Songwriting and Responsibility

for the Essentials In Songwriting Certificate Course with Dan Wilt

Writing worship songs carries a weight of responsibility. Songs are remembered long after the sermon has been forgotten. And as important as melody and sound are, the lyrics, the content of the song, the theology being conveyed are more important by far than having a catchy melody. Of course it helps if strong, theologically sound lyrics and well-crafted tune go together...

Worship songwriters also have the responsibility to write the songs the church needs, not the songs the church wants. We need our pastors and leaders to stand alongside of us to write these songs. It's so easy to look first for what will please, what will bring the most approval (that man pleasing spirit at work), but to write the songs the church needs...to release into the atmosphere the songs of heaven that transform and loose the move of God...what an honor! What a privilege!

I want to write songs that are theologically responsible. More importantly, I want to write songs that are the rhema (the "now") word of God to His people...the songs that lodge in hearts and minds and relentlessly work the renewing of the heart and mind according to the Spirit of God.

Doerksen, Brian. Worship Songwriting: Embracing Heart and Developing Skill. Brian Doerksen Music, 2009.