy Armstrong

Listen dispassionately to their views whether you agree or disagree with them. You can always evaluate everything later with your team.

13. Thank

And most importantly, don’t forget to thank

• your people for being there and for their participation
• your worship team for serving with you
• the Lord

Worship as a ministry is highly pastoral though people see the musical side of it more. Connecting and engaging with people should be among our topmost priorities.

Let’s remember the opening line of this article: If the congregation is not involved, it's music, not worship.

How do you engage with your congregation during worship? Can you share your top tips in the comments?

‘Edge of Heaven’ is the first live worship recording by River Valley Church—a ministry based out of Minnesota.

River Valley has previously made three studio projects before this one and is produced by Luke Fredrickson who’s worked with artists like Jeremy Camp.

‘Edge of Heaven’ is a collection of 12 original worship songs performed by their in-house worship leaders who serve across their eight campuses. Many of these songs were apparently written with a focus on specific preaching events planned at River Valley Church for over a year.

'Edge of Heaven': about the songs

‘The church is alive’ is a peppy opener singing about our hope in the Lord. It could have been a better song if not for this bridge:

This is what it sounds like

This is what it looks like

This is what it feels like

When the church is alive

To me, this is just plain wrong. A church that’s alive should not just look, sound and feel like a concert—it has to be much more than that.

‘Do it again’ continues the up-tempo start to the album calling out to God to ‘do it again’—not clear as to what it is that He has to do again though. Take these lines for example:

You got me living again

Would you do it again

Would you do it again

Puzzling, right?

For me, the project hit top gear with the third track, ‘I am healed’—a song that’s particularly meaningful for worship leader Ryan Williams who testifies to singing this song through a long and painful recovery from a severe disc problem in his back.

‘I am healed’ is a very well written, expressive song about healing with one of the most powerful bridges I’ve ever heard. It’s sure to get you singing along again and again and again—trust me, don’t miss this song!

‘All for the One who saved me’ is a classy 6/8 tune that nails some really important themes: inviting the Lord’s Presence, surrender and mission. I enjoyed the lyrics on this one.

‘Your Presence’ is a fervent cry to the Holy Spirit to rest His Presence with us and breathe upon us. The song works well with an uncomplicated arrangement and helps give voice to the longing in all our souls.

The title track ‘Edge of Heaven’ is next singing about the hope we have in Jesus as we wait for Heaven. Another standout song on this album.

‘Joy is coming’ is a well written song about the assurance we have in Christ through the trials we may face.

‘Nothing was the same’ sings about how the Cross has made all things new including us.

‘No wonder (roar of the rugged Cross)’ is a beautiful lyric about the Passion of the Lord, resurrection and salvation. It turns out to be is a terrific song especially for worship during the Lenten season—definitely one of the best tracks in this album!

I loved the third verse especially:

I see redemption

Ravage the grave

The triumph of Heaven

Christ Jesus our King

I assumed ‘Then sings my soul’ is a remake of the hymn ‘How great Thou art’, but it isn’t. Except for the first line in the chorus, which sings ‘Then sings my soul’ in the same melody as the hymn. Everything else is different—frankly, it felt weird. Why would you even do this?!

The album closes with two up-tempo songs ‘God's not done’ and ‘The best is yet to come’.

Here’s the video of ‘I am healed’ to understand how they sound like:

The overall feel of the live recording is quite nice and there’s a genuine sense of community going on here with multiple artists coming together effectively for this project.

The talent is obviously there and the production too is crisp and solid. The slow-tempo songs are especially very good and could easily be used in congregational worship.

What let me down in a few of the songs is the musical style—when I closed my eyes while listening, the arrangements tended to transport me to a club than a worship concert.

But then, if that’s the style that’s working fine at River Valley Church’s eight campuses, who am I to complain!

Album resources

The River Valley website is generously giving away chord charts for all the songs and a graphics pack for free. In fact, there are two versions of the chord chart for each song—one with regular chords and another using the Nashville Number system.

Head over to http://rivervalleyworship.org/ to grab these downloads.

River Valley has also published song tutorial videos at YouTube apart from standard song videos.

If you need backing tracks for these songs, they are available for purchase at MultiTracks.com.

‘Edge of Heaven’ giveaway!

‘Edge of Heaven’ is now available for purchase at all major digital service providers.

However, you can participate to win a free copy here!

