Nashville-based Krissy Nordhoff is a professional songwriter and author.
Krissy is the creator of The Writing Worship Course and the Worship Songwriter Mentorship. Her songs have been recorded by a variety of artists including Natalie Grant, Jenn Johnson (Bethel Music), Darlene Zschech and many more! Passionate about training and encouraging the next generation of songwriters, Krissy now mentors, teaches and creates resources, including informative podcasts and her popular 'Songwriter Personality Test'. She has also penned a new book, Writing Worship: How To Craft Heartfelt Songs for the Church that offers spiritual and practical insights for aspiring songwriters and worship teams that want to write original songs for their congregations.
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10 Characteristics Of Worship Songs
I want to share with you today the top 10 characteristics of worship songs. I believe it's really important for us to know what identifies a worship song if we're going to be writing them for our congregations. There are some things that can vary a little bit depending on seasons, cultures and styles, but there are some things that should never change.
1. The are true and biblically accurate
This is the only one that should never, ever, ever change, and that is that they should be true and biblically accurate, because these days, song teaches theology. And we all know that that is the most important part about what we're teaching lyrically, and we're teaching what the Bible has to say. So that can't change!
2. They are a community voice
That means that our worship songs are usually in the voice of 'we', as in, we are all worshiping together, or 'You', as in, we are worshiping You, Jesus. That makes a lot of sense in a congregational context, because we want everyone to feel included. We want them to feel welcomed to sing the song with us. There are the occasional I songs out there, but they're just more rare in the worship world.
3. They have a simple, memorable lyric
We want everyone to be able to sing and worship more than they have to think. So keep it simple with your melody lines, as well as the lyrics.
4. Stay close to an octave in range
Yes, there are some people that can jump that octave, and do lots of vocal acrobatics! But for the general person in the congregation, if they're trying to figure out how to hit a note, they instantly stop thinking about worship and they're distracted, which we don't want to happen. Keep it simple - keep it within an octave in range if you can.
5. They can bring a sense of familiarity
This might be from the church or from the past. Meaning, it could be a reference to a hymn, a lyrical reference, or it might be a melodic reference. But somehow, pulling in some of the history of the church is a beautiful thing that we see in many worship songs.
6. There is always resolution or redemption thematically
I think about lots of songs that come to mind when I think of this topic - lots of worship songs. So there's nothing wrong with stating where we are, the honesty of our hearts, or the depth that we've been in. But what makes us different as Christians is that we always have hope. And I think that's important to have expressed in our worship songs too. We always should have hope!
7. They show a greater picture
Sometimes, we get stuck in our microscope worlds, but we'll walk into church and there's this beautiful expression of widening our perspective. We remember how great God is - how this is a worldwide, a universe wide, and a heaven wide perspective. That's one thing that many worship songs do very beautifully.
8. They tell the story of the gospel
Very simply, they share the heart of Jesus and what he did and how he died for us. That's really important to have in song, because that's the heart of our message.
9. They call us to action or response
It may be lifting hand hands, it may be running to His arms, it may be battling down, but they give us directives. Even if it's just something we do in our hearts (maybe we don't physically do those things), hearing those things helps to posture hearts. That's one thing that I've noticed that a lot of songs do.
10. They remind us of what's to come
This one might be my favorite! They help us keep our eyes on the hope of redemption and resolution, and on heaven. They help us to focus on all of those old things passing away, no more sorrow, and being with Jesus, seeing him face to face.
I hope this helps you as you're writing worship songs, gives you sort of some guidelines, some guardrails. You can share any song you've written by uploading it to SongShare to share with your church, with your city and with your world.
If you don't know where to start with writing songs, or if you're an old hand in need of some fresh new tips then Krissy has some amazing resources on her site writingworship.co. A great place to start is by taking the Songwriter Personality Test, which will help you to understand where your personal strengths are with songwriting, and who you need to team up with! If you want to dig deeper with others in your church then have a look at Krissy's book Writing Worship, and her online course.
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