Discernment in Worship, Part 1

Have you ever wondered how modern worship leaders select songs for congregational worship? Are there parameters in place for worship leaders to use?

This post is geared toward worship leaders themselves, but if you are a lay church member, I encourage you to keep reading. You will find points to discuss with the leadership at your church if you are concerned about a lack of discernment in your worship practices. This is the first of two posts on this topic. I will set up the argument this week, and then more fully discuss how to put into practice the points made in this post next week.

I recently presented a paper at Oxford University titled, “In Quest of ‘The Acceptable Way of Worshipping the True God’: Applying T. David Gordon’s Liturgical Song Criteria to Today’s Worship Practices.” In it I interact with Gordon’s six criteria which he issues for modern worship leaders when selecting songs for congregational singing. The following three paragraphs are an excerpt from that paper.

The acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by himself . . . that he may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men . . . or any other way not prescribed in the holy Scripture.

Westminster Confession of Faith, 1647, XXI:I

How do modern ecclesiastical leaders determine which hymns or songs to include in their liturgical practices? In years past, hymnal committees assessed the theological, doctrinal, and musical criteria, through which the committee members placed their collective “stamp of approval” on all songs chosen for publication. Through this venture, liturgical leaders selected songs that had been sanctioned by church advisors in the edification of churches through congregational song. T. David Gordon issues six criteria committees used in their liturgical song assessment:

1. Theologically orthodox lyrics
2. Theologically significant lyrics
3. Literarily apt and thoughtful lyrics
4. Lyrics and music appropriate to a meeting between God and his visible people
5. Well-written music with regard to melody, harmony, rhythm, and form
6. Musical setting appropriate to the lyrical content1

On a broad scale, evangelical churches today do not employ the use of hymnals as in previous generations, thus disseminating the advisory role of congregational song selection to individual leaders. If churches are to “sing to the Lord as he is revealed in Scripture,” and we are to “sing of his name . . . of his person . . . of his works,” ultimately culminating in our charge to “magnify him and him alone,” then church leadership must look to Scripture for benchmarks in congregational song.2 If our meeting with God “is such a momentous event that it takes careful and sincere preparation,” then our liturgies must be “rooted in God’s story of redemption, simultaneously forming within us a desire for the true good life and conforming us to attain it.”3

When approaching the topic of theology and doctrine in congregational song, we must remember that worship “does not exist for the sake of the worshiper, but for the glory of the God who is worshiped.”4 The Old Testament is full of references to purification in worship practices, and the drama unfolds with God’s chosen people vacillating between obedience and disobedience. God sends prophets to remind His people that their worship is supposed to follow sacred standards set forth by God himself, but the Israelites continue syncretistic worship practices, which defile their worship of God. Then in the New Testament Christ declares that believers will worship in spirit and truth, creating a new pattern of worship, but still centered on the design of God-ordained worship.5 Worshiping according to God’s specifications “helps God’s people steer clear of the ambiguity of using worship as a tool to fulfill their own desires.”6

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”

Hebrews 12:28-29

We see here that worship should be focused on God, not man. Songs selected for congregational singing should emphasize God and his mighty acts, not me and how I feel about them. There is a difference when a worship leader views the entirety of worship – from the Call to Worship to the Benediction – as being formative to the believer. When this shift in thinking occurs, the worship leader selects songs that fill believer’s mouths with truths of Scripture, knowing that these songs are helping to form the believer’s heart toward God. Without this formative view of worship, the tendency becomes to choose music that is “entertaining” or “feel-good,” which leads to selecting songs that emphasize self over God.

Worship leaders have the responsibility to lead congregations in right worship of God. This responsibility should be of utmost importance because the worship leader will ultimately be held accountable before our Holy God. If worship leaders choose songs for congregational singing that emphasize God’s holiness rather than individual opinion, then these songs reverberate in the heart of the believer, so that WHEN difficulties arrive, the believer recalls God’s action rather than a song-writer’s opinion of God’s action.

Douglas O’Donnell notes, “there are a lot of silly churches which have a lot of silly pastors who allow a lot of silly worship leaders to select a lot of silly songs from a lot of silly songwriters. And the result of singing songs that ‘water down the faith’ and spare us ‘all difficulties’ is the undermining of ‘many a soul’s Christianity.”7 This quote serves as a good reminder to pastors, so they place musically and theologically trained worship leaders over their congregation, and it’s a reminder to worship pastors, so they utilize criteria which helps them select all songs for congregational singing.

Come back next week as we further the discussion on how this applies in weekly practice.

For further reading from Acceptable Worship, see The Weightiness of Worship.

Additionally, see Not Just Any Song Will Do, by Reformed Worship.

1. T. David Gordon, Why Johnny Can’t Sing Hymns: How Pop Culture Rewrote the Hymnal (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2010), 47.
2. Douglas O’Donnell, God’s Lyrics: Rediscovering Worship Through Old Testament Songs (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2010), 132.
3. Jonathan Landry Cruse, What Happens When We Worship (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 2020), 173.
4. Scott Aniol, Worship in Song: A Biblical Approach to Music and Worship (Winona Lake, IN: BMH Books, 2009), ii.
5. John 4:21-24.
6. Robbie F. Castleman, Story Shaped Worship: Following Patterns from the Bible and History (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2013), 97.
7. O’Donnell, God’s Lyrics, 174.