How to enter this giveaway

1. Follow NodeRock on Twitter and retweet this review
2. If you don’t have a Twitter account, you can like Node Rock on Facebook and share this review

Two winners will be picked and given a link to download a digital copy of ‘Edge of Heaven’ for free!

Good worship quotes―who doesn't love them, right!

Whether it's for inspiration, encouragement, enjoyment or teaching, a good quote can always help discover fresh insight about something we already know or simply learn something new and profound.

Here are 99 worship related quotes that blessed me―hope you enjoy reading them too.

99 inspiring quotes about God, worship and more

Worship quote-1: Cross

"We throw ourselves down, as Jesus did, before the mystery of God's power present to us, knowing that the Cross is the true burning bush, the place of the flame of God's love, which burns but does not destroy." ― Pope Benedict XVI

Worship quote-2: Heaven

"Any man or woman on this earth who is bored or turned off by worship is not ready for Heaven." ― A.W. Tozer

Worship quote-3: Music

"Church music should feed the people by teaching the Word of God. It is a work of the Spirit of God." ― Paul Jones

Worship quote-4: Church

"Church was never intended to be a place where we serve God to the exclusion of meeting with Him" ―  James MacDonald

Worship quote-5: Authenticity

"Don’t let life affect your worship; let your worship effect life." ― LaMar Boschman

Worship quote-6: Holy Spirit

"For the Body of the risen Christ is the spiritual temple from which the source of living water springs forth: incorporated into Christ by the Holy Spirit, we are the temple of the living God." ― Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1179

Worship quote-7: Daily worship

"Go to church once a week and nobody pays attention. Worship God 7 days a week and you become strange!" ― A.W. Tozer

Worship quote-8: Faithfulness

"God has not called me to be successful. He called me to be faithful." ― Mother Teresa

Worship quote-9: God's Presence

"God has two dwellings; one in heaven and the other in a meek and thankful heart." ― Izaak Dalton

Worship quote-10: Praise

"God is to be praised with the voice, and the heart should go therewith in holy exultation." ― Charles H. Spurgeon

Worship quote-11: Worship environment

"God's heavenly dwelling place represents the environment that God enjoys to live in. God's desire is that places of this type would spring up all across this planet and that people would exercise the same zeal for that as David did. God's plan is that this heavenly reality would be released here on earth, for even down here it's worship that creates a dwelling place for Him." ― Benjamin Schäfer

Worship quote-12: Artistry

"He who works with his hands is a laborer. He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman. He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist." ― Louis Nizer

Worship quote-13: Purpose

"His supreme purpose in making man was to have somebody capable to properly and sufficiently worship Him and satisfy His own heart""― A.W. Tozer

Worship quote-14: Witnessing

"How sad it is when someone comes to you looking for Jesus and all they see is you." ― Mother Teresa

Worship quote-15: Surrender

"I desire only Him and to be wholly His." ― Brother Lawrence

Worship quote-16: Church unity

"If the churches ever did reunite, it would have to be into something that was as sacramental and liturgical and authoritative as the Roman Catholic Church and as protesting against abuses and as much focused on the individual in his direct relationship with Christ as the Evangelicals, as charismatic as the Pentecostals, as missionary―minded as the old mainline denominations, as focused on holiness as the Methodists or the Quakers, as committed to the social aspects of the Gospel as the social activists, as Biblical as fundamentalists, and as mystical as the Eastern Orthodox." ― Peter Kreeft

Worship quote-17: Authenticity

"If worship leaders only worship when they lead, they are not worshippers. They are mere musicians." ― Bill Johnson

Worship quote-18: Songwriting

"Immersion into Christ is the fountainhead of our songs of worship." ― Andy Park

Worship quote-19: Authenticity

"In worship, God captures your heart; when he's got it, then the real work begins." ― Matt Redman

Worship quote-20: God

"Isn't it a comfort to worship a God we cannot exaggerate?" ― Francis Chan

Worship quote-21: Christ's mission

"Jesus didn’t come into the world to make bad people good. He came into the world to make dead people live." ― Ravi Zacharias

Worship quote-22: Christ

"Jesus is the human face of God and the divine face of man." ― St. John Paul II

Worship quote-23: Community

"Let's determine to finish well by helping facilitate a lifelong conversation and sense of community between God and the people He has called us to serve." ― Paul Baloche

