How To Introduce Original Songs To Your Church

I love seeing more and more churches writing and releasing their own music.  Some may say “okay, enough already!” but I strongly believe there are so many more songs waiting to be written. 

Although it’s possible to do anything with ulterior motives I’ve found that most of the music we’re hearing is coming from a genuine place of God moving and people being obedient to use their creative gifts for His glory.  

I’ve written before on Why You Should Write Songs For Your Church and How To Finish Songs You’ve Started.  The next step for you may be to actually share an original song with your church family.  

Why Let People Know?

If you’ve ever taken a moment to share with your church about a new original song you know it can be really tough.  As a creative it’s a vulnerable place to be and it’s almost impossible not to be afraid of what people will think.  But beyond that we don’t want to come off as arrogant.  Just using the platform to promote our own agenda.  

I’ve seen this done tactfully.  A leader humbly and briefly sharing about a song to point our eyes towards Christ.  And I’ve seen this tone tastelessly.  A leader shamelessly pushing their CDs in the lobby and obviously very impressed with their contribution to the worship song canon.  

This raises a question I’ve thought about quite a bit.  Why even let people know the song is an original?  It would definitely be easier to just slip it in and pretend it’s just like any other new song.  I’ll offer two reasons why you should let people know.  

Song Stories Are Powerful

Letting people in allows them to share in the story.  It’s a powerful thing to be able to share the story behind a song.  What experience was it born out of?  What Scripture was it based on?  What was the writer thinking when they wrote it?  This is great to do with other artist’s songs.  It’s even better when it’s your own.  

Churches Connect With Their Own Songs

Often the song story is a part of the larger story of what God is doing at your church.  I’ve found that my congregation LOVES to know when they’re singing a song birthed from within.  There’s another level of buy in.  There’s another level of attentiveness.  There’s another level of celebration.  

How Do I Let People Know?

Now that you've decided to let people in on the story how do you go about doing that?  Here are three ideas.    

Unite With Your Pastor

Talking with your Pastor and getting their blessing for you to share an original song is huge.  Having their covering allows you to speak confidently about your song.  

Keep It Brief

It isn’t necessary to say much.  Think through and even write out what you’d like to say and practice it a few times.  It may sound something like this:

“We’d love to share a new song with you this morning.  This is a song our team wrote and it was inspired by our current teaching series about the Grace of God.  This song celebrates God’s grace and allows up to respond to it.  As you catch on, join us in singing.” 

Include Your Team

Did you catch that phrase? "This is a song our team wrote".  You may write, arrange, and play songs completely by yourself but it’s always good to get someone else involved at some point if possible.  For me, saying “this is a song WE wrote” always feels much better that “this is a song I wrote”.

Here is an example of an original song introduction I gave recently.

I'd love to hear your thoughts. 

How do you go about introducing new original songs at your church?

Share in the comments below!