Estimated reading time 4 minutes
Table of Contents
Introduction
Do you want to know how to write heavenly worship songs? Do you need help learning how to craft both good lyrics and music? Writing praise and worship songs that have uplifting music and lyrics is both an art and a ministry. Keep reading to learn how to strike that balance.
This post contains affiliate links to songwriting resources, which means I may receive a small commission from purchases made through the links. I’ll only recommend products I use, use in lessons, or ones my students or colleagues have recommended.
How to Write Heavenly Worship Songs: What Is Worship?
There are many types of worship songs. Even limiting it to the Christian religion, there are many varieties of liturgical music. However, in today’s post, we’ll talk about Contemporary Christian Music (CCM).
What is CCM?
- It grew out of the counterculture of the 60s and 70s.
- Hippies started becoming Christians in what was known as the Jesus People movement.
- These new converts wanted to be able to listen to contemporary music with sacred lyrics, and thus a new music genre was born.
Originally, CCM artists adapted the popular styles of the day, but it has since grown into a distinct musical style in its own right.
What is praise and worship music?
- The word worship comes from the Old English weorth or worth-ship. The idea is that you are ascribing worth to God.
- Therefore, in contemporary praise and worship you have lyrics that will help church members to worship in church and small group gatherings.
- Contemporary praise and worship is a subgenre of CCM and can be heard on radio networks such as K-Love.
If you want to write contemporary praise and worship music, you must be familiar with the current music and lyrics trends.
How to Write Heavenly Worship Songs: How Do I Write Christian Lyrics?
When you write your lyrics, you should be aware of all the things like imagery, rhymes, and prosody.
- We’ve already talked about these things in other posts, so I’ve included links below that will help you improve your craft.
- However, Christian lyrics come with another level of complexity, because you must have lyrics that are doctrinally sound.
- This means you need to know more than just current CCM styles – you also need to know your Bible.
Think about the definition of praise and worship above.
- Your lyrics must glorify God. Likewise, your lyrics must help your listener achieve a worshipful attitude and mood.
- The words should help draw your listener to God and thus must be heartfelt and genuine. If you don’t believe in God and you’re trying to cash in on CCM, I suggest you get yourself another songwriting gig.
- Your song’s words should stress God’s power, mercy, grace, and love. Starting with scripture-based quotes from public domain Bible translations is a good place to start.
You must achieve a balance of prayerful inspiration and solid lyric writing craft.
For more information on how to write well-crafted lyrics.
- Let Her Scream
- Brainstorming Your Song Titles
- Rhyme and Reason in Songwriting
- The Music of Words in Your Songwriting
- How to Create Songwriting Rhyme Schemes
- Understanding Prosody in Your Songwriting
- The Plot Thickens: Focusing Your Songwriting Story Ideas
This video gives you an example of well written worship song lyrics.
Mobile users: for best results viewing the videos, rotate your screen 90o to the right.
Video: El Shaddai
How to Write Heavenly Worship Songs: How Do I Write the Melody?
When you write your melodies, you should be aware of things like your song form, scales, and chords.
- Mostly, these things will function the way they do in pop music. (See the links below for more information on crafting your music.)
- However, most praise and worship songs will be in major keys. Why? Because you’re mostly writing up tempo, positive praise music or slower, worshipful music.
- The only time you’ll use minor keys is when your lyrics stress having a contrite heart and needing God’s love and forgiveness.
Try to write memorable, easy-to-sing melodies (e.g., not too many vocal flourishes) that encourage congregational participation and that encourage vocal harmonies.
When you compose any contemporary melody, you must hook in your listeners.
- How do you do this? By writing tons of melodies and whittling them down to the very best.
Here’s an example of the steps involved in writing songs.
For more information on crafting your music.
- How to Extract a Melody from Your Lyrics
- What’s a Melody (and How to Write Strong Ones)
- 10 Ways to Spice Up Your Melodies with Melodic Variation
- 7 Songwriting Templates to Get Your Ideas Flowing
- Learn the Elements of Songwriting Construction
- Writing Great Songs Using Rhythmic Motifs
- Do You Want Cool Chords for Your Song?
- Explain Roman Numeral Analysis in Layman’s Terms
- The G Major Scale (Including the G Major Chord Scale)
This video shows you an example of an effective CCM song.
Video: No Fear
Here are some resources that’ll show you how to write quality songs.
Final Thoughts
Takeaway points:
- The word worship comes from the Old English weorth or worth-ship. The idea is that you are ascribing worth to God.
- Your lyrics must glorify God. Likewise, your lyrics must help your listener achieve a worshipful mood and attitude.
- Writing CCM is much like writing pop songs. However, Christian lyrics come with another level of complexity, because you must have lyrics that are doctrinally sound.
Have fun writing!
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