Worship quote-24: Christ

"Life is a maybe. Death is for sure. Sin is the cause. Christ is the cure." ― Unknown

Worship quote-25: Life

"Life without Christ is crisis." ― Father Paul Attah-Nsiah

Worship quote-26: Sin

"Lukewarm people don't really want to be saved from their sin; they want only to be saved from the penalty of their sin." ― Francis Chan

Worship quote-27: Leading worship

"Ministering to the Lord in private is the foundation and prerequisite for leading in the public meeting" ― Paul Baloche

Worship quote-28: True worship

"Our true worship says to Him that we understand we have been purchased with His son’s blood" ― Jacob Toback

Worship quote-29: Faith

"Perhaps part of the reason the Church is malnourished and our faith is anemic is because our worship services have become a theological Happy Meal." ― Glenn Packiam

Worship quote-30: Praise

"Praise is the rehearsal of our eternal song by grace we learn to sing, and in glory we continue to sing." ― Charles Spurgeon

Worship quote-31: Repentance

"Repentance is the way in and the way on." ― John Wimber

Worship quote-32: Songwriting

"Songs of worship arise from a life of worship." ― Tim Hughes

Worship quote-33: Spontaneous singing

"Spontaneous singing is not a technique that I use to stir people up, it is  genuine expression of my heart to God. The secondary effect is the stirring up of people's hearts." ― Andy Park

Worship quote-34: Authenticity

"The better (i.e., the more accurately) we know God through his Word, the more genuine our worship will be." ― Bob Kauflin

Worship quote-35: Pride and humility

"The biggest obstacle to making Christ magnificent is the refusal to make yourself small." ― James MacDonald

Worship quote-36: Disappointment

"The disappointment that comes from an unexpected trouble, an unplanned difficulty, can help us die to ourselves, to our attempts at control, to our plans for the perfect life. Disappointment is an agent of the cross." ― Glenn Packiam

Worship quote-37: Service and outreach

"The highest form of worship is the worship of unselfish Christian service. The greatest form of praise is the sound of consecrated feet seeking out the lost and the helpless." ― Billy Graham

Worship quote-38: Liturgy

"The liturgy is, before everything else, the joyous gathering of those who are to meet the risen Lord and to enter with him into the bridal chamber. And it is this joy of expectation and this expectation of joy that are expressed in singing and ritual, in vestments and in censing, in that whole 'beauty' of the liturgy which has so often been denounced as unnecessary and even sinful.
Unnecessary it is indeed, for we are beyond the categories of the 'necessary.' Beauty is never 'necessary,' 'functional' or 'useful.' And when, expecting someone whom we love, we put a beautiful tablecloth on the table and decorate it with candles and flowers, we do all this not out of necessity, but out of love. And the Church is love, expectation and joy."" ― Alexander Schmemann"

Worship quote-39: Eucharist

"The Lord's Supper is the central act of Christian worship. It is a prophecy, pledge  and prelude to that supper table of the Lamb, when we shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of the Father." ― G.B.F. Hallock

Worship quote-40: Cross

"The miracle of Good Friday is that there was no miracle. Legions of angels stood–with swords sheathed–watching as the Son took our place." ― Mark Hart

Worship quote-41: Authenticity

"The notion that you can come to church on Sunday and bend your knee in worship when in fact you have not done so during the week is a delusion." ― Mark Ashton

Worship quote-42: Attitude

"The past few years I have approached music ministry with the mind―set of a pastor first, and a musician second." ― Paul Baloche

Worship quote-43: Revelation

"The revelation of God is the fuel for the fire of our worship." ― Matt Redman

Worship quote-44: True worship

"Worship must be – Christ centered, Holy Spirit led, a Response to the Father, about Intimacy and Service and always lead to Transformation!" ― Tim Hughes

Worship quote-45: Artistry

"The time has come for a revival of public worship as the finest of the fine arts… while there is a call for strong preaching there is even a greater need for uplifting worship." ― Andrew W. Blackwood

Worship quote-46: Authenticity

"To men and women everywhere Jesus says, "Come unto me, and I will give you rest."The rest He offers is the rest of meekness, the blessed relief which comes when we accept ourselves for what we are and cease to pretend." ― A.W. Tozer

Worship quote-47: New life

"To worship God is to admit that we are entirely contrary to Him, and that He is willing to make us like Himself." ― Brother Lawrence

