How To Pick Good Music For Church

In a recent edition of Breakpoint, Charles Colson cites Donald Williams with some helpful thoughts on how to select music for the church. From the article:

Much of today’s music is of poor quality, he writes. But so was some music written centuries ago. The difference is the old hymns have endured a centuries-long weeding-out process. If we hope to identify the best new music, Williams writes, we must know “those marks of excellence that made the best of the past stand out and survive so long.”

These marks of excellence “are not arbitrary.” They “are derived from biblical teaching about the nature of worship.” They come, Williams writes, “from an understanding of the nature of music and how it can support those biblical goals.”

Among these marks of excellence is biblical truth. Lyrics need not to be literal Scripture, but they do have to be faithful to it.

Another mark of excellence—theological profundity. Think of how the words to this great hymn encourage us to worship God with our minds:

Immortal, invisible, God only wise
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes

By contrast, some contemporary choruses are often “so simplistic and repetitive that theological reflection never has a chance to get started,” Williams says.

A third mark of excellence is poetic richness. For instance, the use of a question in the hymn “What Child is This?” helps us capture “the wonder of the Incarnation.” In “Amazing Grace,” the word “wretch,” Williams notes, is “a simple but evocative” choice.

A fourth mark is musical beauty. In great music, “there are certain contours, structures, and cadences that make for a singable melody.” And the right harmony “can make that melody more memorable . . .,” he writes. For instance, “Be Thou My Vision” “rises and falls like an ocean wave or a sine curve.”...

Now, some songwriters are creating excellent music today. But, warns Williams, only those musicians who are musically gifted, and historically, biblically, and theologically trained are qualified to help churches choose the best new music “as a supplement to the church’s rich musical heritage.”

Read the rest.

(HT: STR.org)

More good thoughts on this topic from Ron Man.


As I have grown older, my admiration for older music has certainly increased. I listen to much more music these days (jazz, classical, etc) that has stood the test of time and not just the test of
"can this sell a 14-year-old with lots of expendable income?". I'm not sure why this is, but pop music just doesn't quite do it for me anymore. Maybe I am actually maturing (my wife has prayed for this for years).

We would do well to heed Williams' advice above. I have said this before on this blog, but my experience tells me that having the ability to select the right songs and also selecting the right people to play those songs would diminish about 80% of our conflicts in church over music. Seems that those two facets are often overlooked.