Worship quote-48: True worship

"True worship is the experience of encountering God through the means that God usually employs, a conversation built on revelation/response" ― Constance M. Cherry

Worship quote-49: Authenticity

"True worshipers aren't just moved by powerful music. They are moved by the weight of God’s glory. They are hushed by the magnitude of His presence." ― David Santistevan

Worship quote-50: Alleluia

"We are the Easter People and Hallelujah is our song!" ― St. John Paul II

Worship quote-51: Trinity

"We worship one God in the Trinity and the Trinity in unity, without either confusing the persons or dividing the substance; for the person of the Father is one, the Son's is another, the Holy Spirit's another; but the Godhead of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is one, their glory equal, their majesty coeternal" ― Athanasian Creed

Worship quote-52: Worship team

"What is a worship team besides a musical group? Lots of things. It's a group of friends who mutually serve one another. It's a team of servants whose goal is to bless and encourage the entire church. It's a spiritual taskforce that has the job of bringing the people before their Father and Creator in worship." ― Andy Park

Worship quote-53: Church unity

"When the church is unified and the Lord is glorified, then the saints will be edified, sinners will be sanctified, and the devil will be terrified." ― Anthony Warner 

Worship quote-54: Idolatory

"When we ask people what they want in church instead of giving them what they were created to long for, we play in the very idolatry that church was created to dismantle." ― James MacDonald

Worship quote-55: Spiritual prostitution

"Whenever the method of worship becomes more important than the Person of worship, we have already prostituted our Worship." ― Judson Cornwall

Worship quote-56: Thanksgiving

"Why does the Bible keep nagging us to give thanks? It’s because we quickly forget all that God has done for us; we take him for granted. According to Romans 1:21, when we fail to honor God and give him thanks, our hearts become darkened. Indeed, if left unchecked, ingratitude leads to negativity, bitterness, cynicism, and despair." ― Rory Noland

Worship quote-57: Glory

"Worship doesn't happen when a guy gets on a stage with a guitar. It happens when faith―filled eyes behold the glory of Christ" ― Matt Pappa

Worship quote-58: Action and emotion

"Worship is both a subjective experience and an objective activity. Worship is not an unexpressed feeling, nor is it an empty formality. True worship is balanced and involves the mind, the emotions, and the will. It must be intelligent; it must reach deep within and be motivated by love; and it must lead to obedient actions that glorify God." ― Warren Wiersbe

Worship quote-59: Love and service

"Worship is love on its knees before the beloved; just as mission is love on its feet to serve the beloved" ― NT Wright

Worship quote-60: Priority

"Worship is not a luxury but a priority. To seek Jesus must be the constant desire of believers." ― Pope Benedict XVI

Worship quote-61: Response

"Worship is the natural response of man to the supernatural Presence of God." ― Gangai Victor

Worship quote-62: Alleluia

"A Christian should be an Alleluia from head to foot" ― St. Augustine

Worship quote-63: Story

"A worship that will have staying power is a worship that is firmly grounded in the old, yet aware of and concerned for new ways to respond to the old, old story." ― Robert E. Webber

Worship quote-64: Gifts

"All gifts from God are intended to direct our attention to God and create fresh affection for God." ― Bob Kauflin

Worship quote-65: Grace

"All human nature vigorously resists grace because grace changes us and the change is painful." ― Flannery O’Connor

Worship quote-66: Artistry

"Artistic talent is a gift from God and whoever discovers it in himself has a certain obligation: to know that he cannot waste this talent, but must develop it." ― St. John Paul II

Worship quote-67: Listening to God

"Before you speak, it is necessary for you to listen, for God speaks in the silence of the heart." ― Mother Teresa

Worship quote-68: Love

"But we can't love anything in the right way unless we love God more." ― Bob Kauflin

Worship quote-69: Christ

"Christ is not valued at all, unless he is valued above all." ― St. Augustine

Worship quote-70: God's Presence

"Christ is the sacrament‎ of the invisible God ― a sacrament that indicates presence. God is with us." ― St. John Paul II

Worship quote-71: Authenticity

"Don’t let your life give evidence against your tongue. Sing with your voices… sing also with your conduct." ― St Augustine

Worship quote-72: Discipleship

"I do so dearly believe that no half―heartedness and no worldly fear must turn us aside from following the light unflinchingly." ― J.R.R. Tolkien

Worship quote-73: Obedience

"I was not born to be free―I was born to adore and obey." ― C.S. Lewis

Worship quote-74: Eucharist

"If the Cross is God’s masterpiece of His love, then the Eucharist is the centerpiece of our worship."― Gangai Victor

Worship quote-75: Repentance

"It is when we notice the dirt that God is most present in us; it is the very sign of His presence." ― C.S. Lewis

Worship quote-76: Joy

"Joy, with peace, is the sister of charity. Serve the Lord with laughter.  ― Padre Pio

Worship quote-77: Dancing

"Learn to dance, so when you get to heaven the angels know what to do with you." ― St. Augustine

Worship quote-78: Praise

"Oh God, to know you is life. To serve you is freedom. To praise you is the soul's joy and delight." ― St. Augustine

Worship quote-79: Idolatory

"The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing. These things—the beauty, the memory of our own past—are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself, they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshipers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of the tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited." ― C.S. Lewis

Worship quote-80: Practice and rehearsal

"The goal of practice isn't doing something until you get it right. It's doing it until you can't get it wrong." ― Bob Kauflin

Worship quote-81: Love

"The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread." ― Mother Teresa

Worship quote-82: Gospel

"The liberating message of the Gospel of Life has been put into your hands… this is no time to be ashamed of the Gospel. It is the time to preach it from the rooftops!" ― St. John Paul II

Worship quote-83: Faith

"The most beautiful act of faith is the one made in darkness, in sacrifice, and with extreme effort."― Padre Pio

Worship quote-84: Truth

"The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it." ― Flannery O'Conner

Worship quote-85: Loving God

"To fall in love with God is the greatest romance; to seek him the greatest adventure; to find him, the greatest human achievement."― St. Augustine

Worship quote-86: Truth

"Truth, according to the Christian faith, is God's love for us in Jesus Christ. Therefore, truth is a relationship." ― Pope Francis

Worship quote-87: Authenticity

"Ultimately, it is the very life of man, man himself as living righteously, that is the true worship of God, but life only becomes real life when it receives its form from looking toward God." ― Benedict XVI

Worship quote-88: Practice and rehearsal

"We don’t just show up on stage; we bring along the oil of praise in jars of practice and rehearsal so that when the Lord shows up, our worship shines as the light with which His Church shall welcome Him!" ― Gangai Victor

Worship quote-89: Cross

"Everything is a reminder of the Cross. We ourselves are made in the shape of a cross." ― St. John Vianney

Worship quote-90: Eucharist

"What difference does it make if the bread and wine turn into the Body and Blood of Christ and we don't?" ― Godfrey Diekman OSB

Worship quote-91: Religion

"What people don’t realize is how much religion costs. They think faith is a big electric blanket, when of course it is the cross." ― Flannery O'Connor

Worship quote-92: Idolatory

"When Man ceases to worship God he does not worship nothing but worships everything." ― G. K. Chesterton

Worship quote-93: Theology

"When you put biblical truth to the songs used in churches, you'll have the congregation leave singing the sermon. You'll have God's thoughts, things that are God―breathed, stuck in their heads. It's sad to think about a really catchy tune paired up with bad theology because that could, honestly, do a lot of damage in church " ― Laura Story

Worship quote-94: Wonder

"Wonder is that possession of the mind that enchants the emotions, while never surrendering reason."― Ravi Zacharias

Worship quote-95: Prayer

"If you have a problem in your life that you can't fathom or understand, you have to examine your prayer life, not the problem." ― Mother Angelica

Worship quote-96: Experience

"Worship is first and foremost for His benefit, not ours, though it is marvelous to discover that in giving Him pleasure, we ourselves enter into what can become our richest and most wholesome experience in life." ― Graham Kendrick

Worship quote-97: True worship

"Worshipping is stripping ourselves of our idols, even the most hidden ones, and choosing the Lord as the center, as the highway of our lives." ― Pope Francis

Worship quote-98: Object of worship

"You cannot divide human beings into those who worship and those who don't. Everybody worships; it's just a matter of what or whom." ― Paul David Tripp

Worship quote-99: Love

"Worship is a posture of life that takes as its primary purpose the understanding of what it really means to love and revere God."― Ravi Zacharias

Found anything you liked? What are your favorite worship quotes?